I've lurked on a number of truck/car forums. Opinions always seem mixed.
Pro/Con regarding K&N and other "reusable" elements.

Some have posted data indicating the K&N, and others, don't screen out
smaller micron particles. Hence, not good for your engine.
Not trying to start a flame thread, honest.

Curious to hear feedback from any Arizona folks, (desert types), who've
installed third party CAI. I'm comfortable with changing my OEM paper
element every 10K miles. So cost isn't really an issue. Curious to see
if any measurable performance gain made by installing the after market
systems, vs. increased grit...

I'd rather pay $30-$40 bucks every 10K miles. Throw it away, Then try
to scrub out something & reuse, that may be allowing grit into my engine.

Of course, there's no way to prevent the smallest particles from entering.

Lot's of dust in the air here....

 

Look at the systems that have a foam filter. Same design as used in most all off road vehicles inc. motorcycles. Much higher surface area and very easy to clean. I've had one on my car with no problems for 3 years. Living in the high desert of OR, it gets REAL dusty here. But the oil foam filter has done a great job. Actually lasts longer between cleanings than my other cars paper filters.

 

What Scott said. Proper foam filter oil is "sticky" and will trap danged near anything. If you're going Baja, you could always put a foam pre-filter over the K&N, but that is probably overkill.

 

I'm jiggy wit dat. I'd like a system that's not howling under the bonnet. (Not one of those noise freaks...). I have Son's, both 19 & 21, that would think differently...

 

You can always get the foam panel filter from Alta and use the stock air box if you don't want the additional "noise".

My CAI only sounds loud when under acceleration, when cruising it doesn't sound bad at all.

 

thanks for the feedback... appreciate the data point.

 

No problem. Glad we could help.

 

I have the K&N Typhoon CAI kit. (It is quieter than the Alta, and CARB-approved for Cali.) It's easy to clean, and you re-oil it when reinstalling. The recharge kit is about $10 at any auto parts store and should last for years!

 

If you are in a dusty enviroment I would definately stay with foam or a paper element. Back when I was doing development work on another supercharged system one of our test cars lived down a 2 mile dirt road. The car would come in every 2 weeks for test fitting and evaluation of how the intake was working. The intake originally had a K&N filter on it and every time the car would come in there would be a fine dusting inside the intake. We then switched over to a foam filter like the one we use now and never saw any dust inside the intake again. I repeated this process several times of switching back and forth between the filters and each time I switched to the K&N, when the car would come back, there would be a fine dust in the intake tract, put the foam back on and the dust would not be there.

I did a lot of testing on the filters to check flow restriction and the K&N did flow better than the foam, but the difference in flow was very small. A new paper filter actually flowed really well also, however the paper filters tend to really load up with dirt quickly and then their flow starts to become limited. The foam filter will keep flowing well even when it is getting loaded with dirt, as they tend to have a high capacity for holding dirt before clogging.

So if you are in a dusty enviroment and are concerned about ingesting dirt into the engine, a good paper filter or foam is probably your best bet.

 

ITG makes a foam filter for stock box and you can see them at www.myminiparts.com

Itg makes filters for formula 1 cars

 

Check out the DINAN intake.....

Victor