Aftermarket Airfilters - Just a Hype?

**izzy** · December 9th, 2005 12:35 PM

performance-wise, do aftermarket cone-type filters really increase performance significantly?

**jplazo** · December 9th, 2005 12:42 PM

Like the turbo stormy, I once slapped Cone Type air filters into my earlier vehicles, a Corona and a Space Wagon.

Now, this didn't get me much bang for the painful buck... whether by way of fuel efficiency, HP increase or "that overall driving euphoria" feel. Imagine that.... not even the placebo effect!

For the cash, the filters did gave me something to wash at every oil change.

It's the same thing with the Turbo Stormy. For marginal fuel gains, the MoneyStormy vortexed cash from my gold mastercard and into someone else's bank account. Thank god for buy now pay later. I delayed my grief.

So what to do?

There's one guaranteed way to increase HP by a tangible margin: get yourself a turbo INTERCOOLER. Now that's +40% in the HP department. Any dyno will tell you that.

How about decreasing gas consumption? Simply watch your driving habits. It's effective and free. You know what I'm talking about. Watch the insane jack rabbit starts. Shun manic lane switching. Keep within the 60 to 80 km/h speed. Maintain regular tune ups. Don't bother with the crazy a*hole taxi driver. And if you can, throw out dead weight... like the ton of parking tickets stowed in that glove box of yours.

After-market fuel savers sometimes play a zero sum game. They save you some fuel expenses at the cost of a huge up-front investment that demands regular effort to maintain. Effort can cost money too.

I'm saving up for a turbo. Gonna plunk it into my 2.0 Civic and enjoy the REAL rush of speed.

**niky** · December 9th, 2005 02:07 PM

Drop-in filters are mostly useless.

Cone-types will give you more power, between 1-5 hp on the typical 1.6-2.0 liter engine. Unfortunately, due to heat soak in the engine compartment, that goes down to about 1-2 hp when the going gets hot. To make consistent power, your best bet is a CAI (cold air intake), which is usually located in the bumper (a big no-no for the eternally flooded streets of the Philippines) and makes maybe 5-7 hp more power.

But much of the power from the CAI is thought to come from the long intake tubing, which smooths the airflow, which in turn allows the air to flow faster through the tubing and into the engine. The swirl-type fuel-savers, on the other hand, have the opposite effect on intake air (thus they give an hp LOSS of around 1-5 hp).

Stock paper filters are the best filters available. K&N definitely does NOT filter as well, but it filters much better than the steel mesh type, the foam-type (which gets nice and crumbly with age) or the Simota. With K&Ns, as long as you follow all your regular preventive maintenance, you should experience no problem whatsoever, as the particulates it does let through are tiny, and will only affect the functioning of your engine after a very very VERY long time. (say... five years after you sell it? :lol: )

**GlennSter** · December 9th, 2005 03:14 PM

sakin bawi ko na ang ginastos kong 3k plus sa open type cone filter ko.been using it for 5 years na.naka daalawang sasakyan na ito and it does its job of filtering naman.everytime i change my oil, its not as dirty as i expected.

**quiksie** · December 9th, 2005 08:57 PM

to filtrate the dust on k&n's, it uses an additive oil to prevent the dust from entering the intake itself. Mas nanotice ko ang increase ng power ng nagpalit ako ng k&n on my lancer. Tipid pa nito is that you dont have to buy anymore the filter everytime you have your oil change.

**theveed** · December 9th, 2005 09:27 PM

The value of aftermarket, especially open type are quite low.

While on a properly upgrade IHE system, the performance may improve, it has been proven time and again that OEM filters are much better IN TERMS OF FILTERING DIRT compared to aftermarket ones.

I just don't see how you can take in more air without increasing the odds of contaminants from entering the air chamber.

The reason why OEM filters are more "restrictive" as aftermarket makers claim is that it allows better filtration, smaller particles are filtered better.

In addition, cars with sensitive MAF sensors have been known to go haywire with aftermarket "recharge" type filters due to the accumulation of oil that's placed on the filter during cleaning and recharge. Daming Nissan and Chevy na nagkaloko-loko ang MAF dahil dyan.

As for tipid, di hamak na mas mura ang OEM. If you change the filter as scheduled, the cost of the filter replacement is much cheaper than getting the aftermarket to begin with, in addition to the recharging kit.

And kung filter lang pinalit mo, placebo butt dyno means squat. If simply replacing the filter improves that much, why not just remove the filter altogether.

Impossibleng di naisip ng manufacturer ng oto over the past 20 or so years na nagkaroon ng aftermarket filters kung talagang di hamak na mas ok sya kesa paper filtration.

Note: Oil filters paper filtration din, as does most water and chemical filters.

**empy** · December 9th, 2005 10:56 PM

the best gains i have ever seen for a filter on a n/a, otherwise stock car - independent dyno tests, not butt dynos or manufacturers claims - was about 5 hp. i believe the manufacturer was AEM and it was a behind-the-headlight CAI

rule of thumb on an n/a car is to not expect more than 2-3 hp from just a CAI, around 10-15 for full i/h/e. not exactly the biggest gains, but it's one of the easiest mods to install, and it's one of the least invasive to the car. plus, you have that sweet farting sound that makes chicks like you! :hihihi:

**jplazo** · December 28th, 2005 11:08 AM

K&N direct panel replacements boast the same increase as a cone filter but its all down to what car it is really.

I used to have a customized long arm induction kit with heat shielding and cold air feed on my Toyota Corona (went into the fog lights) and apart from noise it made the car more sluggish at low revs so i sold it (2003).

Now, I was undaunted. The intake failed for my Toyota, but what about for a Honda?The other day, I went to buy a K&N typhoon intake for my recently purchased Civic 2.0L at FusionR along E. Rodriguez. The owner (God bless his honest soul ) said that those cone intakes actually robbed power from the K20 engine because of massive heat soak. He wouldn't sell me one and recommended a drop in filter instead. The stock box does a great job cooling the air.

I said thanks and left with some friends to discuss it.

One buddy supported FusionR's claim. He mentioned a Civic Vti that had a K20 engine swap. Slapping in the typhoon intaked robbed about 15 HP from the 165HP engine, confirmed by a butt dyno test. In real world perfomance, the car accelerated poorly at low to mid revs. Top end speed was throttled massively.

He went back to stock box.

**ssaloon** · December 28th, 2005 11:16 AM

on a related note: http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/filters_test/2/

c/o of papa suntzu :D

**edl100** · December 28th, 2005 12:32 PM

A secret for OPEL Astra, Vectra, Tigra and Zafira owners is to DE-RESTRICT the AIRBOX.

It is simply removing some hoses inside the airbox that restricts airflow. It was made by the manufacturer for noise purposes but it restricts airflow.

With this modification:

Throttle response is better.
Mid end torque in stronger.
Throaty sound when accelerating.

Parang di na sakal mag accelerate. It can really be felt the first time you drive it.

Gas consumption is the same.