What are some of the positives and negatives. Do you have to clean a K+N more than a foam? Does a K+N breath better, resulting in more HP? Thanks in advance.

 

I have a K&N on all my quads (minus the blaster).

As far as breathing better, I am sure the K&N does. My biigest reason for the switch was cleaning and oiling. I usually clean the filters after every race. Now I am not one to shy away from grease and oil (been covered in the stuff many times doing work) but the faom filters just bothered me.

Cleaning the K&N is real easy. But putting on the oil is what I love. Just spray it on. End of story. I can easily see where I missed.

As for filtering, I have yet to have a problem. I ran the 250R without an airbox lid and without a snorkel. Of course I use an Outerwears Filter cover. In my last race, it was a mud fest. Puddles and mud everywhere. When I looked at the filter after each moto, (Under the outerwear) it still looked like new.

If you search the forums you will see a lot of debaate about filters. Read up on all the talk and decide for yourself which suits our needs.

 

I had a uni foam on my 400ex. After an all day ride I took it off to clean it and there was dirt in my air intake! It was properly oiled. Now I have a k&n and havent had any probs. I run the air box lid off, So my filters need cleaning after every ride.

 

I used K&N filters for years. I changed to the Uni Filter at the suggestion of Toomey Racing, USA. BIG MISTAKE! Had the same experience as Jason above. Went right back to the K&N and will never question which is more effective again.

By the way, I have been dealing with Stuart Toomey since the T-3 days (1993) and his advice, service and products have always been great. For years he swore by the K&N filter then overnight he switched to Uni. I corresponded with Mr. Toomey on this issue and he acted like he had never heard of K&N, much less sold their filters. His responses were uncharacteristically blunt. I have always known him to be extremely affable and congenial. I came away feeling as though the reason for the switch wasn't necessarily based on the superior performance of one filter over the other.

 

Hmm, I have had quite the opposite experience & recently rebuilt my engine because of it.

Time for a little test. Take an oiled K&N, hold it into the sunlight, look inside. You will see lots of sunlight shining thru.

Now take a dry OEM or UNI, hold it into the sunlight, nothing but darkness.

Allow common sense to be your guide.

 

Suit yourself. I know what I saw. My carbs were dirty. Never had that problem with K&N. Don't forget, I DID change from K&N to Uni. Ran the K&N for 5 seasons and never once saw any accumulation of dirt in the carb bores. Ran the Uni for 2 runs into the desert and the lower bores were coated with dust. I'm not trying to convince anyone to change. Really don't care to. Don't have stock in either company. It's your motor and your decision to make. The gent that started this thread wanted opinions and I gave him one.

 

No offense, I did the same, there is additional evidence all over the web, from dirt bike applications to heavy equipment used in dusty environments, as well as warnings from many prominent race engine builders. I just gave my feedback with a little test to back up my claims, try it sometime, personally I don't like seeing beams of sunlight passing thru my filter.

I am not affiliated with any aftermarket comanies either, if you'll look around, for over the past year I've been giving the straight scoop on products I have been in contact with, good or bad.

K&N filters flow well, they don't filter well. If they work well enough in your application, more power to ya, in racing conditions in heavy dust, they simply do not work well enough & passed enough dust over the course of 2 or 3 races (with an open air box) to necessitate an engine rebuild on a 4 stroke.

Do you use an outerwears or filtercharger? I didn't, I had a problem with the theory of having to run a filter on my high dollar filter. I also had a problem with the repeated warnings in the documentation about dusty conditions.

Further, I did several timed drag races with 2 separate bikes, changing filters on both, in both applications, the filter required no change in jetting and provided no increase in ET's. Simply not worth the exposure (nor the rebuild on the 2000 model machine it caused).

On street applications I feel that they are fine, in dusty conditions, I feel that they are sub par. With an outerwears they are probably ok, but why spend $50+ on something that might pass dirt and offers little to no performance increase except possibly on an extremely modified machine? In 20 years of riding I haven't had a foam type filter pass dirt unless it was deteriorating & falling apart.

BTW, you mention "toomy" and "carbs" -- are we talking a Banshee? What is the possibility that your UNI filter wasn't sealing properly? Aren't Banshee's notorious for their poor air cleaner setup & not sealing properly?

Just one guy's experience. Do the test, make up your own mind. I probably won't change your mind, and you certainly won't change mine, just hoping to get people that are riding the fence to do some checking & testing so that they can make an informed decision.

 

As I stated in my earlier post, I have done the test and RETURNED to K&N. I didn't invest $80 in 2 Uni filters(They are for sale, 2 filters w/outer foam wraps for $40)just so I could say that Uni doesn't work for my application! I wanted it to work! Uni filters will last a lifetime, whereas K&N's need to be replaced after 24 to 25 cleanings. I got this along with the cleaning instructions directly from the K&N website. I clean my filter after every trip, so you can see why I wanted the Uni Filter to work.

Yes, I ride a '94 Banshee and no, I don't have the stock airbox setup. I use the Toomey 2:1 airfilter setup with a K&N and prefilter. Works great! By the way, I also used the prefilter on the Uni Filter as well. I have 5 seasons on my quad and will be redoing the top end for the first time after this season. Just as a precaution, the compression is still at factory specs. I ride 90% of the time at Glamis and the rest in the desert here in Phoenix.

 

Good points made by both sides.....

I had a Uni Filter but the sticky foam filter oil
caught sand grains in the Dunes and choked it up.
In other words, it was doing what it was supposed to. After changing to the K&N, and using an Outerwares pre-filter, I can run for a week without being worried. The K&N tightens down really well into the filter grease that I always run in a bead around the sealing surface within the airbox. I know lots of folks that run a foam filter in the dirt and dust and carry a spare, ready-to-use clean one in a big zip-lock baggie.
But when they go to the Dunes, they switch to a K&N Filter. my 2 cents.

Flyin' Ryan

 

I will get a K&N simply because it's not necessary to take a gas shower after each ride.
We're talking air filters, so I have a question.
Does anyone use the Alba banshee airbox lid? That'd be sweet, water protection and as much flow as no lid (as advertised).
Anyone tried it? Does it fit on stock airbox (or do I have to buy the 200$ aluminium airbox..BTW what's in there?)