[Scott B]

I did some air filter testing today at Harman Motive using their AWD Mustang Dyno which, by the way, is encased in a fabulous steel cell with tons of air moving through it. It's truly the nicest dyno setup I've ever seen. Anyway, on to the testing.

It should be noted that my car, a 2008 335xi Coupe, has a JuiceBox (JB2) and has the secondary cats removed from an otherwise stock exhaust.

The testing was performed today. Boost was sampled from the BOV "T," while AFR was sampled using an Innovate LM-1 from the right-side tailpipe. 3 runs were done per filter, with two minutes cool-down time inbetween each run. The 3rd run from each test is displayed below, though there wasn't much different from the first two (using the 3rd because the car was heated up identically for this run and so that adaptation would be likely complete). Several wide open throttle pulls were made starting from various RPMs and gears prior to testing on each filter in order encourage proper adaptation.

Here are the results:
Stock vs K&N - K&N gained 5whp with essentially the same torque as stock.

Stock vs Helene - Helene gained 13whp and about 5wtq across the curve, though no more peak torque than stock.

Helene vs K&N - Helene gained 8whp and about 3wtq across the curve.

Stock vs K&N (K&N is dotted line)


Stock vs Helene (Helene is dotted line)


Helene vs K&N (K&N is dotted line)


Because of these test results, Harman Motive will be carrying the Helene Performance Streamline filter for the 335. They should have them in stock within the next month, though pricing is still TBD.

Congrats to Helene Performance for a truly impressive air filter!

[J BONE]

Where can we buy these? I was thinking about getting the K&N.

[J BONE]

Maybe I should click on the underlined stuff.

[jadeddjay]

i wonder how bmc fares

[Scott B]

Originally Posted by J BONE

Where can we buy these? I was thinking about getting the K&N.

They aren't out yet, though Harman will be stocking them as soon as they are. I had a prototype unit to test today.

[Scott B]

Originally Posted by jadeddjay

i wonder how bmc fares

I had planned to test the BMC today as well, but our local supplier didn't have them in stock. However, as soon as they're available, I'll run the test again and include BMC.

[jadeddjay]

i appreciate your doing this

cant wait to see the bmc results

[Spazdoc]

That Helene curve above 4200 rpm does not look so good. Am I right?

[eecc]

helene looks like it lost power over stock

[eecc]

actually comparing the lsat two graphs you posted KN vs helene twice

[Spazdoc]

I noticed that as well, but they have different file names, so unsure which dyno is correct.

Witrh such close numbers, I would not entirely trust "K&N appears better than stock, and Helene is better than K&N, so Helene must be better than stock."

I would like to see the correct dynos. But thanks for posrting these up.

[Scott B]

Sorry about the mixup. The correct graphs are posted now. I had posted the same one twice the first time.

[doku]

Originally Posted by J BONE

Where can we buy these? I was thinking about getting the K&N.

You can get the K&N through amazon.


Mr.5 has been touting the Helene for a few weeks now. He'll be happy to read this.

[hl0m4n]

nice to see dyno tests

[ChaneRZ]

i just installed my k&n last week. great filter. more noise than stock filter. you could hear ( barely/faint ) the air being sucked.

[Driver72]

In what order did you do the runs?

Was it:

Stock
Helene
K&N

or

In all fairness, whichever filter was last it would have the biggest disadvantage as with only 2 minutes cool down between runs.
The last filter would of been done after many runs and WOT pulls for "adaptation" as you noted.
In that case, the last filter and last 3 runs your engine was way hotter than the earlier runs.
Unless you allowed 10-15 minutes cool down in between each filter change and subsequent pulls.

If the Helene filter was the last tested then it's really impressive.
But my bet is it wasn't and the K&N was tested last.
If that's the case, as I've said before, with drop ins they will probably all produce within 3-5 rwhp gains over stock.
If the Helene was tested first and the K&N last, the test was very skewed without proper cool down between filter tests so the engine temps are roughly the same for all.

Thanks.

[M&M]

Look like the runs were done at these times:

- K&N 1st at 15h26
- Helene 2nd, 20mins later at 15h45
- Stock last 22mins later at 16h07

But of course we don't know if there were any runs done in-between those.

[Mr. 5]

I've been a huge supporter of the Helene Performance filter ever since I saw noticeable differences between the K&N cone filter and the Helene cone filter that I used on my e46 M3.

These filters are not only great with flow, but the filtration is far better than any other performance filter. In fact the filtration meets the ISO standards of BMW's OEM filter.

I'm extremely happy with the HP filter.

[Sparky66]

Originally Posted by M&M

Look like the runs were done at these times:

- K&N 1st at 15h26
- Helene 2nd, 20mins later at 15h45
- Stock last 22mins later at 16h07

But of course we don't know if there were any runs done in-between those.

Good observation.

As Driver72 stated, it might be beneficial to test the Stock filter first then allow for proper cool down. Next I would test the K&N - cool down again and finally test the Helene. This probably would balance out any disadvantages.

Throwing in an interesting test by including the BMC and ITG filter, I would test in this order :

1.) Stock
2.) ITG
3.) K&N
4.) BMC
5.) Helene

Obviously in this order based on my assumption of least to most gains.



.

[Scott B]

Originally Posted by M&M

Look like the runs were done at these times:

- K&N 1st at 15h26
- Helene 2nd, 20mins later at 15h45
- Stock last 22mins later at 16h07

But of course we don't know if there were any runs done in-between those.

This is the correct order. Cool-down time inbetween along with some WOT pulls to try and adapt. The oil temp needle was in the same place for all of the posted pulls (i.e. I did try and equalize the conditions).

[RiXst3r]

curious to see how the BMC would stack up in there...

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

curious to see how the BMC would stack up in there...

I'm curious also.
I'm sure the performance is good but the filtration doesn't come close to the Helene Performance.

Blaine was telling me that BMC uses 5-6 plys of cotton for their filter while Helene uses 8 plys.