What are your experiences with K&N?

I think Rick has always talked to himself like this in the shop, but finally got smart and is recording it.

Rick has gotten so good on camera

Been using K&N on everything since I was in college (20+ yrs). Snowmobiles, quads, dirt bikes, go carts (always run an outerwear on the non car stuff), 01 lightning huffing 16lbs of boost and now my 12 mustang gt with 9lbs of boost. Also ran one on a na 92 f150 and a na 98 f150. Zero issues. Wash them the right way and oil them the right way and they are golden.

If running a K&N in sand and fine dirt you should always have a precharger filter on it.

Man. So smooth and intimate... feel like you invited me in after I walked you home.

Looks pretty damn good for the amount of sand on the outside. Ive always used K&N and never had an issue and we pound our machines right to death.

I have used a K&N filters for years. I have always ran and outerwear on it keeps all the heavy sand out. I have always checked my tubes and they have always been clean. Like the videos. keep it up.

Here's an old trick from the sand rail buggy days when we ran duel Weber 48 carbs with the K&N filters. To keep them from clogging up with fine particles of sand we would rubber band or zip tie a pantyhose over each filter. Pantyhose are pretty close woven and it filtered some pretty small microns of sand dust out of the pre-oiled filters to keep them from getting clogged, when removing the pantyhose to clean start at the bottom and pull them off until The inside is out trapping all of the dirt and sand inside the pantyhose, you can shake them out and reuse them if you can get them off without runnering them. If you purchase the sheer ones you can hardly tell they are even on there 😂

If you smear some white lithium grease in your intake tube you will be able to see if you are getting dirt past your filter. The grease will go on white and if dirt is getting by it will be brown or black. The dirt will stick to the grease. Keep up the great work.

Well this filter system was developed by a desert racer who grew tired of engines being destroyed by the sand cutting it's way through the paper filters. You'll want to draw the air supply from the cleanest path available with any filer type made. I hade a 1964 Ford F100 pickup truck that was equipped with an oil bath air cleaner and the inside of the carburetor was always clean due to that. Paper filters came about due to quick and an non messy servicing. Yup you can't use this type of filtration due to the vehicle movement or that's what would be in use. I've used K&N filters for decades in all my vehicles with proper servicing and have had zero problems. Yeah those paddle tires are just shoveling tons of dirt at the filter and the sock will help or do a relocation.

Ive always had a saying "K&N flows 50% more air, and 100% more dirt. Ive been a powersports mechanic for 15+ years and I have seen more engine failures due to dirt ingestion through a K&N filter than any other cause combined. Sand is much larger in size than the fine dust that gets past the element so thats why there wasnt much visible here. Foam filters do a better job catching debris because the air flowing though doesnt take a straight path, which give the filter oil more of a chance to catch passing dust. Foam filter oil is also thicker than gauze type filter oil so it tends to stick around alot longer too. Out where I live we have a lot of red clay and once it dries out in the summer, one drift around a corner will leave a dust cloud that will hang in the air for 5+ minutes because the particles are so fine. I personally will never ever use, nor recommend anything but stock or foam filters.

I found my S&B particle separator works amazing on my Talon! Does a great job, and makes the stock filter last 10X longer than without.

it makes me happy to see a person say that something they didnt like actually worked decently you dont hear that much

AEM dryflow bruteforce all the way baby!!!

Used to run K&N on my cars and trucks and then I cooked a MAF sensor and went dry filter and haven’t had any issues.

Great job Rick. You make it clear and simple.

ALWAYS run an Outerwear when using a K&N in the sand.

It seemed you were trying to convince yourself that everything was fine, denial. That fact is, there was sand inside your charge tube, and inside the K&N, don’t fool yourself, these filters are not meant for off-road, a little bit of sand can do a lot of damage.

My wife's CR-V 2009 runs like the first day. Since the first oil change, it has always had a K&N air filter. I use Wix or K&N oil filters in that car, whichever comes cheaper!

I have personally seen many many dusted engines with these types of filters. Where they properly serviced, who's to say but they 100% caused premature ring wear. I've seen enough to lose trust, not worth the minuscule power gain.

Don't pour a quart of oil in these things when you clean them, especially in an application with a mass airflow sensor.

I’m with Rick on the factory air box and filter. Haven’t failed me yet. 🇨🇦

Rick we appreciate you brother

All those shots of the filter and we dont even get a slow mo of you washing it off? Thats the best part!!

Keep it up Rick, love these little solo videos.

I use the k&n filter with the waterproof sock seems to help keep debris out imo.

Awesome i use k&n filters as well

They make prefilter for those that really help in the sand. You should relly try it.

They run K&N filters in the Baja races. As long as you use them correctly they are great.

The real test is in dusty conditions following other buggy’s. Yes the sand can be an issue, but the particulate with sand is much larger than dust.

I have ran k&n for 30+ years with no issues. I do run a pre filter in the sand and dirt trails and wash and oil every trip.

I have and do run K&N intakes and filters on almost everything in my fleet. Those that live offroad just get a filter sock type pre filter put on them. Never any signs of dirt, regardless of how dirty the outside is. Never one single issue in using these filters for hundreds of thousands of miles. Just gotta use pre filter and clean after any dusty day. Or run a particle separator and live the good life...barely ever needing to touch the filter.

That sand is keeping them valves clean.

I run a k&n with outerwear and s&b particle separator and so far so good

If you had washed the air filter base mount with water hose it would have stopped all that loose sitting dust falling down the intake tube when you pulled it off. Could remount filter system other way up so when removing it the dust falls away from intake pipe. That K&N air filter worked really well in your buggy test. It seems to be fitted in a really dirty area of dust flow.

Thank you Rick for telling everyone that you on that trip you didn’t have a sleeve covering the filter and that you do use oil , I know people that don’t oil theirs in their SXSs, ATVs or even in their vehicles.

Fine dust ate up a few of my go kart motors, but a outwear cover worked to minimize the dust particles. The k&n filter” filters” better as it gets dirtier. It even says in the instructions that the oil can be applied again over the dirt.

Keep the good work guys

Video starts at 3:30 🤣🤣 love you Ricky I ain't hatinn

i ran K&N for about 10 years between my atv, and sXs with no issues. i always keep a sock on them though as that catches the finer stuff, and keeps the filter much cleaner for longer. i think people get their issues mostly from improper maintenance of the filters running them to long between cleanings, and letting them dry up. you should be inspecting your air filter after every ride, and cleaning them regularly. i especially like running them during the winter time to save from ruining them paper filters when you suck snow in the air box.

For your application, i think oiled foam filter will be the best choice.

Sand and dust are two totally different animals. Sand is large compared to dust particles. K&N is fine for street machines, but suck for off-road riding/driving.

Twin air filters or a foam filter wrap or a huge Donaldson setup with wrap for 100% protection or S&B air particle seperator

Rick, check than oil in the charge tube, if its gritty then sand is getting by rather than it falling in on disassembly, great job.

some months ago i see someone testing different Airfilters K&N DNA Pipercross TwinAir and a few others including OEM Paperfilters..... they used some LAB test-equipment to measure particles in Micron size... all Cotton Sportfilters let some dust thru.... the Paperfilter was the best followed by Oiled TwinAir Foam Filters... but also the Cotton Sportfilters had the biggest Flowrate (what a surprise)..... so its like everything that comes with tuning... its a compromise

Get a foam wrap and prefilter mess. 0 issues on the Talon with K&n. Even get better mileage

You needed to completely wash the entire machine before pulling that hose off. I agree with you that sand just fell into the tube after you released the hose clamps.

If I saw sand like that in my intake tubes I would flip the hell out. UNACCEPTABLE!

Oil analysis tells the tale. Test that way on YT out performed paper filters in filtering and wear oil chemistry.

Being that I’ve spent my whole life in glamis and Mexico racing I’ve never seen a k&n that didn’t have some sand particles in the intake when running no outerware. I swapped over to a uni on my atc ( because it the closest to the stock filter you can get ) and all my vw Baja bugs . If your really wanting to step up the game look into a UMP filter setup . We run those on most race buggies and Baja’s in the desert . ( it’s a tractor style air filter ) totally worth the extra few bucks and can be easily modified to run a snorkel .. .

I've run K&N filters on my vehicles for the past 30 years, and I've never had to add oil between 5,000+ oil changes. My Lexus 1998 GS400 had 212,000 miles on it before it was hit and totaled by a young lady, again without any need for additional oil added between oil changes. It would seem, that each person has a different experience with these filters. You do what you feel comfortable doing. But two Lexus air filters cost more than one K&N that I used over and over with each vehicle, without deleterious effects to my engines. Go figure!

Please keep these technical discussions coming. Would love to you use this "Rick" video format to do machine reviews, tire reviews, etc.

That is a brilliant test, flow benches don't do that type of filter justice, they need the movement of an engine so the little cotton fibres dance around in the airflow to grab the particles, not just sit there in static position.

Aaaaaaalllot of people don't oil the filter! Im glad you promote oiling! I run the frog skin over my filter seems to work well. 👍

Yeah you should watch kyle from boosted boys video from glamis and see what his filter looked like it was insane

With this many dirt, you need oiled foam filter, that will protect your engine.

I swear K&N employs kids to comment on all these videos about how they’ve been running their filters in cars for over 300 years with no issues.

As your air filter plugged you got more vacuum on your crank case breather line. Might have to put some sort of orifice on that breather line?

Very user dependabt filter I would think. I oil mine a fair amount and hang up and let the excess drip overnigh, and that's pretty much the max amount it'll hold. Wipe off rubber, reinstall. New vehicle manufacturers are ok with them.

Would love to see a dyno comparison between the stock box/paper filter vs an aftermarket setup like you're running on a big power machine.

Yeah the Oil filters are great for street use and stuff but I’m in southern Nevada for the desert are use paper filters same with the Sandune‘s at Dumont Dunes

keep them coming Rick

I'd definitely be running a hydrosock on it.. Knocks that initial sand blast off before hitting the filter/ plus protects mud running against water etc

I like K and N because you can wash the filter

JH WHO you guys at SXSBL0G gonna have to get some pit bikes and go down to Florida and do some backyard racing with JH HELL YEAH BROTHER 😎

I doubt they’d still be in business if they were no good. I’ve got them on my Jeep,Banshee and R6

You guys need to hit the st Anthony dunes for your next sand fix👍✌

When u go trail riding maybe put the sock over it and see how that helps.. and the oil demand the filter could have been what u seen in the hose? 🤷‍♂️

I lost an engine to K&N along with a buddy of mine. And my old engine builder told me his favorite filters are K&Ns and similar washable filters. He said they provided him with his retirement.

You gotta vent the crank case to atmosphere via a catch can. That's the way to go

He said he seen about the same amount of sand even when using stock filter...K&N does work

Those snake oil reusable performance filters could very well be the death of your engines if you use them in dusty conditions. Mechanics routinely find dust particles throughout intake systems. that they let through. The filter companies have done a real good job at marketing them.

Hi Rick, hope you enjoyed the Salsa and Chips. I went to the R2C filter. Because it works real well with stopping fine silt from getting into your motor. And it is no oil so you can blow it out or wash it to clean it. Off road racers are known to use it. I also added a KWT pre filter on my Talon and it works great. I live in a sandy area in the desert and there is alot of silt in sand.

Yes for more Rick content.

What's up bra. Keep up the great work

KN filters are 100% user dependant like you stated! The problems start with most at the very first cleaning maintenance on these... improper washing, drying, oiling, and inspecting. Errors at any one of these steps require the kn to go in the trash! And No, you should never see light through them. Don't run it in the sand if you do!

Let's be honest tho. The contamination we are worried about is like 20 micron and can't really be seen with the naked eye. The true test would be lab testing the oil without an oil filter. paper vs mesh airfilter.

Love the content guys !!!

I heard a rumor you're not supposed to use em at ALL on a turbocharged unit. The paper ones from NAPA got HALF the paper now! I'm cleaning mine right now for my SBC just cuz I got the kit and I'm to cheap to buy paper one. The engineers didn't design the engine to be STARVED for air!

No problems with k&n ever with me. But deffinitley just vent the crank pressure to atmosphere! Running it back into the intake lowers your octane rating on your burn and when your upping the power your gonna end up with more crank case pressure. Get a nice catch can setup that vents to atmosphere. I'd suggest mighty mouse cans

Good video Rick, thanks!

I would be interested to see another test done with a K&N air filter and a Particle separator on it. Also are we all just going to ignore the unicorn toy on the bench? LOL

Dang ricks using some soul glow in that hair... big facts

Ireally think particle separators are the way to go

It’s not sand I worry about it’s gravel road dust

We recommend K&N filters for our cars said no car manufacturer ever😃

If it flows more air it will flow more dirt, washable filters are good for on road and not very good for offroad, paper air filter and a particular separator is the safest route to go.

The many personalities of Rick. We have Professor Rick here, the sarcastic Rick, and Rich the ghoul.

Nice little vid thanks an happy new year rich

You have to run an outerwear over over the filter if you're going to play in the sand

Use the out cover and clean your filter every day you ride at dunes I have a few filters so I can just change them and do my cleaning at home

Like the vids Rick Happy new year

SAVE THAT DIRTY FILTER FOR A DYNO TEST. RUN A CLEAN ONE THEN PUT THE DIRTY ONE ON AND SEE WHAT THE LOSS IS.

They are fine if you run em just in the winter,i live in wa. State where it RAINS 90% of the time thus NO DUST

Rick, it's been proven over and over that K&N sucks for filtering in off road situations. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. Stay away from them. I still can't believe you guys are protecting that jewel of an engine in 2JP with a K&N filter.

K&n also has been known not to beong anble replicate the numbers they advertise and ... being a oiled filter they filter so much and smaller particles by. Dry filter is the way to go with sock. From my experiences I would never run one again from running them in my vehicles years ago. Afe dry filters are good but I don't know if they make them for the x3's but have ran them in my German cars, in the x3 I run Donaldson

As a man that works on these for a living...never ever run a KN air filter!!! And let me edit this alittle.... EVERY manufacturer will laugh at you when you send a picture of this on your machine and you request warranty. These filters are for dumb kids who run Honda cars in high school. Edit 2... if he ran his finger across the inside of any of those tubes you would see how much this filter failed. This is an example of what not to do. But...I love this channel and people can do what they want. It's still a somewhat free country.

Sand socks and probably a shield box. But definitely a sock over

Never oil an open filter for these units... best thing to do is run it dry and run a sock on it tbh.. that filter probably robbed some Hp.. and a nice catch can with a socked filter as well will get rid of that oil 🙌🏼🤘🏼