I am looking to replace the insight standard air filter with a new air filter that I can clean myself, but would also perform better then OEM such as more power at WOT and/or better removal of dirt particles.
I have looked at K/N filters, but after seeing some of there filters, it just makes me worry as it looks like more dirt would past through the filter then standard OEM filters. I was looking in to foam filters and found a company that looks like they make a standard replacement for the insight.
Those foam ones look pretty cool. I know there is another performance filter brand in the US, the filters are green and I think they are called green monster or something. They have better flow than K&N and I think they filter to a smaller size particle. They are also cleanable like K&Ns. I'll repost with the specific brand name if I can find it, but they should be pretty common.
In the RX-7 world, there is a particular company that make a foam filter for all generations of RX-7. That filter is the worst filter I have ever seen. Massive buildups of dirt is visible in the intake tract of every car I have seen with this filter installed. Because the pores in the foam are so large, dirt easily bypasses the filter. The foam has also been known to break up and get sucked into the engine.
And yes on all counts, they have better air flow than K&N, they filter to a smaller particle size than K&N, and they are (according to the site) easier to clean and will last much longer than K&N.
They say they have a lifetime warranty.
They are NOT foam, they are cotton like K&N. But the green filters are woven cotton which after reading the info sheet does make it sound a lot better than cotton gauze.
The K&N is already a lifetime filter. It might be hard to last longer then that.
The real question is whether flow actually matters or not. If you are looking to remove restrictions in the intake, you need to look at other areas like the fresh air inlet tube and tube to the throttle body. Being long and with a narrow diameter, they are quite restrictive. Any aftermarket filter will do fine as long as it's not foam, because the engine can only flow so much air, which is far less then the filter is capable of.
This is true of any aftermarket intake. Most of what you see is hype.
and when you consider thet most insighters are trying to drive with the smallest possible throttle opening to maintain speed, the filter is even less of an issue.
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2000 Silver MT Insight
WAI, HTR200, Kenwood MP3 head unit, 3 MTX stealth subs, very-high-mounted 4th brakelight, yellow-top, tinted, SG2, MIMA, center armrest.
Foam air filters have the best filtering capability. I can’t speak for the mentioned brand but, don’t discount a foam filter properly designed and oiled. I have raced and ridden off-road motorcycles for the past 24 years. K&N filters have a bad reputation in the desert. Their hard rubber/urethane sealing surfaces require too much pressure from a plastic air box to seal well (sealing grease helps here). The filter element is too coarse to use with out an Outerware. I’ve seen many K&N filters and some foam filters allow fine dust to pass through. A bare K&N filter will even allow some fine sand to get through. The only solution we as racers have found is to use dual density foam filter with thick sticky foam filter oil such as Twin Air and sealing grease around all sealing surfaces. With that being said, you may ask what I run in the Insight. I use a K&N filter. The ease of maintenance and availability of the K&N make it my choice for the street. Now if I were to build an Insight rally car, that would be another story. I don’t know the quality of the foam filters in question but if properly prepped a quality foam filter will out filter everything out there. I can’t speak for horsepower but my guess would be the K&N would make more power than everything else being that is does flow well (dust and sand included). Please post your results.
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RaidHP foam air filter for insight
