was wondering what thoughts are for the sportsman 500 ho efi , are they worth getting?

 

Others can give you their on this one, but I'll give you mine: NO! I had to rebuild an almost new 500 from a badly maintained K&N filter. Granted if you have an outer cover and keep it clean and filter oiled this shouldn't happen,but the more a filter is able to allow more air in,dirt will follow. Other filters are a little more forgivable,like the stock filter and pre cleaner or even Uni foam filters,but you have to maintain them frequently also if you're in very dusty,dirty conditions ! OPT

 

If you ride in sand or anything that leaves a dust trail behind you you don't want a k&N on your machine. Even with a prefilter. Like OPT said if you get more air thru the filter and into the motor the dirt that comes with it is free(until the rebuild). If you decide you can't live without one absolutely get the prefilter and clean it after almost every ride. K&N say they filter better when dirty and all that stuff and for street vehicles they're great, but I bought ONE for my bike and will never buy anything else for any of mine besides UNI.

 

I agree with the above posters about th dusty condions...I had one when my machine was new and went on a poker run in very dusty conditions and half way thru the day my machine would hardly run.. The dust caked up very bad on filter hat is was jst about plugged up...I am sure a pre filter would have helped ut at the time I ws not running one...I switched back to stock since...

John

 

Only one way to get more air flow, and that is through bigger holes and/or thinner filtering material. (guess that's two ways) That means more crap is getting through to your engine. If you don't have major performance upgrades then the paper OEM filter with pre filter is about as good as it gets for protecting your engine.

 

well my wife thought she would do me a favor because i said i was looking at K&N filter for the quad , so she thought it would make a nice Christmas present so she ordered me one yesterday with out telling me , untill i told her i was not going to get one, so would it be ok to run it till summer when it gets dry outside , because for what it cost just don't want to put it on a shelf for looks.

 

Use it. Just keep it clean. Should be easy to do now.

 

Only one way to get more air flow, and that is through bigger holes and/or thinner filtering material.

 

Have owned Polaris Atv's since 1987 and have been running K&N filters in them since the early nintys..Also in My car and truck...Have yet to have a problem due to an air filter...Of course I preform regular maintance on them as I do all my rides..

 

Couldn't have said it better.