Time to change your car’s air filter. Perplexed about what choice to make?

First & foremost, the primary function of an air filter is to deliver both high airflow and superior dirt protection. Most of the time, increased airflow will increase engine performance measured by horsepower and throttle response a.k.a torque. A good (and proper filter) should be ISO 5011 certified, as personal safety is important.

Because no air filters are duplicated copies of each other, the specific airflow and overall filtration efficiency will vary depending on the filter in question. Both air flow and dirt protection are very crucial to engine performance. For this reason , when you go filter hunting, you should always evaluate an air filter based on both it’s filtration efficiency and air flow capabilities. It is very easy to design an air filter that exhibits high airflow simply by reducing its filtration capability to unacceptable levels.

Next, do your home work on the product’s filtration efficiency. The bulk of air filter companies install paper filtration in their product, which is not durable nor long lasting.

The general public believes that all air filters function on a ‘checkpoint’ basis where dirt particles that are larger than the openings in the filter media are trapped while particles that are smaller than the openings can pass right through. A dry paper air filter does function in this manner. That’s why paper filters are so restrictive to air flow. The openings in this type of filter have to be very small to filter efficiently.

However, there are one or two major companies in that market that offer an alternative product: The wire-mesh air filter. How it functions, we shall have to do a compare and contrast:

Paper elements that provide adequate filtration are more restrictive to air flow by design. Additionally, as a paper filter becomes more and more clogged, the pressure inside the filter drops while the atmospheric air pressure outside the filter remains the same. This causes ‘breathing difficulties’ for the vehicle. An excessively high pressure differential created by a restricted filter can literally pull dirt particles through the paper medium, and the performance of the paper filter declines towards the end of its service interval.

The wire-mesh air filter, however, has multiple layers of oiled cotton fabric which captures the airborne dirt particles. These dirt particles cling to the fibers of the filter and actually become part of the filtering media. This process, known as depth loading, allows the filter to retain significantly more dirt per square inch than a paper filter. The dirt particles collected on the surface wire-mesh device have little effect on air flow during much of its service life because there are no small holes to clog. Particles are stopped by layers of crisscrossed cotton fibers and held in suspension by the oil. As the filter begins to collect debris, an ‘additional form’ of filter action begins to take place because air must first pass through the dirt particles trapped on the surface. In other words, the ‘huge’ dirt acts as a ‘checkpoint’ to prevent the ‘little’ dirt’ from entering. The strange (but fantastic) irony is that the older the filter gets, the better it’s performance!

Alright, maybe the above was a tad bit technical for the average buyer. Other things to look out for when purchasing a filter:
-Is it washable and reusable? Disposable paper filters over time accumulate expenses
-Does it void vehicle warranty? If you bought a new car and the filter voids warranty, look for another filter.
-Is there a warranty?
-Service timing: The filter should last up to 50,000 miles before cleaning is required (a personal rule of thumb)
-Is it easy to install? You don’t want to pay extra when you can do it yourself!
-Is it compatible with at least 90% of the makes in the market? Don’t get a white elephant!

We need expert consultation to upgrade/value engineer our products to make them more cost effective/efficient.

Honda Inspire-d said on September 6th at 3:06 pm: