Anyone Tried A K&N filter

[s5aif]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has tried a K&N filter in their car and if so have you noticed anything such as sound change, performance increase etc. Have a w203 se and was thinking of replacing my filter with one. Its only about £40.

 

[Andy Wr]

I have one in my ML270, it was in when I bought the car 10 months ago. What you have to be aware of though is K & N's are "oiled" and so will allow oil on to your MAS and cause premature failure, my filter was blocked, I cleaned it but not re oiled it just in case, it does sound slightly better but the performance gains are not that noticable.

 

[television]

As Andy they do oil up the MAF if you do not oil them, then they do not work as a filter

 

[s5aif]

Think i will leave off then. Can the original air filter be cleaned and if so where exactly is it located and if there is any diagram that would help. Thanks.

 

[television]

I forget what 203 you have,this is the turbo one, and no they cant be cleaned

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...624716.633&CT=M&cat=68Z&SID=09&SGR=015&SGN=01

 

[s5aif]

it is a 2004 se c180k. I get a strong throttle sound everytime i slightly put my foot down on the accelerator.

 

[wireman]

Fit the bog standard one.
K&N's will only wear out the engine faster.
The petrol engine will gain nothing from the reduced airflow restriction of a K&N unless it is held on allmost full throttle.

 

[television]

As Wireman, Then it is the 2nd one down in the link

 

[jibcl500]

seen difference on turbo engines but on normal fuel injection no change it also buggers up the MAF opps back onto MAFS again.

jib

 

[Legoman]

certian cars benefit from a direct feed induction filter (205 gti's for example as the original air box is positioned over the exhaust manifold!) but just as many dont , tends to be german cars too as the standard air boxes are well thought out so feed good cold air anyway.

 

[TazCBR1100XX]

I installed a K&N into our 2001 W203 C180, and Yes, it does make a difference. It's much better on acceleration than it was before fitting the K&N. It's my wife's car, and she came home from a shopping trip the day I fitted the K&N and asked me what I had done to the car - her reason for asking was that it seemed faster

Before I bought the K&N, I contacted their technical department to ask the obvious questions and related some of the points mentioned here, and managed to get to talk to one of their senior guys - he assured me that the K&N would NOT cause any problems with the MAF, so I bought it on the strength of his replies. Yes, they are trying to sell their product, but I also use K&N on my motorbike and I have never had a problem with it either :mrgreen:

They do sound nice with a K&N too

 

[pace]

I had a K&N filter fitted to my C240 over a year ago by an independant "specialist" garage (I didn't ask for it) It made no difference to the car's performance, if anything it ran worse. It was a waste of money which I didn't ask for! I also understand it could have contaminated the MAF sensor and lead to other problems. I later replaced it myself with a MB filter (£14).
As far as I am concerned an air filter is a service part which should be replaced according to milage/time and not re oiled then re used.
I have had experiance with K&N filters on motorcycle engines in the past, they used to cause dirt contamination and premature engine/bore wear. Enough said!

 

[100%Bitch]

I believe that if MB spend so much on developing their engines and decide that the paper ones are better for them then that is what should be fitted for best all round performance/reliability/economy.

Just my opinion.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
Have had one fitted to my C230K for approx. 80,000 miles (fitted at approx. 30,000 miles). My MAF went at approx. 72,000 miles not premature according to the posts i,ve read. Have an e-bay MAF on their at the moment been on there since and car has done 125,000 miles now.
I bought it as it was cheaper than buying a new air filter every 10,000 miles, I have cleaned and re-oiled once since it being fitted.
It made a difference in fuel economy 2-3 mpg better, and it seemed to pull harder too even though this was,nt a requirement for me.
Have used them on motorcycles too and found them to be very fit for purpose and they do exactly wot they say on the tin so to speak, provided the bike is set up for them correctly.
People are saying that they are not oiling them, to avoid the MAF issue. This oil is part of the filtration system, (the dirt sticks to it ) to contaminate the MAF anymore than it would be contaminated in the induction system of a car, you would have too of dropped it in a bucket of oil.
The K&N Filter is oiled on the side open to the atomsphere only and has to be applied by a fine aresol spray.
The oil that should be used to oil the filter is a special oil, blended specifically for this purpose.
I find it difficult to believe that a company the size and reputation of K&N would be able to market a product that would cause a vital component to fail prematurely, and if they did do you not think there would of been a law suit by now especially in America.
This just my personnal opinion, observation's and experience's.

 

[BRABUSW210]

Stock K&N fit air filters do not make any significant gains in power or fuel economy. Its more physcological and the fact that the air filter gets replaced by the K&N one when the old one is due for a change! So yes, if you fit a a new OEM one you'll notice the difference as well.

And yes they do kill the MAS.

 

[240D 3.0VNTi]

This is a perfect explanation of why you should NEVER use a K&N filter. http://home.stny.rr.com/jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

"After only 24 minutes the K&N had accumulated 221gms of dirt but passed 7.0gms. Compared to the AC, the K&N "plugged up” nearly 3 times faster, passed 18 times more dirt and captured 37% less dirt."