K & N air filter

[seaair77]

I own a 2013 diesel (4 motion) Tiguan.

I nwould like to replace the stock air filkter and replace it with the K & N.

Has anyone done it? If so, is there a performance difference?

Is the air filter located with the square housing near the front right of the engine bay.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mark

[Bambazonke]

I looked at this option some time ago for my diesel Tiguan and 320d and sought the advice of a very good mate of mine who sells/services turbos for cars truck etc. My friend served his time with a company in the UK called Turbo Dynamics building hybrid turbos for racing teams for all makes including VW. He told me NOT to do it as the cotton filter in the std replacement filter is unable to cope with the large volume of air sucked in by a turbo charged engine. Fine dust particles will be simply sucked through! The life span of the turbo will be halved were his exact words. His advice was if I wanted to do this was to get a K&N kit suitable for a turbo charged engine that has sufficient surface area to cater for the volume of air sucked when engine is under boost conditions

[Lucas_R]

K & N air filter

I recently purchased a AFE Pro Dry S panel filter for my Mk6 GTI (same airbox as the TDI's as far as im aware) and its a MUCH better filter than the K&N's. When i say better, the filter material was denser/thicker than K&N, the filter was deeper (more filtering area) and it fitted perfectly in the box. Ive always used K&N filters previously, but ill be buying AFE from now on.

You can get the AFE (Air Flow Engineering) filters from USA via ebay or online stores like ECS Tuning, and they are available in several variations depending on what you want - dry filter (best for our cars with MAF sensors) or oiled filters.

Part # 31-10172

This is a dry filter, not an oiled filter - therefore no risk of damaging your MAF sensor.

AFE Pro Dry S air filters are oil free. They have two layers of randomly porous synthetic fabric filter media that provides 99.2% filtration efficiency while allowing high air flows for improved performance. Suitable for street use or in dusty areas.

The filter's tall rounded pleats promote air flow, and have a large holding capacity that extends service intervals. The expanded metal screen reinforcement supporting the filter media prevents filter element collapse under boost. This dry filter can be washed repeatedly. Its polyurethane end seals are durable to withstand repeated use and high engine compartment temperatures.

Air filter service at recommended intervals lets an engine breathe properly while protecting it from costly damage. Air filters should be inspected and replaced as needed, at least once a year, more often if the vehicle is driven in heavily polluted or dusty conditions.

[seaair77]

Thank you for your reply.

Much appreciated.

Mark

[seaair77]

Lucas-R

I appreciate your response.

Thank you.

[li21]

any noticeable improvement to consumption, performance or sound with one of these AFE filters?

[MGV]

I had one (VWRacing) on for a year & noticed a little more sound, no better or worse consumption & most likely a placebo performance gain... There might be a small gain, but not what is claimed by the manufacturers marketing departments.

[CardinalSin]

I fitted a K and N for a while but was impressed by the OEM filter I took out. It was very deep and offered a massive surface area to the airflow, far bigger than any other filter I had pulled out. By the seat of the pants I favoured the OEM filter too.
The filter intake must be well placed because it was almost spotless in the filter housing, as was the filter itself.
Without checking I think the service interval is 60,000km and that reflects the design quality that went into this.

Having said that I crave some more induction noise which I enjoy. The engine is super quiet and the induction noise is there but muted. If the OEM setup wasn't so good it would be tempting to change it but I think any mods would be negative in this case?

[Transporter]

I agree the VW stock filter is very good and offers a good protection for the engine.

[fergo308]

Has anyone tried BMC's air filters? They are the same style of wet-oiled filter as the K&N's but are made in Italy.
They also offer a straight-feed carbon airbox model in addition to the usual panel filter for the Tig.

VOLKSWAGEN | TIGUAN | Products Results | BMC AIR FILTERS

Justin...

[Transporter]

When altering the factory air filter make sure that the filter is able to trap the dust particles, as some aftermarket filters will allow a lot of dirt to be swallowed by the engine. So the short 0.5kW power increase will be forever lost (with a big interest) very soon when your engine is prematurely worn out.

Those filtering efficiency figures quoted can be very tricky, since they don't say the micron size of the particles the filter is able to filtrate out.