Unless you oil it properly.....these type of filters would not be so succesful in off-road racing and off road vehicles if not for thier ability to outperform paper elements. Hands down they DO perform, regardless one's personal outlook! Do your homework.

By using a K&N filter you have one very free flowing filter for a while which is letting all the dirt or most of the dirt through the filter and right into your engine. After a while the filter gets dirty and becomes unable to allow the free flow of air due to a dirty blocked filter. By this time the filter is doing a good job of filtering the air, and is now like the cheap paper filter.