I noticed in another thread that someone said you get about 30HP increase using one of these in an E55.

I have an E500.. Does using an air filter "really" give you more power.. I am sure someone in this forum has tested this.

Thanks.

 

Don't know about a 500, but it's documented to give a few HP on the 55's. At least, the W211's. Less of an increase I'm sure, on the normally aspirated cars. If you go K&N, be careful. Improper oiling or cleaning can destroy the filter and allow dirt to pass through.

 

Word in the C32 area is that before and after dyno tests w/o and with K&N air filters proved no noticable gain. Apparently the stock filters are pretty good. I'd assume they use similar composition (same company) filters in other MB models...

 

I dyno'ed before and after K&N filters and i have a w210 e55 and i have 10 hp increase.

 

I assume that is as measured at the tires. Tests on the same day?

 

yes at the wheels same day 20 mins apart the runs.

 

i added the KN system to my 4-runner and there definitely was a noticeable power increase. the acceleration off the line and power increase when up at highway speeds was definitely noticeable.

however, i changed out the entire air intake portion of the air filtration system. the filters look entirely different from before and after. essentially the difference between sucking down a drink through a coffee stirrer and a mcdonalds straw.

for the E55, i was deliberating the same change, but it seems that all you do for the E55 is swap out the actual filter itself. while i could imagine this would allow the slightly higher flow of air. if there is a difference between factory filter and the KN filter, i'm not sure it would be as drastic as what I saw with my 4-runner. if you did the recleaning and re-oiling incorrectly, and dirt got into the engine, it would bea hefty price to pay for only at most 20hp. i had my local auto parts guy show me how to clean and re-oil the filter, just for peace of mind.

 

I recently installed a pair of K&N's in my W211 E55. The throttle response is faster and the revs rise faster. Its hard to notice if it pulls any harder because the car is already so powerful but it gave me noticeably better driveability. Worth the $ and time if you ask me. The K&N part number for the 211 E55 filters is 33-2859. They are $100 so it cant hurt.


Also!!! If anyone does get the K&N's, THOROUGHLY inspect each side of the filtering element of each filter. I removed 3 or 4 shards of metal from each filter's element. They were small pieces of the metal screens K&N uses. The filters come pre-oiled and sealed in plastic so this happens sometime during the manufacturing process. The last thing you want is induction of metal shards from your filters!

 

wow velocit! that sounds pretty scary...and wheres the quality...makes me think twice

 

I gave the filters a very good inspection with a magnification loop once I pulled the visible shards out. There were no more and im confident that the filters went in clean and are no threat now. Had I put them in as they came, I might have had some serious problems to say the least. I agree, wheres the quality...theres no excuse for that!