Owners with grill intakes chime in

[AWF10M5]

There's a bunch of different companies now offering the front mounted grill intakes. This is not a comparison of the intakes or whose better.

I'm curios how many have you driven in heavy rain with these type of intakes?

I drove in maybe 25 min of moderate rain and when I came back the filters were soaked and dripping water. These are k&n filters my friends m5 with MsR intakes also has soaked filters after rain and down pour.

I love the sound and look but despite hearing from everyone it should be okay My gut doesn't feel right

Anyone want to chime in

[mirob]

Originally Posted by E63amg

There's a bunch of different companies now offering the front mounted grill intakes. This is not a comparison of the intakes or whose better.

I'm curios how many have you driven in heavy rain with these type of intakes?

I drove in maybe 25 min of moderate rain and when I came back the filters were soaked and dripping water. These are k&n filters my friends m5 with MsR intakes also has soaked filters after rain and down pour.

I love the sound and look but despite hearing from everyone it should be okay My gut doesn't feel right

Anyone want to chime in

I'm actually curious about this myself. I'm in an X5 M but the filters are in the same location.

I was assured by manufacturer and forum members that water will not be an issue. I was still paranoid and got pre-filters (filter socks). I've driven in some very hard rain with no issues but it still seems iffy.

[apexlocator]

I have the RK intakes with K&N filters....have driven through the raining season in socal. I was concerned at first, but has anyone ever cleaned/re-oiled a K&N filter before? Water does not freely flow through the filter; of course water can pass, but after cleaning/hosing down the filters and observing how fast water can pass through, I'm not too concerned anymore. If you have filter covers, even better peace-of-mind I guess, but I didnt want any whp loss, however minor.

Now if you're still worried, after driving in hard rain, pull your filters to see how much and how far the water penetrated. I havent done this and am not in a rush, but curious also.....

[AWF10M5]

I used to have cars where the CAI would be in the bottom of bumper and car would be lowered and the fender liner would be missing. I'm sure it would get wet but those cars I didn't care for as much as I care about my m5.

Upon doing some research online it apparently is okay for the filters to be wet as long as they are not submerged in water with engine running under load.

[AWF10M5]

I have noticed water droplets all over the k&n filter and the filter just feeling wet.

[apexlocator]

I cant speak for the blitz style filters since I've researched they dont filter as well. But the oiling and plastic mesh of K&N filters and surface tension properties of water probably all act to limit its penetration.

Of course if you are driving hard in the rain in this car, you'll probably die before the motor hydrolocks