K&N filter?

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Ok, my bike came with a K&N air filter in it from the PO. It is in good shape I was going to replace it with an OEM filter, but got to thinking, I would ask what you guys think of the K&N's. I know they claim like 100hp gain on your lawn mower. not expecting much, but, not sure about cotton cloth all covered in oil being a great even airflow mat. I can get a recharge kit for less then a new OEM filter, and it is supposed to recharge the filter multi times, What do you think?

[yamtom]

make sure the edges seal well

If I had a new bike, that I wanted to put a hundred thousand miles on, I would stay with stock since they are supposed to be best all around for filtering. The kn will prolly be a little louder in intake noise. But, I have cheap pods on my bikes, and knowing that K N is better than those, but I have read somewhere that K N s sometimes leak around the edges, as long as all the air goes thru the filter rather than around it, youre prolly ok, especially if its free, haha. On the zuki list, they use weatherstripping to seal the edges of filters up, spose that would work. I also read somewhere that the trick to getting them super clean is use oxy detergent after youre done with the regular cleaning, and you will see how clean they can get. Ive only heard of KN engineers getting more hp out of their filters, dont think Ive ever seen anyone actually do dyno tests and find that there was a lotto hp in one of those things.

[JasonRedbeard]

I've been running a K&N in my Camaro for years. I can't say that it gained me any horsepower, but I will say that I've spent far less money cleaning it than I would have on paper filters (although it does take a little more time.) Don't buy the kit though...you can clean the filter with Dawn and warm water just as effectively, and use most any lightweight oil to re-saturate it. That'll save you even more money.

[Pat Kelly]

I use the K&N in both my XS,s because I wont have to buy another filter. Clean it, re-oil it, good to go
I do notice the .0003% HP increase too

[crazy steve]

The HP gain claims are mostly BS, as they've only documented that on certain combinations. So depending on if it's OEM replacement type or part of a 'kit', YMMV.

The K&N doesn't filter quite as well as a OEM paper one does, but I don't think that's much of an issue unless you travel in pretty dusty areas a lot. 'They' do say not to get carried away with keeping them clean as they're supposed to filter better with a little dirt in them. And they do flow more air than a comparable paper filter will, even when dirty. But if you're running a stock airbox, all the air is coming in though a 2-square-inch opening anyway, so it probably won't make any difference.

Compared to the reusable foam filters, I'd take the K&N any day...

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Thanks all

Thats cool, bought the recharge kit tonight for 12 bucks, less the one OEM filter, so I will just clean it and soak it in the red oil and put it back in the bike Next, on to the fuse box and removeing what little two wall gas line is in there

The HP gain claims are mostly BS, as they've only documented that on certain combinations. So depending on if it's OEM replacement type or part of a 'kit', YMMV.

The K&N doesn't filter quite as well as a OEM paper one does, but I don't think that's much of an issue unless you travel in pretty dusty areas a lot. 'They' do say not to get carried away with keeping them clean as they're supposed to filter better with a little dirt in them. And they do flow more air than a comparable paper filter will, even when dirty. But if you're running a stock airbox, all the air is coming in though a 2-square-inch opening anyway, so it probably won't make any difference.

Compared to the reusable foam filters, I'd take the K&N any day...

[Rooster]

filter

when I bought the K&N filter for my diesel they told me to use the tube of grease like stuff that came in the box to help with a proper seal. Being a turbo with 30psi of boost this made sense your supposed to apply the grease on each side of the filter where the top and bottom of the filter touch the filter box. Now I don't have a K&N for the XS but I have one on all of my pick up trucks and they do improve fuel mileage on Dodge's and it's true that they increase the intake noise considerably. It's maybe not true they don't filter better Because my cummins diesel has 600,000 kilometers and my 4.7 Dakota has 320,000 kilometers on it and neither are suffering from cylinder damage due to dust getting into the engine from poor air filtering.

[ddragon63]

I have a K&N in everything I own... for one simple reason REUSABLE!!! Every spring I take a Saturday and Pull them all, clean them, and re-oil them. I can do my truck, jeep, wifes car, and both bikes with 1 bottle of cleaner and 2 cans of spray oil. cost about 30 bucks to do 5 filters. A Fram for my Diesel is 25 bucks, Wifes Mazda 6 is 32. I'm not a math wiz but after 3 years they have all paid for themselves.

I know a great website for k&n's if anyone is interested. bought one for "old man" for $21 buck plus freight last week.

http://www.ajusa.com/

[Rooster]

I have a K&N in everything I own... for one simple reason REUSABLE!!! Every spring I take a Saturday and Pull them all, clean them, and re-oil them. I can do my truck, jeep, wifes car, and both bikes with 1 bottle of cleaner and 2 cans of spray oil. cost about 30 bucks to do 5 filters. A Fram for my Diesel is 25 bucks, Wifes Mazda 6 is 32. I'm not a math wiz but after 3 years they have all paid for themselves.

I know a great website for k&n's if anyone is interested. bought one for "old man" for $21 buck plus freight last week.

http://www.ajusa.com/

I want to thank you for posting that link cause I've never been able to find prices that good around my part of the world

[ddragon63]

I want to thank you for posting that link cause I've never been able to find prices that good around my part of the world

I'm telling ya it great... and if you buy over $75 its free shipping! get a couple buddies together and buy a few. The packing slip came marked direct from K&N on K&N letter head. I wounder if AJUSA.com is a dummy company of K&N to sell wholesale to public... either way it rocks!