A few months back I dropped a K&N air filter in my 2011 Max. It was a snug fit. I lubed up the K&N gasket a little because the air filter housing was a little difficult to close. That worked well.
Sometimes can't know for sure if a simple upgrade is making the car any better, but, yes, it does seem to feel a little better in terms of power.
And, it's hard to believe but my highway MPG went from approx. 27, to over 28.
Any thoughts if I should go to the next level and put on the cold air intake K&N?
Thanks.
Mike
btw, I have been using Mobil1 5-30 full synthetic, and a Hastings oil filter. I LOVE this engine. Especially at highway speeds, it feels like it can hold it's own and more, and it does.

 

Just keep in mind that K&N filters will allow more dirt into your engine then a standard paper filter.

More air = More dirt. Theres no getting around that.

 

In my 96 Max I ran both a Jim Wolf Technology pop charger (same material as K&N) & a drop in K&N....that car went over 235K miles. The engine was still smooth & pulled hard.

 

Not sure how you came to this conclusion since he is talking about a drop in and the K&N is built better than a paper filter with a mesh and oil besides the paper to stop more particulate???

 

Great to hear. As far as adding a short ram intake, you will get more air flow and a louder engine bay. There are a lot of threads you can look up on the pros and cons of them. IMO, I'm a fan of the SRI as they get rid of the stock airbox and sound better, maybe more seat of your pants horsepower too! People on here say the low end suffers but getting in the revband it pulls a little harder. Low end is hard to quantify as you have to keep in mind the CVT needs to be learned a bit.

 

I have a racing background and have built a fair amount of engines.

Any filter that allows more air through will allow more dirt. Theres no way around it. The dirt is suspended in the air...

An oil analysis will prove it. Any fleet manager will tell you paper filters keep the engine cleaner...

 

There are acceptable and unacceptable levels of pass through with particulates in the air into your engine. A paper air filter is a singular layer of protection whereas some of the better quality aftermarket filters have several layers of protection to offset increase airflow. Not sure that because "it works and allows more air through it must allow more dirt through is a good argument". To each his own. As far as your racing background, a lot of real race cars will run little or no filtration for air flow to increase flow and combustion rates.

 

I have used K&N and other aftermarket filter brands like the AEM Dryflow filter in my Maxima in all my prior vehicles. I drive roughly 35,000+ miles a year so I like to pop out the filter, blow/vacuum it out and pop it back in every 5,000 miles or so. This allows me to keep a very clean filter all the time without buying a new one.

I have no issues with K&N filters. Blackstone oil analysis reports show no evidence of raised silicon content (dirt) in K&N filters over paper filters.

 

This is because the K&N only filters about 93% as opposed to the paper filter filtering over 99% because it is a paper filter. The setback with paper filters is that they are more restrictive on air flow as apposed to cottoned filters like K&N.

 

Yep and no one has blown or ruined an engine because of aftermarket or cotton filter. Game, set and match

 

Agree....an airflow increase without a contaminant increase. I had my oil checked via Blackstone analysis and showed no contaminate issues. The other plus is you maintain the factory designed stock cold air system.

 

I bought my Stillen intake for a good price. If it wasn't for that, I would be using the stock setup with a K&N drop in filter.

 

Thanks for the input Irish. True about the low end also. In general I feel my 2011 max is best and most impressive while on the move...highways speeds.

 

Thanks to all for the input.

 

Very helpful info...thanks.

 

Absolutely.

 

Yeah I'm running an Apexi drop in filter and I love it. Before I was running the R2C but wanted to try something new. I actually prefer the look of the stock box in the engine bay as well.

But In regards to everything else, you will not notice anything bad or any noticeable increase in contamination because 93% is still great!

If anyone doesn't want the oiled filter from K&N check out Apexi. They make great filters and from the reviews/comparison, they beat out K&N and everyone else. Filter is about $30 and last for 15,000 miles though

 

From what I've read, a dirty K&N keeps the air cleaner than a clean and oiled K&N...

 

Ive used K&N air filters on race engines before. No issues. But a true race engine will have a rebuild schedule attached to it.

Your average maxima engine does not...

 

Um, ok.