Drivetrain K&N/oiled filter rant
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1st Gear
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 36
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From: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
K&N/oiled filter rant
Disclaimer: this is my opinion and YMMV...
I just got my 06 R53 JCW. My previous fun car was a 03 VW TDI. I spent a lot of money on it and increased the HP from 87 to 125. What I did not do was change the air filter. The TDI forums have a lot of threads on the filters. Yeah, cold air intake is good, buy my MINI has that (air is brought in from the grill, not the engine compartment) and the supercharger has an inter-cooler.
The problem as I see it is that the oiled filters just do not filter as well as the stock German filters - the JCW has an upgraded filter. Yeah you get a little better air flow with the oiled filter but you also don't get great filtration, especially if you don't clean and re-oil the filter often. I just changed the filter in my car which had 103k on it. I am pretty sure it was the factory filter and it really did not look that bad.
Again IMHO I think that K&N has done a great job of marketing and do sell a lot of filters. I have yet to see a verified dyno report that shows a 10-15 hp gain, especially on a car such as a JCW MINI with factory cold air intake. I'll keep my money and keep investing it in Mann or Mahle filters, I don't need to add a sandblaster to my engine.
IMHO, YMMZ, and any other applicable acronyms apply...
I just got my 06 R53 JCW. My previous fun car was a 03 VW TDI. I spent a lot of money on it and increased the HP from 87 to 125. What I did not do was change the air filter. The TDI forums have a lot of threads on the filters. Yeah, cold air intake is good, buy my MINI has that (air is brought in from the grill, not the engine compartment) and the supercharger has an inter-cooler.
The problem as I see it is that the oiled filters just do not filter as well as the stock German filters - the JCW has an upgraded filter. Yeah you get a little better air flow with the oiled filter but you also don't get great filtration, especially if you don't clean and re-oil the filter often. I just changed the filter in my car which had 103k on it. I am pretty sure it was the factory filter and it really did not look that bad.
Again IMHO I think that K&N has done a great job of marketing and do sell a lot of filters. I have yet to see a verified dyno report that shows a 10-15 hp gain, especially on a car such as a JCW MINI with factory cold air intake. I'll keep my money and keep investing it in Mann or Mahle filters, I don't need to add a sandblaster to my engine.
IMHO, YMMZ, and any other applicable acronyms apply...
This has been covered quite a few times on every forum.
When filters are clean they are all about the same it's after a bit of use that Foam and cotton gauze filters out flow dirty paper.
When filters are clean they are all about the same it's after a bit of use that Foam and cotton gauze filters out flow dirty paper.
6th Gear - NAM Hall of Fame
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 3,967
Likes: 393
From: soggy pnw
Disclaimer: this is my opinion and YMMV...
I just got my 06 R53 JCW. My previous fun car was a 03 VW TDI. I spent a lot of money on it and increased the HP from 87 to 125. What I did not do was change the air filter. The TDI forums have a lot of threads on the filters. Yeah, cold air intake is good, buy my MINI has that (air is brought in from the grill, not the engine compartment) and the supercharger has an inter-cooler.
The problem as I see it is that the oiled filters just do not filter as well as the stock German filters - the JCW has an upgraded filter. Yeah you get a little better air flow with the oiled filter but you also don't get great filtration, especially if you don't clean and re-oil the filter often. I just changed the filter in my car which had 103k on it. I am pretty sure it was the factory filter and it really did not look that bad.
Again IMHO I think that K&N has done a great job of marketing and do sell a lot of filters. I have yet to see a verified dyno report that shows a 10-15 hp gain, especially on a car such as a JCW MINI with factory cold air intake. I'll keep my money and keep investing it in Mann or Mahle filters, I don't need to add a sandblaster to my engine.
IMHO, YMMZ, and any other applicable acronyms apply...
I just got my 06 R53 JCW. My previous fun car was a 03 VW TDI. I spent a lot of money on it and increased the HP from 87 to 125. What I did not do was change the air filter. The TDI forums have a lot of threads on the filters. Yeah, cold air intake is good, buy my MINI has that (air is brought in from the grill, not the engine compartment) and the supercharger has an inter-cooler.
The problem as I see it is that the oiled filters just do not filter as well as the stock German filters - the JCW has an upgraded filter. Yeah you get a little better air flow with the oiled filter but you also don't get great filtration, especially if you don't clean and re-oil the filter often. I just changed the filter in my car which had 103k on it. I am pretty sure it was the factory filter and it really did not look that bad.
Again IMHO I think that K&N has done a great job of marketing and do sell a lot of filters. I have yet to see a verified dyno report that shows a 10-15 hp gain, especially on a car such as a JCW MINI with factory cold air intake. I'll keep my money and keep investing it in Mann or Mahle filters, I don't need to add a sandblaster to my engine.
IMHO, YMMZ, and any other applicable acronyms apply...
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