K & N air filters, worth the money?

[RHON]

I went to autozone looking for an air filter, all they could offer me was a K & N for $50.00, the ones I've been using tend to crack if they are tapped on the ground to ckeck for dirt ( not hard mind you) and deform. The K & N need to be washed and cleaned and supposadly last forever. Anyone have experiance with these?

 

[2mbb]

I used one. I guess it worked OK. The engine never siezed or anything like that. I'm not sure I felt any performance gain, though. If I was going on an off road trip, I would switch it with an OEM paper filter--I didn't want to take a change of dust getting into the engine on a dusty road. At some point I noticed that the K&N was too small, it didn't really fit the air cleaner right, and it was smaller than the OEM filter (smaller circumference). So I stopped using it.

Why not get an OEM filter from your toyota dealer or cruiserdan?

 

[patride71]

i have had one for a few years, but honestly i don't see any difference. i would just stick with OEM if i did it again.

 

[cruiser88]

no just stick with oem. i threw mine in the trash

 

[kling-on]

I thought I saw a small gain with mine but my old filter was black it is smaller on the out side but the hight is the same and that what matters for sealin

 

[Cruisergreg]

I threw mine out when I pulled the AC cover and saw a fine dust residue in the carb throttle body. Never had it before or after the K&N. They don't filter worth crap if you drive in a dusty environment.

 

[nuclearlemon]

i never noticed a performance gain, i use em because it saves me a bunch o money in the long run.

 

[D'Animal]

Four runner has one for sale in the for sale section for $20.

 

[Dynosoar]

I use them on my cruisers, and I have used them on my off road race cars (Baja) They seem to filter pretty well, no complaints or blown engines. and in the long run you do save a few bucks. As a tip I have always used 409 as my filter cleaner and then used the K&N arisol oil to re-oil. I was "unofficaly" told this was OK by a K&N representative.

Dynosoar

 

[Benji]

GO OEM or any paper.

Do a search, it has been discussed manytimes.

 

[RHON]

Thanks for all the input here, I was just curious and I need one quick, I'll go for an OEM, been getting aftermarket ones that just are not of any quality at all.

 

[jb welda]

i find K&Ns work great if you prep them according to instrux and keep them oiled properly. i dont get any dust past them and ive used them in practically every car ive owned for the past 20 years. there are prefilters available too to keep the really bad dust off the filters.

for instance i just got back from death valley and checked the air filter. plenty of grit on the outside but zero inside.

they need to fit your housing or however youve got it set up though otherwise dirt will leak past the seal. i typically run a bead of grease on top and bottom to seal against my (small block chevy) air filter canister/air intake.

one love
jah bill

 

[CruisinFJ60]

i use wick air filters or OEM when i can afford them. nothing else looks like they would keep dirt out very well at all on a dusty road.

 

[Pacific Swell]

I had K & N in my 4 Runner and Tacoma. They worked well for me.
I installed one in my FJ60.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Toyotas tested their filtration system in hostile environments with their OEM filter to get the best compromise between performace and filtration.

K&N work ok on the race track where the rpms and the airflow is critical.

However there is a strong correlation between airflow and adeguate filtration.

I prefer paper filters that you throw away,fit a new one and know it is clean and doing its job