Ask a daft question - Air Filter

Ask a daft question - Air Filter

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aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
I'm servicing the Swift Sport this weekend and will be doing filters and an oil change and my local Autosupplies Business in Chesterfield are pretty good. So, here is the, potentially daft, question. Would fitting a K&N filter or Piper or whatever make any difference whatsover to the car as opposed to a standard service kit part.


aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
andy-xr said:
Yes, but not what they're sold for. I've worked this out, if you get the right aftermarket filter price, then look at the normal one, the aftermarket one is 'for life' as in, you'll get a good few years out of it vs changing it every service.

But, they need to have the right price difference.

A side effect of performance filters can be less restrictive filtering, which can actually mean less filtering. If you've got a turbo car, that's ace on autumn and winter mornings as you get better boost in colder air.
Appreciate that. I did put a good quality, and rather large cone filter and pipework years ago on to my 164 Cloverleaf and the difference was noticeable at least in terms of induction noise. And we all know (much like the guy who was drilling holes in his exhaust) that if it sounds faster it is faster.

aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
juliethotel said:
Some people would have you believe it'll give you a couple of extra horses - it's rubbish.

That may be true if the standard air box and filter was restricting air flow but they never are.

The only difference it would make is possibly add an induction noise, and with a K+N you'll likely never need to to replace it.
I sort of figured this was the case but I am living in hope that someone will come along and surprise us all with a chart showing real increases in power from pick up to limiter!! Maybe someone from K&N or Pipercross or even Demon Tweaks.

aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
Monty Python said:
That is pretty, conclusively damning...

aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
aarondbs said:
Monty Python said:
That is pretty, conclusively damning...
or it was until you added more links..

aarondbs

Original Poster:

845 posts

147 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
Monty Python said:
The other links show increases in horsepower, so I'd sit on the fence and say that some cars may see benefits while others won't.

I'm a bit surprised at the gains - on a N/A engine the cylinder will take in a fixed volume of air, so unless the OEM air filter is actually causing a restriction I can't see how a change of filter would make any difference.
Impressive to see 25HP from a cone filter. Something like an 8% increase would give the little swift 10HP.. probably noticeable. but a a decent install of one of these is say £400.