K&N Air filter worth the $40-$50

[chrisreale]

I read that using these allows 16% more air through. Mahle air filters are like $8. K&N are around $50. Worth it?

[anthony]

$50 for a drop in K&N filter just seems outrageous! I bought a similar rectangular K&N for my Jetta for $35. I guess anything with "Porsche" attached to it gets jacked up in price.

Personally, I don't think you'll notice any seat of the pants improvement. One good thing is that you never have to replace the filter again. You just clean it every 30-50K miles according to K&N.

[rdvnac]

No.

Worse filtering, no performance improvement (other than aural).

[pbanders]

I agree with rdvnac. There is little flow restriction with the stock filter (on the 2.0L), so there isn't much to work with. Add in that K&N filters let a lot more crap through (think I saw an article on this recently in either BMW Roundel mag or Pano),are a PITA compared with disposable paper filters, and cost way too much and I don't see any reason to convert.

[John Rogers]

I agree that for a stock engine, the paper filter is fine. For a race engine, there are a couple of advantages, you can wash them out after every event, if the oil is applied correctly they catch a lot of race track dust and they do have a pretty low restriction. I have to make sure I seal the tops and bottoms with grease to get a good seal to the housing and after a race like we just had at Phoenix they will be very dirty. Plus I haven't seen any paper filters for Weber 48s that fit the same, I imagine there are some?

[yoh!!!]

I do not like my K&N's too much!!! But this is pretty much what is available for all the dual carb's. If I would have an FI system I would stick with the stock paper filters.

Patrick