Has anyone seen any significant improvement in a TCH?

http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...Prod=69-8611TS

This Typhoon will not fit in the hybrid engine bay. It is designed for the v6 engine. None of the aftermarket short ram intakes or cold air intakes are designed with the hybrid engine bay in mind. The electric motor pretty much gets in the way of everything.

However, I did put a regular K&N air filter into my air box and did not notice any change (positive or negative) in performance or fuel efficiency.

CAMRHEE Hybrid
Completed Mods: RK-Sport body kit, 18" LexusGS430 wheels 235/50ZR18 tires, TRD/SE springs, Rear Lip Spoiler, Terk XM-Direct, Smoked tail lights, Sliding Armrest, Rear Bumper Applique, Front License Bracket, Lower Grill chrome inserts, K&N, Blaupunkt THB200A sub, moved rear HSD emblem
Future Mods: fog lights, black chrome my wheels

http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...fterFront4.JPG

I read somewhere that K&N filters rely on oil to absorb dirt particles and are not as effective as paper filters to catch smallest particles, like dust. This gets worse as the oil dries out and small oil drops being sucked with air inside engine could also damage MAP sensor. I used K&N filter in my older car without any problems, but I decided not use it in my TCH. In good air conditions you could probably run the car without any air filter, but in the area where dust is very common it could cause increased wear in the engine.

It looks like the K&N filter would be for high rpm efficiency. Especially for the large engines. With average driving the oem filter should be fine.

Rite on Pete, Those things were killing the MAF (mass air flow) sensors on the TDI VW's, like in 5k miles. They not only coat the sensor with sticky oil but let a lot of dirt thru to mini,umize the life of your little motor. Stick to stock and change often as the 5 cents you save at the pump is not worth the engine wear.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Does this hold true for those TRD filters?

I am not familiar with the TRD filters, but if they have any oil on them at all they would be a problem. I ran a K&N on a Ford truck for 80,000 miles without a hitch but was an older truck and may not have had the same MAF sensor arrangement. The only thing I noticed on the truck was a lot more noise under hard throttle which made it sound like a lot more power but was about the same power for regular driving and towing, milage did not change any at all.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Mickey, just pulled this off another Toyota forum'

TRD air filter - Toyota said don't bother
I just paid a visit to my local Toyota parts dept (Burt Toyota), since after checking my air filter a couple days ago and finding it *black* in spots I decided a new one would probably be useful.

I looked at the TRD "performance" air filters, which to my eyes look just like a K&N, but may be different in some way. I asked the parts guy what he thought of them, and he basically told me not to waste my time with it. The performance gains are negligible compared to the basic Toyota paper filter, the oil can jack up your MAF (mainly from over-oiling as we all know), and by the time you've spent $92 on the filter and cleaning kit you haven't gained squat.

I figure he could have sold me $92 worth of stuff, or the $17 OEM filter I bought, so I trust what he says about it.

There has been a lot of discussion about air filters on here, and it always seems to come back to Toyota's OEM being **** good for the money. Just figured I'd throw a Toyota service desk perspective on it as well, which agrees with that line of thinking.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Interesting...thanks....now what do I do with the one I have in my car right now??

Sigh...