Air Intake Filters

[fergus]

Guys
Has anyone fitted the K&N Air Filter element to the standard Airbox in the Mk6 GTI ?

Just wondering if anyone's noticed any performance difference with/without ECU Mods (eg APR)

[Corey_R]

There's lots of discussion about this type of thing in the MKV Golf and the MKIV Polo forums. The general concensus is that there is little to no difference in performance. Some people feel that it "smoothes out the torque delivery a bit", especially in the Polo GTI, but it certainly doesn't help with increasing top end performance. Generally the main limiting factor is the pipe to the airbox and the airbox itself.

Even for people who do have the ECU flashes done, there is still large doubts about the filter making any difference whilst retaining all the rest of the intake system.

K&N isn't the only brand. There is also VWR (Volkswagen Racing) and also BMC, which generally sees the most use/popularity in aftermarket VW filters from what I've seen on these forums. I have a BMC filter in the Polo GTI. My mechanically minded friend who has a heavily worked Skyline (don't hold that against him, he now wishes he had many things but, but hasn't the money to change it) believes that the exhaust note is slightly deeper... but again, really hard to tell.

So my advice would be to save your money and use it to get an ECU flash first. Then if you want to help the intake side of the engine, replace the ENTIRE intake with one of the full CAI replacement products (APR/Carbonio, Forge, Gruppe M, and probably others).

[fergus]

Thanks Corey. BTW, looks like the ship's disappeared again

[Corey_R]

I was attempting to find information about another subject by looking through craig_the_german's posts, and I found a thread over in the Tuning section (where this type of thread should really be posted I guess) on the VWR filter:
http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f20/...ove-48355.html

RhysQ installed one and says that he does feel a different in acceleration, but most notably is the exhaust note change....



and yeah... the range of AIS tracking is only about 50km if there are no large mountains near the coast line. She'll appear shortly... due in to East London today

[fergus]

Thanks Corey. I had a look at Rennenhaus and the K&N looks very similar in structure to the VWR one.

[Transporter]

Be careful when replacing genuine filter with something else.
Any negligible increase (if any) in the engine performance may be short lived when the engine swallows more dirt and wears out much quicker than it would with proper filtration, if you use wrong filter.

I use Unifilter in as the alternative when my customers ask for a better filter or more economical filter, I also fitted Unifilter to our Forester that now done 160,000km and is in top condition. When I checked Unifilter filtration capability it was filtering to 8microns and genuine Subaru filter was 25microns (in year 2000). I also used BMC filter in my Vito vans I had and it was good.

In VW's I use only OEM filters.

The biggest problem with the oiled foam filters is the risk that you will damage MAF sensor.

[craig_the_german]

I actually had a look inside the air filter box on my 90TSI and it has a round pod style filter as standard...not a flat panel filter like the others...

Just thought I'd add this to confuse the issue even more

[hooba]

The issue is clear as there are countless articles on this, for modern cars air filters = waste of money (rice).

But one example, you make up your own mind.

Autospeed

[Transporter]

Yep, plenty of info on the air filters in the forum. Not much of the benefit and the risk is too great.

[MarkG]

while checking my air cleaner l found a plastic vented plate under the filter does any one know what its for, it just seems to be an obstruction , lve taken it out and the car feels better. Also has anyone put a BMC or K+N filter in.