I have a 07 XC90 3.2AWD with 39,000KM. Has anyone installed a K&N performance air filter? I’m curious to find out if it will make a difference (gas mileage, responsiveness or acceleration). In addition, has anyone had reliability issues after installing the K&N performance air filter? I know after replacing two standard air filters it will pay for itself so I’m not too concerned about the price. Any feedback would be appreciated. </SPAN>
</SPAN>

 

Little difference will be noticed, it will let more air through but will not filter as good as the paper. You probably will not notice anything. After awhile the K&N will develop small holes, but I guess it is under a lifetime warranty.

So lets see, air filter is about $15, k&n is about $50-$60.


You change it lets say every 30k miles, the paper one. The K&N you may have to clean at 40k, and the kit to clean it I believe is around $10-$15. So I guess it pays for itself over 120k miles or more because it already has the paper one in there to begin with.

There is a lot of debate everywhere on this.

 

The K&N decreases the airflow resistance resulting in a increase in performance, but you never get anything for free. The only way to let air flow better is to give it bigger holes to go through. This means more dirt will get in your engine. There is no way around it. Additionally the K&N requires more maintenance, and should be oiled more often than every 40K. Excess oil on the filter can cause issues with the MAF. For the risk/reward I personally would stick with the stock filter.