anyone ever notice the element wearing thin after cleaning it several times? ever consider replacing it instead of cleaning it? they cost around 70 bucks but you'd only change it once every 20k or so.. right?

 

You should only have to buy one for the life of your car, unless you drive more than 1 million miles or the filter is over 10 yrs old.
http://www.knfilters.com/filtercharger.htm
"Lasts up to 50,000 miles before service is required "
"10 Year / Million Mile Limited Warranty"

If it's defective contacta K&N.

 

K&N filters =

 

i bought a second one as backup so that when the original gets really bad, i just oil the new one and swap them around. i then clean the old one and keep it on standby... i do this because i don't want to wait overnight for the filter to dry after washing.