K&N air filter

How much performance increase can one expect from installing a K&N air filter? I read that it improves low rpm response

 

I was thinking about getting one too, but I was really wondering how it affected fuel consumption... I like getting over 200miles from a tank of gas!!!

 

I've got one, the only reason I do is for the re-usability over OEM. I haven't noticed any performance or fuel mileage impacts with it.

 

I never noticed any difference when I changed from stock to the K&N. I did it because of the reusablilty (is that a word) of the K&N.

 

its like nitrous hang on !!!!!!!!!! seriously maybe a few ponies and a few mpg they do work and work better with after market exhuast.. i have them in other vehicles and love them worth every cent and as mentioned just clean every oil change or once a year last for years to come...

 

I noticed the difference when I first changed to the K&N, but I'm sure it's just because the OEM it replaced was a mess. I have had it now for about 11 years.
The real beauty is the reuse, but you knew that because of the many responses above.

 

What ^^ said.

I added one when my stock was 12k dirty. The new filter added some much needed pop, however I don't think there would have been any noticeable difference if it was a clean stock filter.

Got it purely cause I can wash it at will.

 

However, if you oil them with Slick50.....:biggrin:





















Sorry...it's been a while since there were any Slick 50 comments on the board.

 

Dang it Hootch, that was going to be my line.. maybe a bit more snap, not sure now that I've had mine for the last 24thousand so I'd have to ride a stock bike to notice if there was any difference

 

if you dont already have the kn i would look into getting a bmc instead. the bmc has almost twice the filter area as the kn filter.

 

I don't know about VFR, but when I had Z750S and I switched to K&N I got better responed on lower RPM as well as about 10% better fuel milage.

 

how the hell do you guys get over 200 miles on a tank? I used up 4.9 gallons in 135 miles.

 

Do you have a picture of the BMC one? I know that the K&N looks kinda funny with a big ass filter and maybe a 6x7" square in the middle of this huge filter, but i figured all filters will be like this.

 

nope not even the stock one looks like that... kn for some reason or another decided to keep the same flow rate as stock. making bmc the only true race filter for the VFR. believe me, ive used kn filters on everything else But my VFR...

 

kn

and the square one...

 

Interesting, I guess I will be looking for a bmc when it's time to buy another filter.

 

i should be a bmc sales rep
but then i would probably get suedlol

 

Same here, no improvement, just did it for ease of maintenance.

Hmmmm...oil with SLick 50 eh?

BZ

 

Same here. No noticeable improvement. maybe a little better gas mileage.
Reminds me I should clean mine.

 

Just a thought about why the K&N and the stock filter are smaller: perhaps the air flow benefits from having the filtering area directly above the injector bells. Perhaps if the filter is the full size of the air box the air flow gets "dirty" from the air moving in from all points.

IMO, a bike only uses so much air, so having a huge filter will not necessarily make any noticeable difference.

I do know that one should clean the K&N religiously. I bought a used diesel truck to haul my fifth wheel and it came with a K&N already installed. I immediately pulled and cleaned it with the K&N kit that the guy gave me. I just pulled it again to clean it a month ago and really opened the pleats up to check them. They were totally crudded up!! No way could the filter have been allowing good air flow. I had a paper filter on hand and used it and pitched the K&N because I felt it just couldn't be cleaned out without destroying it. FWIW my mileage for that 2200 mile trip was almost 2 mpg better than before, nearly 20% improvement. Clean filters = happy motors. :biggrin: