| Author | Message | ||
     Billybob |
what do you all think of kn air filters are they worth the extra money | ||
| Froggy |
It is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the stock filter in the long run, thats the only reason I got mine. | ||
| Roysbuell |
Will it lean out the air/fuel mix at all? | ||
| Nik |
For cost and filtration ability, I prefer the Uni. | ||
| Froggy |
As it does allow a little more flow, it will slightly lean you out. Not an issue at cruising speeds as the bike will make adjustments, but in open loop mode it will be slightly lean. Nothing to lose sleep over. | ||
| Midknyte |
Mine ran noticeably hotter (leaner) with the stock ecm. I went back to stock/paper filter. | ||
| Blackandchrome |
I can't say from experience, but everyone says using a K&N and aftermarket exhaust will make the bike run too lean. 03-07s can use a race ecm or custom tune. 08-09 need a custom tune if you can find someone. | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
Or you could use ecmspy, just a thought. Will a swiss cheesed airbox with a stock air filter be as lean as a non-swiss cheesed airbox with a high flow filter? What about an open airbox with a high flow filter? (all with a stock muffler) | ||
| Boney95 |
That's horse poo. Froggy is right. A K&N will only allow a little bit more air. Now, if you open up the air box cover and install an open air box kit, that's a different story. | ||
| Sloppy |
K&N's provide more power than paper filters for only one reason... they don't filter as well as paper filters! Hold a paper element and a new, pre-oiled K&N against a light source and you will see the light shine right THROUGH the K&N. Not so with a paper filter. That's right - K&N will only admit that their product will filter "well enough", but won't say that they will filter as well as a paper filter. Check out their website and see if they state that their product filters as well as a paper filter. Another problem with K&N's is you only get a benefit in the last 500 rpm of power (based on a dyno run of my XL). There were no other hp benefit anywhere else on the chart. Don't know how many people actually keep their engines in this speed range either... My advice - if your paycheck is dependent upon your podium position, then you NEED to use a K&N. Otherwise save your money (and your bike's longevity) and use it to help pay for a track day. A single $200 investment in a track day will make you a faster, safer and better rider than ANY "go fast" part... | ||
| Froggy |
And the people that need that last ounce of power from a K&N aren't running 200k miles between rebuilds. Nik, do you have more info to the Uni filter? | ||
| Aptbldr |
+1 Sloppy. Consider my situation: bought used bike that came with Micron exhaust installed,'04 XB12. Only after re-routed breather and a K&N air-filter would engine perform while running "Micron-tuned" ECM files folks shared with me. I didn't want to get a K&N, but it made a difference. | ||
| Fast1075 |
+ eleventy zillion Sloppy....Sloppy knows what he is talking about.. | ||
| Bromanowski |
Here's a good thread that goes through the pros and cons of filters. There's a trade off between protection and performance. You just have to pic your poison and go with it. http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/Buell-Firebo lt-XB12-XB9/Air-Filter | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Kinda makes me rethink the K&N... | ||
| Bromanowski |
I've never been a fan. They make ridiculous power claims that no one has ever been able to back up. Realistically a filter is only worth about a 1-2% increase at the most. | ||
| Andymnelson |
"Sloppy knows what he is talking about" Well...at least he knows he doesn't like K&Ns  Properly oiling the filter (and keeping it so) is the key to their filtering capability. Also, the point to me at least...is to save money, which the K&N does nicely. I could care less about power claims. I think it's well worth the $$ in order to not have to keep buying filters in the future. I oil mine twice/year. | ||
| Buewulf |
+1 to the Sloppy camp. Properly oiled, the K&N still lets in much more particles than a paper element. Improperly oiled, it lets in a lot more. (Have you oiled your filter lately?) That said, I don't know if it makes that much difference during the life of a well maintained engine, but it might. I'll probably never put more than 50K miles on a bike before getting rid of it (with the exception of my "classic" 12X which I don't plan to sell), but I want the guy that buys the bike off of me to get as much life as he can out of it. I'll stick with paper. | ||
| Fast1075 |
At least most of the bikes here are run only on paved roads...paved roads equals lower dust loading...if you run a K&N on dusty roads or environments, you WILL introduce harmful "dirt" into the intake tract...the worst of which are silicates.. All pleated gause filters work the same way...in order to move more air at the same pressure drop, the "openings" in the gause are relatively large...hence the inability to filter fine particles... The bottom line being...if you want to move more air and filter it too, you need a BIGGER filter (more surface area) or you compromise the filtering efficiency. And yes, I am an air filter professional...I design, install and service clean rooms, hospitals, etc... | ||
| Sloppy |
Yes - Fast knows what he's talking about as well. Basically it is either perforation size or surface area that will allow greater air flow (technically less pressure drop) across a filter. And K&N has used a larger perforation size to allow for greater air flow. Note also that K&N's use a SURFACE filtration mechanism while paper is a DEPTH filtration mechanism. In other words, once a K&N hole is blocked by dirt, it literally sucks. With paper, the dirt travels INTO the paper where different sizes of dirt can be held at different depths to allow clean air to flow around. Similar concept to HEPA filters, but they use other Brownian motion principles (we can thank Nuclear Technology for HEPA by the way). Sorry, I digress... I'd be careful about the claims of economy of a K&N. K&N's cost about 3 times more than a paper filter and don't forget the added labor of cleaning, drying, waiting, oiling, patting, drying and installing. So however often you change your paper filter, multiply it by 3 and see if it's worth your investment. And it's difficult to quantify the cost of increased wear of valve seats, piston rings and oil contamination due to the increase of dirt (silica). And silica does make an excellent abrasive... So there are applications in which K&N's make sense to use, and only YOU can make that decision. My background - used to operate clean rooms in copper etching facilities for integrated circuits and I now handle ventilation programs for infant formulas... yea, we need to be VERY careful with air flow & filtration... | ||
| Eulysses |
Glad to see the intelligence here...been a diesel performance guy for years. In the early 2000's the GM Dieselpage did a thorough study on aftermarket filters available for GM diesels using oil analysis for verifying filter integrity. K&N was bottom of list with high silicates. Best was 2-stage Amsoil and then OEM. If I am looking at a vehicle/engine to buy and find it had a K&N...kills the deal for me. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Why donn't we get together here and figure out a cross ref filter for some other application that would work on an XB? If we could figure out how to use a bigger one, it would be even better. I know I'll catch flak for this but I think that before you know it, stock filters will be harder to get. Hell, before the recent turmoil I had trouble getting oil filters from my local Buell/HD dealership. | ||
| Nik |
Nik, do you have more info to the Uni filter? It's oiled foam over a metal mesh. The foam comes off for easy cleaning. It costs about the same as the stock paper filter. I'm curious how it compares to the pipercross which is also oiled foam. I don't have any back to back application specific lab tests or anything, but all the comparisons I've seen put oiled foam filters somewhere in between gauze and paper types. The big difference is that oiled foam tends to perform consistently in flow and filtration throughout use, whereas the other two types vary between cleaning/replacement cycles. I just wanted a reusable filter. I don't really notice any performance increase, though it does bark a little more when I get on it. | ||
| Froggy |
Where do I get one?  | ||
| Bromanowski |
I got my pipercross from calsportbike. They have them in stock and shipping was cheap. I think it was $70 shipped. | ||
| Mmcn49 |
Here’s a comparison of several filter types. If this is true, it looks like Uni is about the best and K&N the worst. http://www.roadkill.com/~davet/moto/air.filters.ht ml | ||
| Mmcn49 |
Uni Part Number NU-3431 fits XB9/XB12, 02-08 and lists for $34.95. PN NU-3428 fits S1-M2, 96-98 and lists for $30.95. | ||
| Nik |
Where do I get one? They're distributed through Parts Unlimited so pretty much anywhere. | ||
| Froggy |
Good deal, my Buell dealer has parts unlimited crap, I will give them that P/N | ||
| Miami78 |
Funny, this test makes the Uni look as bad, if not worse, than the k&n... http://duramax-diesel.com/spicer/index.htm |
