What air filter do you guys prefer?

[countryroad82]

I like K & N filters for the simple fact I can clean it. That is what I normally run in my hot rods and I do have on my personal truck. For the fleet I maintain I use Wix for everything filterwise.

 

[gunner 6165]

The OEM filter for our pickup (Duramax powered) is a Donaldson, it even has an AC Delco p/n, so I stuck one in the 'burb as well. The Donaldson had twice as many pleats as the Fram the previous owner had in there. Wish I had taken a picture of the difference.

I'll use Donaldson and NAPA Gold/Wix when needed.

 

[slowthump]

Fram is junk?

Man I wish I would have known that 15 years ago when I started using Fram oil and air filters exclusively on my 96 s10 2.5l 4 cylinder pickup. It has 251,000 miles on the clock and runs like a champ on the original engine. Changed the oil with old school valvoline every 3k. I guess it is probably going to puke anyday now since I have abused it so badly with Fram poducts.

 

[SMKS]

i've put k&n's on my trucks until last year. after a semi dusty weekend playing around in my bronco i pulled the filter to see if it needed cleaning. it had been about 2 years since i had cleaned it. to my surprise there was DIRT in the clean side of the intake. all the way into the intake manifold. most of it wiped off with a clean finger. i can't imagine how much got into the engine. i can tell you that everything i drive got the K&N's taken out.

i've heard from the guys that get their oil checked that when using the K&N's their oil has more silicates (dirt) in it.

+1

This is what many people believe on an automotive maintenance forum I frequent. K&N filters allow more air flow because they do a poor job of filtering.

To the OP -


I'd say look at whatever major brands you can find locally. Take them out of the package and see where they are made. If they look quality, I'd use them.

Fram oil filters are disliked by many people, but some of their air filters are quite good. The Fram air filter for my Nissan Frontier is a quality unit made in Korea.

 

[Boiler]

Being able to clean it, saving money, even increasing air flow....none of these things involve the primary responsibility of the part: filtering the air.

Start with filters that are the best at filtering, and then select based on those other things, not the other way around.

I use amsoil in my jeep and napa gold in my wife's car. I wish I could by my amsoil products on a whim instead of having to order them though.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Fram is junk?

Man I wish I would have known that 15 years ago when I started using Fram oil and air filters exclusively on my 96 s10 2.5l 4 cylinder pickup. It has 251,000 miles on the clock and runs like a champ on the original engine. Changed the oil with old school valvoline every 3k. I guess it is probably going to puke anyday now since I have abused it so badly with Fram poducts.

Some Fram oil filter designs have been known to cause oil starvation issues at start-up. The specific filter your truck uses might not be prone to that, or you might have just gotten really lucky.



Plenty of oil filters the same price that filter better without known engine-destroying problems, though.

Interesting reading, for anyone who wants to know how various oil filters compare: http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/index.html & http://www.300cforums.com/forums/ge...ble-shooting/31190-oil-filters-dissected.html

 

[JerryTX]

3 at 8,

I have an '07 F150 and everything I've read says leave the air intake stock. It apparently runs cooler than the after market intake kits. The '04 - '06 models had some issues running lean when a CAI was added running the stock ECU tuning so its recommended if you use a CAI to get the computer tuned. Many of the stock tunes typically negate the CAI anyways so a tune is recommended.

In terms of the paper vs oiled debate I'm not sure what the answer is there. K&N are used on a lot of competition vehicles and many performance kits include a new air intake setup.

I have a CAI on my '03 Yukon and never had any problems with it. But I also periodically remove and clean the CAI and thoroughly clean and correctly re-oil the filter. Day-to-day I didn't notice much of a difference but seems to help when towing or driving up in the mountains when I go skiing.

For now, I'm running Motorcraft filters on my F150 and will switch the CAI when I do the tuner, etc.

Definitely use the Motorcraft oil filters. The early early 3v F150s have issues with the cam phasers (truck sounds like a diesel). Allegedly it doesn't hurt anything its just a noise. But a Ford service bulletin suggested that not running 5w-20 and Motorcraft filters were part of the reason the problem develops.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

I'm not trying to be a smart@ss or or cause a fight here-Just saying......
I am a ******** GM man. I always used AC filters but they have been getting hard to find around my area. Other than buying them at the dealer with for a pretty hefty price.
Basically I agree with the OP that using OEM stuff is the way I prefer to fly also.
I have heard all good about NAPA Gold filters, both oil and air. I've been using NAPA Gold's for awhile now and probably will continue.
FWIW- The NAPA filters are made by Wix. It says that right on the boxes.
That's my $.02.

I run NAPA Gold oil filters on my bike.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

There's a dyno test on one of the LS1 forums where a guy tested an OEM paper filter, a K&N filter, and no filter at all. No change in the dyno numbers for any of them. Paper filters simply aren't restrictive for 99% of the cars on the road today.

Something to think about with K&N filters - if you only need to clean them once every 100,000 miles, where's all that dirt going? Paper filters should be changed every 15-20,000 miles, but if a K&N isn't getting dirty, logic dictates that it's letting the same dust the paper filters catch through into the engine. Which is what an air filter isn't supposed to do.

A paper filter for my car costs about $7. A K&N is something like $80, plus the recharge kit, which I think is about $15. I'll spend the $7 every other month and have a clean engine, rather than saving $10 over the course of a couple years, and ending up with a lot of nasty **** in my oil. K&N filters "saving money" falls into the same ******** category of "not being able to afford a car because it needs premium gas". Once you actually do the numbers, the arguments fall flat.

Do you think a K&N is no good for a motorcycle (Harley) either.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Do you think a K&N is no good for a motorcycle (Harley) either.

I personally wouldn't use them on anything; if I were looking for that style of filter, I'd see if AEM, Amsoil, or another similar company made a dry, oil-less version, and use that.

 

[nit2wn]

I wouldn't run a K&N in the desert or in a lot of dirt, that being said we have then on 4 vehicles, one runs a Fram in it, my Superduty has a cai with an AFE dry element filter that you can wash. The K&N vehicles are pretty much street and never or rarely see even a dirt road. problem with them, but I oil or clean and oil them once a year.

 

[chrommagman]

I would go with a K&N!! they are can be washed. They sell washing kits. My grandma has one on her car and it's been tho durst storms that you couldn't see the end of your hood.

 

[Stick]

K&N is proof that marketing trumps all.

I wouldn't install one of the MAF killing POS things on my vehicles even if it was free. I'll stick with a quality paper filter thanks.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I bought a K&N for my '08 F150 5.4 3V. It killed the mileage by about a 1.5-2 mpg. It got taken out and the stocker went back in. I tried it again a few months ago, same story, a new Wix went back in place.

Another buddy of mine, has a '05 5.4 2V, he has found the K&N does the same thing.




I'd have no problem running a Fram air filter but there's no way I'm using one of their oil filters.

 

[MattT]

Some Fram oil filter designs have been known to cause oil starvation issues at start-up. The specific filter your truck uses might not be prone to that, or you might have just gotten really lucky.



Plenty of oil filters the same price that filter better without known engine-destroying problems, though.

The biggest problem with regular fram spin on filters is the anti-drainback valves. It's the motor design not the filter. If the motor requires a functioning anti-drainback valve don't use orange filters. Some folks also have issues with frams cardboard element endcaps but I can't recall ever seeing hard evidence of that causing real world problems.

Any which ways you can get better filters for less money so there's no reason to buy orange spin on oil filters.

 

[mrpowderkeg]

K&N on my performance cars, OEM on my drivers. I've seen where guys with "semi truck" filters on their pickups if they had the room. see http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

 

[gtixpress]

I've been running a K&N panel filter in a modified stock airbox in my VW GTI (1.8T) for about 9 years now and over 130k miles. I haven't had one problem (performance or otherwise) caused by the filter. Even the MAF sensor hasn't had any problems.