So i bought a K&N the other day, but i didn't get to install it until yesterday...this is funny. I am a good person when it comes to my car...take it to the Audi dealership and everything. I always get the oil changed when it needs to be...i mean everything...on time. My point is that i open up my air filter housing and pull the old one out and i look inside and see TONS of trash...bandaid wrappers, leaves, all sorts of stuff...here is the kicker...i JUST had it replaced about three months ago. Needless to say, when i cleaned it out and put in the k&n, my car drove 100% better. I dont think i can even put into words how much better. Anyway...i have used K&N filters in my other vehicles and i love them, but in my Audi, i have already seen a huge increase in performance. The moral to the story is that the audi dealerships are definitely not the best in my area.

 

Best of luck with your K&N, but you might want to invest in a can of MAF sensor cleaner from your local parts store and ensure you have the security bit to take it out to clean it. The oil residue from the K&Ns has been known to cause havoc with our MAF sensors, so a little prevenative medicine should go a long way.

Most people that own K&Ns don't see any performance or mileage increase from a stock paper filter, but if yours was that dirty then yes you should see a difference. Just be sure to clean that thing every 10,000 miles or so and it should last a lifetime. Unfortunately they aren't as effective in the A6 as many other cars, but if you properly maintain it, the least you can do is safe a few bucks on paperfilters.

 

This is one thing that i cant understand. Bchena1313, you said that you K&N work fine, which i Believe you because i used them in my other cars too, but others say that they dont work too good in the A6. My question is to anyone that wants to answer it. why is it that they work in other cars very well, but not in the A6 when all cars need air to breath? This isnt the first time this topic has been brought up. I'm starting to think that the people that have negitive thing to say about them are just Haters.

 

Check this out....

https://www.audiforums.com/m_13265/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm

 

The K&N is a fine filter. The problem is people over oiling them and the oil getting on the MAF. I have used K&N in my A6 for 3 years now and never an issue. I still can't understand why this keeps coming up. It is completely user error!

OOOO

 

The reason why a K&N filter doesn't make a huge difference in ours cars is because the stock airbox is already VERY efficient. Thats why people who even replace the stock airbox with a cold air intake dont even really see gains. On Japanese cars like hondas, they see such a good increase because apparently the stock designs suck. But there have been many people that have tested and found that a cold air intake/K&N drop in filter will give you marginal to nogains, its mostly for the sound of the turbos, or in the case of A4's the DV's can be loud too..

 

I wouldn't run a K+N on a car if you gave it to me. They let just way too much dust thru and into the engine. We run them on our grass drag sleds and you can't believe what the intakes look like. They do not rob power and that is why we use them in competition. The race engines are rebuilt all the time, so longetivity is not a factor. We only put them on to keep out the big stuff and win races. Better than no filter which makes maximum power. I would NEVER put one on any of my vehicles however.

 

I completely agree with KnappAttack, after doing an oil analysis on my Saab 9k years ago one oil change after putting in the the k&n, the amount of dirt in the oil skyrocketed. So much so that Blackstone told me I needed to start changing my oil sooner. The filter comes pre-oiled, and the filter was brand new so was the oil. I have never bought another k&n filter since, why bother when you need to change your oil more often and it is letting more dirt into your engine for very little in return. But each users experience will be different.