[ChuckD]

I think that K&N picked up on the old technology and made custom intakes for various vehicles and touted them to be the best. There wasn't anyplace really making anything custom till they came along. The issue is that people don't know how to proper care for them there for in turn do more harm than good. If you noticed that they didn't have any competitors for a few years due to their patents. Then there was a whole slew. Cotton gauze oil based filters are very good if taken car of properly. Paper filters are very good for the person that don't know jack about vehicles. Also there had been a lot of talk about people dusting turbos on diesels with the K&N. Truth be told it was by the drop in filter on the 7.3's and where the issue came from was where it sealed to the housing. After further digging, this issue itself was with the housing and how a pain in the butt it was to seal, even with the stock filter. As for advantages I think there are more shapes and designs of them compaired to a paper filter, to allow for custom applications. The key to proper filtration is proper sealing. I would almost guarrentee that a person that lost a motor and blamed the filter didn't have it installed correctly.