Sprint Filter P08 Air Filter for Road & Track – KTM RC 8 (2008–2026) PM76S

Some airboxes in this catalogue are offered four different Sprint Filter media — KTM's own 1290 Super Duke housing carries a standard weave, a racing weave and two grades of non-woven. The RC 8's housing is offered one. PM76S is the whole of the choice, and that belongs at the top of the page rather than buried in it, because the absence of a finer or a freer option here is a listing decision and not a verdict on the motorcycle.

Key Features

• P08 dry polyester weave: 80 µm, rated at 5,050 l/m²/sec
• Around double the filtering area of other performance filters, within the standard outline
• Fits the series airbox as it is — nothing cut, nothing repositioned, no mapping change
• Dry from new and dry after every clean; there is no oil in this system at any point
• 93.13 % of 100-micron particles held back under measurement, against 76.42 % for four-layer oiled cotton
• Two-year guarantee from purchase, and a service life set against the motorcycle's own

One row makes for a simpler question

Where four media are listed, a buyer has to work out which trade suits their roads: a tighter cloth holds more and passes less, a coarser one does the reverse, and the price list offers no ranking to lean on. Here there is nothing to weigh. The question collapses to whether a washable dry element is wanted in place of the standard panel, and the specification that comes with it is fixed at 80 µm and 5,050 l/m²/sec. Nobody has to decide between conditions they cannot predict, which on a motorcycle used for a handful of occasions a year is a small mercy.

What that specification buys, and what it does not

It does not make a standard RC 8 faster. An element sitting inside an unmodified airbox cannot do that, and the ceiling on what this V-twin draws is set by displacement, throttle area and valve timing rather than by the cloth in front of them. What it does is hold intake restriction low and — because the element is cleaned instead of thrown away — keep that figure from drifting upward across a service interval, which is exactly what a paper panel cannot do. Over a long ownership it also stops being something that has to be bought.

Care and cleaning

The routine for PM76S is compressed air, applied to the clean side and directed outward until the weave is even in colour again. Between seasons it may want more than that: lukewarm water and a mild washing-up detergent worked gently through the cloth, then rinsed until the run-off is clear of colour. After that it wants only time and moving air. Applying heat to speed it up — a gun, a radiator, an open flame — is the one thing that damages polyester, so it is the one shortcut never taken. It returns to the airbox dry and untreated. Cleaning instructions are filed under Downloads.

Fitment & Compatibility

Listed for the airbox of the KTM RC 8 1190, catalogued from 2008 to 2026. The RC 8 R, listed from 2009, is the second machine on the same number.