So several months ago I bought another KN171 black filter for my 2014 Ultra. When installing it I barely got a thread to catch before I seated the gasket. Thinking someone put the wrong filter in the box I brought it back to the store and got the right one. The issue was the flange on the filter was flat rather than dimpled up towards the seal. No harm new filter and I'm back riding. Well last week while servicing my bike I pick up a new KN171 and same issue. So I call K&N because this can't be right I mean when fully seated there's barely one thread holding this thing onto the Motor. Well to my shock the tech from K&N as nice as can be tells me yes that's their new and improved design. That yes you'll get maybe one full turn on the threads and your good to go.

He said he'd understand if I'm not comfortable with that and I'm free to return the filter and use another brand.

I was floored. Well my degree in engineering and metallurgy tells me barely one thread on an oil filter is a design flaw not a new an improved design.

Sorry K&N but you lost a life long client.

 

With your background, I'm guessing you'd be impressed with one of the permanent filter options currently available. I'm personally not into em for the false economy or to save the planet, they're just plain better at filtering plus you get to see the innards before you install em and at every change thereafter. Yep, they use all available threads too.

 

I use Hi Flo racing filters. Nut on top of filter for easy removal, been using them for a decade with no issues whatsoever. Just another option......

 

I like "permanents" because, being rated in "absolute" terms, they actually filter what the ratings say they filter, rather than merely being capable of reducing particles of a stated size by 50%, after multiple ??? passes, while simultaneously passing untold numbers of un-targeted large particles which are simply ignored during the test. Under a "nominal" rating system, the 20 micron filters of yesterday have become the 5 micron filters of today with no physical change being made to the filters. They don't filter out 5 micron particles, or 20 micron particles or 100 micron particles for that matter. If snake oil is a thing of the past, snake filters certainly aren't.

If you don't know your filter's "absolute" rating, you don't know ****; not with respect to your oil filter that is.

Absolute vs Nominal,,, Google it,,,,check it out.

 

If you aren`t using them anymore, how could you ever consider yourself a life long client ?

 

i ran into a problem with purolator filters for my car. pay attention to the louvers stamped into the inside of the filters, some are not opened up eough causing a low flow problem. i look into ever filter i buy now to make sure they are open. i prefer to use the filters that have holes in them. HD and gm filters have these.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Between the chrome finish peeling and the nuts breaking off, I've had enough of them anyway.