K & N air filters do they really...

[hounddog]

Wind noise can get annoying (I'm hearing of bad things about the WRX's wind noise, so I'll take it out on the highway before I make a final decision) but I like the engine noise, especially under full throttle.  

Take the E320 vs. S500.  Obviously the S500 has so much more power than my E320 did, but the E320 sounded better and that added to the fun factor of driving (the S500 had more sound deadening, no doubt, due to being higher in the market).  Then, the Passat has a beautiful sound under full throttle and turns heads all the time.

I want to get the E320 for my wife, but she wants the BMW 3 convertable.  

and I don't know what  a CAI is???

[Run Away]

CAI = Cold Air Intake

[hounddog]

CAI = Cold Air Intake

Ahhh- Like on the old Trans Am.  Got it.  I guess I should have known that

[Rupert]

[...] It was reliable, but it was loud, had extremely hard seats, and the wind noise was unbearable.  I wouldn't buy another Acu-onda in my lifetime.  Don't wish it on my fellow man either.

What're you doing in an enthusiasts forum then? 0_o

Hehehe...

(*cough* The idea being that the most fun cars and trucks to drive make a lot of noise and have hard seats...)

[hounddog]

[...] It was reliable, but it was loud, had extremely hard seats, and the wind noise was unbearable.? I wouldn't buy another Acu-onda in my lifetime.? Don't wish it on my fellow man either.

What're you doing in an enthusiasts forum then? 0_o

Hehehe...

(*cough* The idea being that the most fun cars and trucks to drive make a lot of noise and have hard seats...)

UHHH- it wasn't really fun to drive!

I had a 96 Cobra convertable- it had lovely soft seats, and was a pure blast to drive.  That's what I was driving when we got married.
My wife currently has a 330i and it has wonderfully soft seats- sort of.  And it is a lot of fun.  
My 2500  has nice seats, although they are too short and don't go out far enough.  I love driving that.

I really don't have a car now that would make me an active enthusiast.  

[JYODER240]

I dont really care if seats are hard or soft, as long as they're supportive and dont leave your back aching after a 30min drive.

[Run Away]

My car has the best seats I've ever been in (in a car I've spent seat time in, not carshows).

[hounddog]

I had a 98 Ram, it had huge, soft, supportive, ultra comfortable seats.  I have never been in a seat that comfy before or since.  My wife agrees. Dodge ruined their seats in the Ram line.   Funny what people look for in a car.   I guess I'm a gittin old!  I want a smooth ride, as little noise as can be produced, and cumfy seats!!!  In other words- bring back Oldsmobile!!!!!!!  

[SVT666]

I had a 98 Ram, it had huge, soft, supportive, ultra comfortable seats.  I have never been in a seat that comfy before or since.  My wife agrees. Dodge ruined their seats in the Ram line.   Funny what people look for in a car.   I guess I'm a gittin old!  I want a smooth ride, as little noise as can be produced, and cumfy seats!!!  In other words- bring back Oldsmobile!!!!!!!

My wife's Oldsmobile has leather seats that are harder then most seats I've ever sat in.  The seats in my Ram are firm like you said, but I find them extremely comfortable though.

[crv16]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.  The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

[SVT666]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.  The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

If that's true (I've never heard that before), it won't affect most people since they don't keep their vehicles long enough to see any negative effects.  Again, without the filter being attached to a CAI they provide virtually no performance gain.

[hounddog]

I had a 98 Ram, it had huge, soft, supportive, ultra comfortable seats.  I have never been in a seat that comfy before or since.  My wife agrees. Dodge ruined their seats in the Ram line.   Funny what people look for in a car.   I guess I'm a gittin old!  I want a smooth ride, as little noise as can be produced, and cumfy seats!!!  In other words- bring back Oldsmobile!!!!!!!

My wife's Oldsmobile has leather seats that are harder then most seats I've ever sat in.  The seats in my Ram are firm like you said, but I find them extremely comfortable though.

I have a hard time finding seats to fit me.  I'm kinda a big guy, so smaller seats or hard seats and I don't work well together.  What kind of Olds does your wife have?  My mom just sold her 96 Aurora.  Great car, lots of fun.  Cumfy too.

[hounddog]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.  The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

If that's true (I've never heard that before), it won't affect most people since they don't keep their vehicles long enough to see any negative effects.  Again, without the filter being attached to a CAI they provide virtually no performance gain.

Thanks guys, I wondered if it was real or a scam.  Guess I got my answer.

[SVT666]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.? The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

If that's true (I've never heard that before), it won't affect most people since they don't keep their vehicles long enough to see any negative effects.  Again, without the filter being attached to a CAI they provide virtually no performance gain.

Thanks guys, I wondered if it was real or a scam.  Guess I got my answer.

Don't get me wrong.  It's not a scam.  The filter is a hindrance to airflow, but without replacing everything up to the intake manifold it won't help a lot.  If you used a CAI with a stock filter you would not see the performance gains that you would with a K&N AND CAI.  Stock intakes and air boxes are restrictive enough that unless you replace them with a CAI you won't see the benefits of the K&N.  It's a lot like your exhaust system.  If you weld in a Magnaflow muffler in place of your stock muffler it won't provide much of a performance increase, and if you replaced all of your exhaust pipe with mandrel bent tubing but kept the stock mufflers you still wouldn't see a lot of change in performance, but TOGETHER the increase is dramatic.  Does that make sense?

[SVT666]

I had a 98 Ram, it had huge, soft, supportive, ultra comfortable seats.? I have never been in a seat that comfy before or since.? My wife agrees. Dodge ruined their seats in the Ram line.?  Funny what people look for in a car.?  I guess I'm a gittin old!? I want a smooth ride, as little noise as can be produced, and cumfy seats!!!? In other words- bring back Oldsmobile!!!!!!!

My wife's Oldsmobile has leather seats that are harder then most seats I've ever sat in.  The seats in my Ram are firm like you said, but I find them extremely comfortable though.

I have a hard time finding seats to fit me.  I'm kinda a big guy, so smaller seats or hard seats and I don't work well together.  What kind of Olds does your wife have?  My mom just sold her 96 Aurora.  Great car, lots of fun.  Cumfy too.

My wife's Olds is an Alero.  It's a really good car, but the seats are little too hard for me.  I'm a big guy too and I love the Ram's seats.  The most comfortable I've ever had.  I see you got lockers on yours.  I really want them too.  I do a lot of off-roading in the summer.

[hounddog]

I had a 98 Ram, it had huge, soft, supportive, ultra comfortable seats.? I have never been in a seat that comfy before or since.? My wife agrees. Dodge ruined their seats in the Ram line.?? Funny what people look for in a car.?? I guess I'm a gittin old!? I want a smooth ride, as little noise as can be produced, and cumfy seats!!!? In other words- bring back Oldsmobile!!!!!!!

My wife's Oldsmobile has leather seats that are harder then most seats I've ever sat in.  The seats in my Ram are firm like you said, but I find them extremely comfortable though.

I have a hard time finding seats to fit me.  I'm kinda a big guy, so smaller seats or hard seats and I don't work well together.  What kind of Olds does your wife have?  My mom just sold her 96 Aurora.  Great car, lots of fun.  Cumfy too.

My wife's Olds is an Alero.  It's a really good car, but the seats are little too hard for me.  I'm a big guy too and I love the Ram's seats.  The most comfortable I've ever had.  I see you got lockers on yours.  I really want them too.  I do a lot of off-roading in the summer.

Lockers are worth every penny.  Mine are the centripical froce ones that lock when the tires start to spin.  If you do much offroading- I might suggest the Air Actuated ones.  I was told by the salesman that the air ones are big  with off roaders.  Don't know, never tied them myself.

My problem with the seats is that they stop about 2/3 of the way to my knees.  My 98 seats went all the way to my knees and gave me more support there.  After a couple hours in my truck my knees are killing me and I have to stop and get stretched out.  Of course, I'ld have to stop anyway for my wife>  

[hounddog]

How much work/ cash is a CAI system?  And would you say that K&N is the best or another brand?

[280Z Turbo]

I don't know how anyone can like Oldsmobile seats. The lumbar support sticks out rediculously far and it feels like I've slept over the bar of a crappy hide-a-bed after a few hours in the front seat.

[SVT666]

How much work/ cash is a CAI system?  And would you say that K&N is the best or another brand?

This is the one I'm getting Hemi CAI .  It's the second one down.  $240 gets everything you need including the filter.  My Mustang's CAI took me 40 minutes to put in including removing the stock intake.  From everything I hear, this one is worth it.  After that my next "power" purchase will be a Magnaflow cat-back system.  After my five year warranty runs out I'm going to buy a programmer and possibly cams.  All-in-all my truck will be closing in on the 450 crank HP mark.

[crv16]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.  The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

If that's true (I've never heard that before), it won't affect most people since they don't keep their vehicles long enough to see any negative effects.  Again, without the filter being attached to a CAI they provide virtually no performance gain.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

"I choose to conduct this test because of the conflicting information I see in advertisements and have read on the internet. Everyone claims that their filter flows the best, and removes the most dirt. If you think about it, flow and filtration ability are actually linked. A solid piece of metal would prevent any particles from entering the engine, but it wouldn't flow any air at all. On the other hand, the screen used on a window screen will flow well, but won't filter well at all. So if you think about it, the best flowing and best filtering is really contradictory in claim. I wanted to find out which filter really does filter the best, and which one really does flow the best. I have used almost every brand and type of air filter over the years including K&N. I had not used a foam filter until conducting this test. I have used every manner of off the shelf fiberous or paper filter. "

Read thru the other pages on his site....

[hounddog]

I recall seeing research that compared stock air filters to aftermarket "performance" filter, including the K&N.? The consensus was that the aftermarket filters generally allowed more airflow, thus increasing performance marginally.

The down side was that they also didn't FILTER as well, meaning more crap gets into your engine.

If you put one on, you reduce the longevity of your engine.

If that's true (I've never heard that before), it won't affect most people since they don't keep their vehicles long enough to see any negative effects.  Again, without the filter being attached to a CAI they provide virtually no performance gain.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

"I choose to conduct this test because of the conflicting information I see in advertisements and have read on the internet. Everyone claims that their filter flows the best, and removes the most dirt. If you think about it, flow and filtration ability are actually linked. A solid piece of metal would prevent any particles from entering the engine, but it wouldn't flow any air at all. On the other hand, the screen used on a window screen will flow well, but won't filter well at all. So if you think about it, the best flowing and best filtering is really contradictory in claim. I wanted to find out which filter really does filter the best, and which one really does flow the best. I have used almost every brand and type of air filter over the years including K&N. I had not used a foam filter until conducting this test. I have used every manner of off the shelf fiberous or paper filter. "

Read thru the other pages on his site....

Thanks.  I appriciated this article, it seems like an unbiased evaluation.  Nice to know that I should basically just keep using my OEM filter.  thanks guys.