General Twinair K and N filter.

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General Twinair K and N filter.

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Jan 18, 2017
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Hi ..so i have been looking at air filter prices and found prices very expensive. At nearly £30.00 for a replacement. I am looking at a K and N panel filter with a life time warranty for £48.00.Ok so a bit more but i like the fact of fit and forget..I would re coupe the cost in two services..To clean the K and N just rinse and re oil.Not botherd about a few extra horses just saving my wallet..
Has anyone had a filter like this fitted..
 
I've used them a few times, they are ok.

It's not as simple to clean them, you need the correct cleaning fluid (sold by K&N) and the correct oil to reapply after (again sold by K&N), so it's spray, rinse, dry and reapply the filter oil, a bit more of a faff.

Where oiled filters aren't so great is when they are fitted before Mass Air Flow Meters, the oil tends to get onto the MAF's hot wire, burn and cause running issues.
Not sure if the TA has a MAF??
 
I've used reusable filters in the past, I've used them at work, put them through our labs for testing and I've had a few on my own motors. The points I would say are:

1) Oil on them can cack up MAF and MAP sensors. However if they are oiled carefully and sparingly I've seen plenty of cars do mega miles on them so it's flip of a coin, don't scrimp on cleaning and don't overdo the oiling and all should be ok.

2) K&N have been in the industry for a long time......but their performance in regards to filtration efficiency isn't great. They pass the ISO filtration standards by the tiniest of margins BUT I've seen cars with very pitted exhaust Valves from the superheated particles that reach the cylinders. Very bad for turbos too, bearing wear and oil contamination are a real risk, turbo failure isn't unknown either.

As such I would say if you are going to use a filter of that type, go for either BMC (first choice) or Pipercross. BMC are used by Fiat as OEM in some Alfa's, all recent Abarth's and Maserati's too. While they use a cotton gauze like the K&N, they have multilayer lattice gauze instead of single layer or double layer folded gauze. They have a Claimed 99% efficiency and have Passed OEM testing (our labs testing data was very favourable too), K&N are not fitted by a single manufacturer..... food for thought? Pipercross are multi density foam, which is slightly more restrictive than Cotton but it's filtration is very good indeed.

Pays your money and takes your choice. I like the fact I'm not throwing away filters every service so good for the environment and the comfort of a little extra engine breathing is good.

Why not give it a go?
 
Hi.
I don't like Any oiled type of filter, damage to MAF sensors is well documented and even a MAP sensor can go down with oil contamination. Look at the recent troubles showing up with the closed breather in the Fire engine, don't think the TA will be better as it will be a closed breather too. Two sources of oil contaminating sensors can't be good.
 
For me just a original filter, there are no gains with filters like K&N, only downsides IMHO.

:yeahthat:

Unless you plan on going racing, better filtration is more important than better breathing. The cost of even a lifetime's worth of filters is a lot less than the cost of a new engine.

Remember that on a modern computer-controlled engine, the filter will make no difference at all to either performance or economy unless you are running at full throttle.
 
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Genuine fiat air filter ,twin air
51881024
New
£14.56
Inc vat
Plus postage

If that's correct part number for your car,
How about just buying one of those?
 
Last edited:
Genuine fiat air filter ,twin air
51881024
New
£14.56
Inc vat
Plus postage

If that's correct part number for your car,
How about just buying one of those?
Or febi bilstein for £8.98 plus postage
 
Hi ..so i have been looking at air filter prices and found prices very expensive. At nearly £30.00 for a replacement. I am looking at a K and N panel filter with a life time warranty for £48.00.Ok so a bit more but i like the fact of fit and forget..I would re coupe the cost in two services..To clean the K and N just rinse and re oil.Not botherd about a few extra horses just saving my wallet..
Has anyone had a filter like this fitted..
Shop4parts genuine fiat £16.90
Less fiat forum discount if you paid up member.
You really don't need to pay nearly £30 for an air filter for your car.
 
One thing that has not been mentioned is that the K&N filters are sold as a "performance" part. While the perfomance improvement may be debatable, some insurance companys consider fitting them a modification so you need to tell them.
Personally I've only used them on non fuel injection engines on Landrovers in dusty conditions and a classic where the original paper filters were unobtainable and a modified K&N fitted. If you price your time at minimum wage plus the cost of the cleaner and oil an oiled filter is more expensive than most standard disposable filters.

Robert G8RPI.
 
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Hi,
If you do have any issues with insurance at all for this type of modification then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.
 
Hi ..so i have been looking at air filter prices and found prices very expensive. At nearly £30.00 for a replacement. I am looking at a K and N panel filter with a life time warranty for £48.00.Ok so a bit more but i like the fact of fit and forget..I would re coupe the cost in two services..To clean the K and N just rinse and re oil.Not botherd about a few extra horses just saving my wallet..
Has anyone had a filter like this fitted..
You see those who should not be named already know you are thinking of modifying your car.
Extra Cost to you already being calculated.
 
My point to fit this filter is to save money!! Not for power gains. To buy one filter and change it many years down the line..
You insurance will cost more, that won't save you money.
Most opinions are that it doesn't really save very much once you factor in the special cleaner and oil that you have to pay for on top. Plus I know it doesn't cost anything but you have to store the cleaner and oil for when you next need it.
Think about how long you may have car for . if you change cars before you have saved any money it has cost you more.

How many miles is change interval for standard filter?
 
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My point to fit this filter is to save money!! Not for power gains. To buy one filter and change it many years down the line..

Hi Phil.
Will you save money if oil contaminates a sensor? Don't forget Lambda sensors and the Cat don't like oil as well.
Paper filters are very good indeed at the job they do in filtering microscopic particles, Oiled filters and even the old oil bath filters are never as good, one reason paper filters are just about universal, plus any restriction in paper filters are part of the mathematics that the ECU program is written for.
Stick with your OE filter, you don't need to replace it annually unless you live in a dusty area, with all the rain we get, filters have an easy time in the UK. You can of course blow it out every few months with an air line.
 
My point to fit this filter is to save money!! Not for power gains. To buy one filter and change it many years down the line..

Those oiled filters have not the best filtering you want, because of the very open structure, thats why oil is used to improve filtering.
In due time that oil disappear into your engine where it does more harm then good, and filtering get worse and worse by the time.
Then you clean it and put oil on them again, and it starts all over again.

You may be thinking you save money with them but you don't.
You need the filter, the oil, the cleaning product, to keep them filtering somewhat.
In the worse case scenario you will get all kind of other costs because of them.
Replacing a MAF or MAP sensor is more expensive then what you think, you save with those oiled filters.
 
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