Kuen Hoong's Corner

It was the 3 years old anniversary for the Honda City VTec we owned. Since day one, I have been already thinking to drop in a K&N filter to this car but have not manage to get it done until 2 weeks ago. At first, I though it will be easier to get all these things done after warranty period is over even thought replacing a drops in K&N should not void the vehicle’s warranty. Yet, it is better to do it this way in case there are something happen and someone decided to blames on the Filter replacement.

This is not the first encounter with K&N Filter for myself as I have got one for my ex-Iswara about 6 years ago and really happy about the performance on my Iswara especially that I had the whole exhaust system modified for better flows out from the combustion chambers. What I got from it is better picks-up and also the car is more responsive to the throttle. Of cause due to my modification, I sort of sacrificed the low end torque and have to always rev to pretty high for some fun driving.

This time, I don’t want to mess with the Honda City but only to drops in the K&N replacement part which are similar to the original paper filter. The part numbers that represented the direct drops in for the Honda City iDsi / vtec year 2006 is 33-2872. I should have make the purchase from the Internet or from some local online seller since it is much cheaper at about RM245. In order not to be at risk to get a possible counterfeit products ( There are a lot of imitation products from what I been told but not sure how true is it ), I bought the filter from Speedwork but at a lot more expensive price.  Ha ha.. I do regret getting at that price which I should really have got it from online. Maybe I will do that for my next purchase if I got a new car.

Installing this filter is really an easy task for the Honda City. Since it is a drops-in replacement, it only takes less then 1 minute to get it change. Just pops the bonnet, unsecure the 4 x latches around the air-filter cover. Followed by removing the cover ( take note on the air hose while doing this ). Take out the old paper filter and place in the new K&N Filter, the orientation for this filter is “Idiot-Proof” and you won’t get it wrong. Replace the cover with the air hose insert properly to the mounting and finally secure the 4 x latches you un-secure earlier on and you are done.

So, what is the initial impression after the K&N filter… I have to say I really regret….. I am really regret that I haven’t got it the first day we got the City 3 years ago. The experience with just the air-filter replacement is really incredible. You may say this is some sort of mentally influence that made myself believe there are a lot of improvement but I can say it is not the case. I really felt a big different directly after the air filter changing. What I felt is the throttle became lighter and more responsive, the engine noise is greatly reduced at high RPM during moving the car from stationary or over-taking cars or just only with gaining speed. The car is not hesitated in response to my leg control and I knew it is illogical but even the air-conditional is colder. I enjoy driving the City more and even made me wanted to have a long distant drives to further enjoy the new fun of driving this car.

On top of the K&N Filter upgrades, since the warranty period has already over. I also bought myself a bottle of Mobile 1′s Full Synthetic engine oil and send the car to Honda’s Service center for the 60k Km service together with the ATF changed that the same time. So, all in all with the K&N Filter, Mobil 1′s Full Synthetic engine oil + ATF changes, the overall experiences are like driving a whole new car now.  I can also had the engine oil service interval changed to 10k KM or 6 months from the original 5k KM or 3 months when using the normal Mineral oil. The only decision that still yet to decides is either we still want to send the car for normal inspection during the 5k intervals.

There are a mixed information out there where some Car’s manufacturer, in particular those that are in Malaysia will claims that changing to K&N filter will void the vehicles’ warranty but K&N has a piece of printed paper saying they will solve any problems occur when such scenario does occurs. So, I am curious.. how much I should believe in these claims. I am current thinking if to have an extra filter for another car.. which when I asked the service center if changing to K&N filter will void the vehicle and the service center’s supervisor told me yes, it voided warranty.

So, in overall I think the money is well spent to have both of us enjoy driving this 3 years old car in a way that we never had before. My wife even does not notices she has broke the speed limit on Penang bridge the other day as she could hardly realized it is already at 30km/h more than the limit without hearing previous engine noise that she experience at the normal speed limit.

To replace the Filter is straight forward, just pops the bonnet. Unclick the 4 metal latches around the filter compartment.

Removes the cover carefully and you will see the Paper Filter under it.

Take out the paper filter and drops in the New K&N Filter ( That is why it is called Drops in )

Carefully put back the cover following the reverse procedures when you first removed it, do take notes on inserting the pipe inlet first.

Clicks all the 4 metal latches to ensure they are lock and secure and you are done.