K&N Oil Filters BEWARE!!!

[the Ferret]

I confess, I just dont understand the rationale for using anything but OEM oil and air filters. While oil is universally rated and held to specific standards that allow us to use different brands, Dyno or Full Syn, according to our own personal preferences, I am not aware of equally universal standards that apply to oil and air filters.

I have always used OEM oil and air filters exclusively. The Honda engineers that designed the engine called for a specific Honda part so that is what I am going to use, particularly if the engine is under warranty. I suppose a case could be made for using aftermarket air and oil filters after the factory warranty on the engine has expired, but why, and for what perceived advantage? To save a few bucks per filter for the maintenance of an expensive engine? For me the answer is no thanks. Is any brand oil or air filter going to do the job better than OEM, I doubt it.

Much ado has been made of the "nut" feature on the end of the infamous K&N filter. I suppose there might be a benefit to this feature in an application where the filter was so hard to get at with other tools that it made sense to use, but I cant think of any such situations at the moment. Thankfully the oil filters on our CBs are a piece of cake to get to with a cup wrench, filter pliers, or if all else fails the old mechanics trick of driving a rod or Phillips screw driver through the filter to use as leverage to twist/break loose/ and un screw for removal. Maybe the K&N "nut" feature is supposed to save the expense of buying a cup wrench or filter pliers, pre supposing that most people will already have the right size socket, box or open end wrench? If that is the case I would fall back on the old adage "use the right tool for the job", and buy the right tool. Unless the cost of the right tool is prohibitive, it makes more sense to me to use the right tool than substituting a modified part. Given that cup wrenches and filter pliers are very inexpensive, and are a worthwhile addition to any tool box, I dont see any inherent K&N advantage there either.

This is another "to each his own" topic, and this is just my two cents for what it is worth.

Just for the heck of it I am going to quote the "oil expert" over on the FJR forum

""Synthetic" is not a performance specification. Its a manufacturing technique and no assurance of quality or superiority. Just as forging, billet, and cast are manufacturing techniques for aluminum components and none are inherently always superior no matter what over another.

A superior motor oil can be made using synthetic methods but the use of synthetic methods is no assurance of a superior motor oil.

There are no respectable industry performance certifications which specify or require "synthetic." There are many such certifications for which nothing but a synthetically manufactured motor oil passed, but that is far from saying any or all synthetic motor oils are capable.

You are biting the marketing line, hook, line, and sinker. Synthetic motor oil is primarily designed to move cash from your pocket and put it into the manufacturer's pocket. Marketing wants you to accept that synthetic is always inherently The Best And Worth Every Penny, all the while not doing anything to back their assertion.

Synthetic, synthetic, synthetic, synthetic .... say it often enough in the hopes consumers will believe it and demand "synthetic" for no other reason than they "heard its best!"

As I've already said, a superior motor oil can be made using synthetic processes but synthetic processes do not ensure a superior product. The designer not only has to know what constitutes a superior product but has to be willing to make a superior product. ......with oils, it all matters as to what one is trying to make. The problem is that marketing strives to hide this from us.

Most any oil bearing a modern industry standards certification will be an excellent oil. SAE/API, JASO, ILSAC, ACEA, etc."

Now I have no idea if this guy know of which he speaks, but he repeats this often (you should hear his speech about tires "cupping" lol).

I use Honda GN4 dino and oe filter in my CB and Yamalube and oe filter in my FJR. Good enough for Honda and Yamaha to recommend them, good enough for me. I ride a lot of miles, nearly 1/4 million just since 2006 when I started keeping track and 41 years of nearly daily riding prior to that which I didn't log. No issues yet using the oil and filters recommended by the manufacturer that made the motorcycle.