Hi Kai:
There is certainly a lot of information missing from that report. None
of the prep condition was described. Things like: Were the K&Ns clean
out of the box (meaning no oil)? If so then the results would not be
worth much since K&N filters work differently than other types and
actually only work well when slightly dirty. So, It's not surprising
that the numbers start low and then go up with dirtiness; that's how
they work. Etc...
Anyway, if I got a lab report back looking like that, I'd send it back
for re-writing.
Mark
1972 TR6 with K&Ns so perhaps I am biased too...
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Kai M. Radicke
Sent: February 15, 2006 1:15 PM
To: Richard Seaton; 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [TurboBoard] Re: Green Air Filter K&N Independent test
> Interesting facts published on the Turbo Board. If these tests
> are accurate then it makes me wonder if my Triple throat
> K&N's are only catching .............kangaroo's?
My first thought is, what facts? Facts usually have an identifiable
source,
the forwarded email gives some figures, but since I have no idea where
they
came from, I would hardly call those figures facts.
So there is no source to verify the information, which is problem number
one. Then you must consider "who would benefit from trying to muddy
K&N's
name and reputation?", well of course the answer is, another filter
manufacturer or a dealer selling another brand of filter.
Which is precisely what is behind all of this. The guy that originally
posted that K&N information is a BMW aftermarket performance guy, he
sells
filters too - ITG FOAM filters! Of course he now has to find a means to
sell these foam filters to BMW owners who - like most of us - have
learned
over the years that K&Ns are quite good filters.
So Mr. Conforti (the BMW performance parts guy) decides to try and
discourage BMW owners from buying K&N filters, by sending out a K&N
filter
to some unknown lab to run some tests. Here are the original results of
the
test, that he posted on his website:
http://www.sharked.com/pdfs/K&N_test.pdf
Some graphs, some more figures, a diagram of the testing apparatus. No
letterhead, no phone numbers, no names, nothing to ID the testing
source.
Which means, we have no way of verifying if any of this information or
disinformation is correct. I have a difficult time just trying to
figure
out what the hand written scribble is, that is written all over those
lab
results from some unknown lab.
It is at this point my BS-filter has become clogged, due to the
excessive
amount of BS that is attempting to infiltrate my brain. My conclusion
is
that the anti-K&N post is simply the work of someone trying to establish
another brand of filter, and capture some market share. ITG filters may
have a hand in this as well. Of course the dealer's only benefit is the
selling of more BMW filters. ITG benefits by association, simply
because if
they encouraged this disinformation in anyway, they knew the anti-K&N
propaganda would travel across the internet and result in 1) some people
not
buying K&N filters 2) potentially more people to buy ITG filters.
Kai
|