First let me say I respect your choice to use the other filter. It's decent too however I can find you posts and vendors on the M3 forums for example where I used to belong saying the same about K&N and prefer AFE. Second I think you must have googled "HKS filter problem" and just posted those links. Did you read them all?
I used to own and EVO 9 MR and was part of that forum. If you read your first link from '06, even the original poster goes on to say
Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Z1 Performance
a catch can is not going to help a heavily oiled/dirty MAF sensor - that comes from age, and lack of care in changing/cleaning the air filter - it does help though
On the HKS filters they need to be changed every 10k miles or so - very few people actually do this.
true - most are never changed
OP
I think the catch can can help reduce oil build up if you start using one from day one
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You are looking at turbo cars with blow-by and are going to have oil in the intake anyway with no catch tank in a lot of cases. HKS also sells different filters types. If you just go and buy the race one (single layer) run no under tray and not change it for 26k miles that's not reasonable expectations for the product. They have a 3 layer and it's meant to be changed in intervals. Also if you don't make sure the foam is even at the bottom of the cage you will have gaps all around letting dirt in.
Totally disregarded link 2 from 2003.
Totally disregarded link 3 which is the exact think I referenced in my reply from '99 on the Supra forums.
Link 4 from '06. Not much there except a few opinions for and against and one guy who sounds like he left the filter on so long it started to fall apart...
Link 5 skimmed over the first 2 pages. Mostly a discussion on ow they feel the HKS may not flow better than the stock induction system on a
GTR. Then there is a guy who states this about K&N:
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What you said is true, but it makes for a rather narrow reading of a filter's function:
Fpr example, paper elements have holes of various sizes - some small, some large. When the filter is new, it flows quite well because of the large holes. But after a few thousand miles, less under dusty conditions, that changes fast. Once the large holes plug up, air restriction increases.
K&N and AFE filters (my favorite) are not affected by dirt for a very long interval, because the dirt sits on top of the media, and air can move around it easily - rather like boulders at the mouth of a cave.
I am somewhat skeptical of the re-useability claim for K&N. We have strong optical and Scanning electron scopes in our R&D lab, and I examined a cleaned and re-oiled K&N. I found that the little wisps of the cotton gauze that were there when the filter was new were much less prevalent when the filter was serviced - and yes, I carefully re-oiled the filter (I was a K&N dealer as part of my Corvette company for many years). Since the filters are not expensive, I would just buy new ones.
Also, sometimes K&N's do not make good contact with the air box - the rather cheap plastisol gasketing sometimes is not tight. So I would suggest putting a dab of axle grease just inside the airbox, downwind from the filter, and then check to see if there is dirt in it. There should be very little if any. If there is, then it is likely the filter is not sealing well. K&N used to use better materials, both in the cotton and the gaskets.
AFE filters are better in the 3 areas of a gauze filter's performanceL
1) More pleats = more surface area
2) high quality gasket material
3) excellent cotton (I believe they use Egyptian cotton, the best)
www.afefilters.com
Don't know if they make one for the GT-R, but if enough of us call, they will.
My 2 cents.
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Right after a guy who says something about the flow rate of HKS, not much about filtering and it's never discussed what element they are using.
In the end again I'm not saying HKS is the best filter but I get a little annoyed at the old misinformation and just try to offer alternative info so people can make their own choice. JDW I don't blame you at all, I saw in a couple of those post the same link to the '99 filter test from the Supra forum, where by the way I also used to belong. I see can totally relate how you said you feel you don't want to take a risk after reading all that. I can understand how you came to this conclusion and run whatever you feel most confident in.
HKS could certainly do a better job about putting peoples minds to ease but I think its marketed poorly in terms of the intakes. I've run their multi-layer filer, installed it correctly and replaced it at recommended service intervals and never had an issue. That's my personal experience though. Here's a shot of one on my 600 WHP Supra, it worked fine for me and I never had a problem with dirt or oil:
