K&B Air Filter vs. Paper, Paper Wins!

[xintersecty]

I put a K&B air filter into my Chevy Aveo about a year ago. I have cleaned it twice since then. My millage went down and I thought it was because of crappy Iowa gas. Well I was wrong about that. I ran across an interesting article regarding oil based filters corrupting the mass air sensor.

The oil film on the air filter is just enough to collect on the very fine wires used to measure the air flow. At then end of every run cycle a very high current is ran through the wires to "burn" off any debre collected on the wires. If the wires are dirty that can change the air flow reading and gas milage.

I replaced my K&B filter with a paper one, my gas milage went from 30 MPG to 34 MPG.

I am a fanantic about measuring my gas milage. I believe it's one the best ways to understand the condition of the car.

Cost of the K&B air filter is around 50 bucks and the cleaning kits around 10. A good paper filter is around 12 bucks. I think it's an even trade on the cost but if the milage goes down, it's a loosing proposition.

Comments? No kidding really!

[AveoJoe]

I got the K&N for my wifes car but will not use the oil the cleaning kit came with.

[Shibbs]

I got the K&N for my wifes car but will not use the oil the cleaning kit came with.

Then you'll be better off running with a window screen as your air filter.

[oscare003]

when u say paper filter. do u mean the stock 1?

[Shibbs]

Yeah, the stock filter is a poly increasing density filter.

Some aftermarket ones use paper instead and they're pretty much crap.

[AveoJoe]

oil just attracts more dust and dirt. Every 2k miles I cleaned her oiled k&n filter much dirt came out now not using oil half of the dirt comes out. Its like using oil based tire shine you will always get more dirt then non oil based tire shine.

[Shibbs]

oil just attracts more dust and dirt. Every 2k miles I cleaned her oiled k&n filter much dirt came out now not using oil half of the dirt comes out. Its like using oil based tire shine you will always get more dirt then non oil based tire shine.

Yeah, its not attracting/collecting any dirt because its letting the other half thru the filter. Pull the intake tract and look inside. I bet its dusty.

The oiled filters are only supposed to be cleaned once or twice a year because they actually filter better when they're dirty.

[AveoJoe]

ok lets see what they say. Thank you for your e-mail and utilizing K&N's Tech Support e-mail system. We will respond to your request as quickly as possible. However, due to high volume of emails we receive, a response could take up to a week. If you submitted a question in another language than English or Dutch, it may take an additional week for us to respond.

Thank you for your patience and for visiting our website.

Kind regards,

Your European K&N Technical Support Team

[petrified.rabbit]

Over oiling the filter is not good either. The performance paper filters is your best option for performance. All performance filter let a slight amount of particulate into the engine but it's not harmful unless they are big enough to not pass through the system. Or are large enough quantity to clog (like blood clots).

[AveoJoe]

DUDE I just checked it took off the filter cleaned it looked inside the pipe...TOOK it off the amount of dust shocked me. OILED FILTER UNTIL THERE WAS NO WHITE SHOWING.