I've had my car for 2 years now, it's probably as good a time as any to replace the air filter soon.

Should I go with OEM, K&N or a foam one like ITG?

Oddly enough there's not info here about which is "best." I know some love k&n while others say it'll destroy your MAF, ect.

 

K&N , VERY light oil on the "under " side.

 

Is the k&n oiling from the factory too heavy?

 

Wash and re-oil VERY light.

 

I think there are very few cases of proven issues with oil (whether K&N or others), if any. Regardless, you should try to get rid of the extra oil before putting the reusable filter on. I usually just let it stand vertically for a day or so with a paper towel on the bottom (not touching the oily part of the filter).

 

tradeoff. More oil, cleaner air but more restriction.

Note the K&N will not give better flow that a brand new OEM one. BUT it stays at about that rate where the OEM gets progressively more restrictive. I run K&N in everything.

 

I think their testing does show increased air flow but I hesitate to use a vendor's results alone.

http://www.knfilters.com/air_filter_testing.htm

 

I just installed a K&N today. Wow the factory filter was filthy, was at the dealer 3 days ago and they told me filter did not need to be replaced. Could be placebo effect I guess but the engine seems to run smoother and have more power. Not bad for a cheap, easy upgrade from stock paper filter.

 

 

Thanks for the replies! I'll probably just do K&N. There's so many different opinions on the things. A long time ago when I had a 240sx, people said it helped the car gain power, but lose torque. I added a K&N panel filter to that car anyways and couldn't tell much difference besides it being a bit louder. It may also filter a bit less crap than an OEM filter, but I don't think that is much of an issue.

 

I normally run K&N in all of my cars and have had great luck with all of them. I have been running the Alta foam filter in my Mini and will be swapping it out for the K&N ( I will do a couple of Dynolicious runs with both to see if there really is a performance difference)
K&N, you can't go wrong.

 

Thanks, I've only used a K&N in one car for maybe 500 miles before I sold it, so I don't have much of an impression. Will def. order one soon!

 

A race shop did a bunch of direct controlled tests a few years back. Calibrated flow benches etc. Numbers, not perceptions. If I remember, the Autolight was the best paper element. The test was not very complementary of foam, either oiled or dry. Sometimes we forget, air filters are there to, ahem, .... Filter the air. This prevents it scratching your cylinder walls and getting into the oil.

The best paper had slightly lower restriction new, but got bad quickly. The K&N stayed about the same for a long time. Foam dos not filter very well, and the ones tested were higher in restriction. This was comparing a same-size round filter, like in an older carb car. Apples to apples. You can of course, use a more restrictive filter if it has more surface area and get the same performance with better filtering. Their conclusion was to pick a K&N of sufficient size. The target was offroad racing, so it was not like on a track where you can change one every day.

Yes, I usually run K&N's if I can get them.

 

Did someone warn of oil damaging MAF?
It definitely did to my 2008 R56S. I had it for about 30K miles before it started giving me consistent symptom of engine dying on cold start. I tried to clean it with carburator cleaner numerous times. It didn't work. Does this happen to every Mini out there? probably not because of the engineering tolerance issue. The best way to go is a clean paper filter every time you change the oil to not have to deal with long term reliability problem.

 

i dont think, someone correct me if, you aren't supposed to use regular carb cleaner. there's spray cleaners that are specifically made to clean the MAF (MAP), that's what i use.

 

The only "independent" tests I have ever seen had the K&N's at about the bottom cause they were great at first but they restricted air flow much quicker than paper or foam. The foam filters are actually the best way to go for consistent flow over the service life. They may be a bit more restrictive initially, but they will not get much worse. And they do the best job of filtering, why do you think all of the off-roaders use them (not counting the K&N sponsered ones)!

 

To answer the question about carb cleaner and the MAF... this is extremely bad for the MAF, you need either MAF cleaner or a non-Residue contact cleaner.

Carb Cleaner can cause a Good MAF to go Bad real fast.

 

Wait you went 2 years without changing it. Tell me it wasn't the stock one. Wow anything you do will feel great. Wow it used to be everytime you changed the oil you changed the air filter and now I would not go anymore then 6months. I am amazed simply amazed.

 

Yep, carb cleaner leaves a residue that screws up a MAF. QD electronics cleaner or even brake cleaner is a better choice.

I'm just a few weeks shy of a year on the stock filter, and by the looks of it, it doesn't really need changing yet :(. I have an Alta foam filter sitting in the garage. I'm just too cheap to waste the stock filter.

 

Don't use brake cleaner on the MAF. The same company makes a MAF cleaner which is a better choice.

 

Yes only use MAF cleaner.

We have used and sold both the Cravenspeed air filter, and ITG filters and both work great.

 

Odd. The test I saw said exactly the opposite, with these features ascribed to the K&N. Foam was less restrictive, but was the worst at filtering.

Remember, off-road racers only need to finish the race. I want to run 250K. What is best for a race is frequently not the best for the street. Look at what each situation is trying to achieve. Race is HP only to the finish line.

What I would suspect is all foam is not created equal. The test I saw showed all paper was not equal by a large amount. Autolight was the best, Fram the worst. Fram just did not have as much paper as the Autolight.

Just remembered. The test I read was done by David Vizzard of BMC A-series engine fame. I tend to put stock in his opinion.

Never had a MAF problem in 5 cars with K&N's. I went 180K on my RSX with one. 85K in my Civic. Had them in two other Honda's. Could this be someone using too much oil? I don't know where the MAF sits with respect to the valve cover breather. I understand we puke a bit of oil via that route. Picked up one last weekend for the Mini. As soon as I get it back from the 15K shop visit with a brand new free paper one, I will put it in. On service life, when I wash the one in my Civic, I can't tell the difference. I usually can when changing dirty paper ones.

 

The only time that we've ever seen K&N-filter-oil-based MAF problems is when folks clean and re-oil the filter before it's dry or over-oil the filter.

The filter cleaning interval on K&N filters is much longer than oiled foam filters. If one goes completely OCD, cleaning & re-oiling K&N filters more than necessary, the probability of fouling the MAF increases dramatically.

Also, if you're rushing through the re-oil process, that's usually where one ends up oiling before the filter is dry or applying too much oil (You really don't need that much oil to make the filter work properly.) Keep the re-oiling instructions that come with your filter in a safe place to avoid this. Check out this link for a tad more info -- http://www.knfilters.com/filter_facts.htm#OILING

As Way and others have said, if you do end up fouling the MAF, only use MAF cleaner. Carb cleaner and brake cleaner are not sensor safe.