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Don't Believe The Hype
Hype. It's an abbreviation for the word hyperbole. According to Webster's, a hyperbole is an exaggeration for effect and not meant to be taken literally.
Before I start let me say, I actually like K&N air filters. I used a K&N filter for over 350,000 miles on a certain sports car I used to own. The filter never failed, never wore out, and it didn't cause any problems with the MAF. It did exactly what I thought it was supposed to do: It was a washable air filter that did a reasonable job of filtering the air. That said, K&N's advertising must be geared toward idiots. This is a K&N ad for a filter kit.
As you can see, K&N claims installing their kit will result in an additional 23 horsepower in a 996 based Porsche 911. Yeah, right.
Why am I skeptical? Porsche made factory kits for the 996 to increase power. They were called Powerkits. One Porsche 996 Powerkit included new pistons, heads, valves, valve springs, cams, a complete exhaust (including catalytic converters and muffler), and a reprogrammed ECU. The price of the Powerkit was $10K and it increased horsepower from 300 to 320.
So rather than paying $10K for Porsche parts and thousands more for installation by an experienced engine builder, I'm to believe that more horsepower can be attained by some dullard with a screwdriver and $325 worth of K&N "air filtration" parts.
Sorry, but that requires a faith that I don't have. The kind of faith that believes ads which state "Our motor oil will produce 10 more HP than whatever brand you currently use." The kind of faith that believes a Nigerian "diplomat" who sent an email promising to share hundreds of millions of dollars is legitimate. Faith that an advanced race of space aliens can build and fly a ship hundreds of millions of light years, and then somehow forget to check the fuel gauge and run out of gas in New Mexico. Yeah, that faith. Sorry, I'm all out.
Logically, those that do believe must also believe the powertrain engineers at Porsche are not as good as the folks at K&N. In that case, Porsche should fire all their powertrain engineers and hire K&N technicians. Porsche is one of the premier automotive R&D companies in the world. They do performance work for a number of other manufacturers. That means all of Porsche's R&D customers are idiots too. Rather than paying Porsche, they should just ask K&N.