For decades, the aftermarket hot rod, racing and tuning communities have relied on oiled-media filters (namely the infamous K&N) to free up that extra few horsepower. In fact, it's often one of the FIRST modifications many automotive enthusiasts do to their car. With the marketing tag line such as "Better airflow" or "more airflow", this mod is the first path for any modder, racer or even ricer will take. But how much is "better" or "more" of the airflow the filter gonna give? In the mean time, how much dirt or fine particle this filter able to trap since it was design to deliver "more" airflow? As dirt suspended in air, it's logical to say that as more air the filter flows, the more dirt the engine will ingested. This is pretty much make sense such as any turbocharged engine will have shorter service interval compared to its' N/A counterparts. The reason? One of it is more air flow hence more dirt.
Common sense is needed here. Although manufacturer main objectives are to produce car as cheap as possible and to sell it as much as it can. But one thing must one must remember. They also want their car to last long. No one is going to buy a car that will rot in few years. So, without proper filteration, engine wear will be off the chart and parts may fail prematurely. Those self-claimed performance filters only focusing on performance (if there's any increment noticed) and the easiness of filter servicing (for the washable type). It's just amazing that the most popular washable high flow air filter on the planet isn't used for standard equipment in any performance car. Take an Italian exotic car for an instance. This kind of car is built purely for performance and building cost isn't a factor at all. Yet those car were never fitted with any kind of this so-called high flow air filter. Ever heard a Lamborghini owner praising about how good the K&N filter on their car? Ever tired listening to Wira and Satria owner worshiping this filter in their car?
The filter build quality is also quite arguable. This picture is me comparing my previous K&N air filter vs OEM air filter. Don't get me wrong. I was a K&N fan. I think I am still. But I don't know whether it is just me or what, somehow the life time filter rubber frame doesn't seems to hold its' shape for long. It shrunk and some areas (mostly at the edge) were broken and chipped off. If an USA brand of filter isn't able to last long, you can kick your Taiwanese filter down in to garbage truck where it probably belong. Get real, you want more power than go internals or get some blower complete with cooler. The bolt-on stuff, especially air filter won't do much better than what's the factory has fitted your car with. The engineers who designed your car aren't fools. They know how much air it can move when in stock configuration, and would be negligent to supply less than that. This is especially true from this point of view for all 4G9X owners; if the OEM filter can't efficiently handle passing enough air to make 110-170hp to keep rolling along the highway, how is it ever going to flow enough air to make 260hp on force-fed 4G63 EVO III at all? P/S : Mit Lancer Evo I - III 4G63 shares the same filter with 1st gen 4G9x and 4G1X.
I've been using the K&N panel filter for 5 years. After I've ditched the K&N and switched to the old OEM paper filter (roughly 15,000km mileage on it) which I kept for in case of emergency, believe it or not, I couldn't feel any degration of power as what people said. I might have lost some ooommpppphhhh at higher rpms but without dyno-chart, that claim could be bogus because, I didn't experienced any power degration over switching to paper filter that already had 15000km on it nor my fuel comsumption sky rocketing as what those marketing people at K&N would suggest.
I would suggest you to visit http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=180100 for detail info solely on this matter. They even proofed that most performance air filter isn't a real performer.
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