Best Air Filter

[Escape Hatch]

aFe dry element.

 

[Fozzy]

Sorry, I was on mobile and baby was clawing at my phone.

Here is a test that shows my point, that if you are using an oiled or foam filter, you are allowing more particulate matter into your engine than a paper filter, while only providing, at best, a modest performance increase. I've highlighted the relevant parts for the slow readers.


Link to article if you want to read the whole thing.

View attachment 2889

Really, written by Anthony a member of their forum board. "These are not ASTM test," " darker deposits indicate poorer (did you catch that scientific term?) filtration and the lighter ones better filtration". "No attempt is made at determining actual concentration". Good thing he has been around cars all his life and is going to school. He would crap his pants looking at the pic I posted. Your Google skills are weak, I can get you way better ammo if you need. You don't have to run one, but be honest with yourself. A company that has been selling these filters since 1969 is still selling them. Many other companies copied them and still sell them today. Do they really pass enough extra particles to cause engine failure? Not with proper installation, maintenance and care. Does the EcoBoost have one of the best stock intake system to date? Yes. Does a CAI on the EcoBoost add more power? Depends on if its a butt dyno or chassis dyno. Do they look and sound cool? Yes. Will they make a difference after a tune? Yes. Can you get them with your choice of filter media? Yes. Do you have to buy one? NO. Now back to your original statement, "IF IT FLOWS MORE AIR IT FILTERS LESS AIR". That just isn't the case anymore. The new synthetic dry filters give you the best of both worlds. Even if they only filtered and flow the same as stock in a drop in install, they still give you long life. Increasing the surface area of any type filter will increase flow or available flow. Almost all CAI's have larger filters for this reason.

 

[Bannerman]

Really, written by Anthony a member of their forum board. "These are not ASTM test," " darker deposits indicate poorer (did you catch that scientific term?) filtration and the lighter ones better filtration". "No attempt is made at determining actual concentration". Good thing he has been around cars all his life and is going to school. He would crap his pants looking at the pic I posted. Your Google skills are weak, I can get you way better ammo if you need. You don't have to run one, but be honest with yourself. A company that has been selling these filters since 1969 is still selling them. Many other companies copied them and still sell them today. Do they really pass enough extra particles to cause engine failure? Not with proper installation, maintenance and care. Does the EcoBoost have one of the best stock intake system to date? Yes. Does a CAI on the EcoBoost add more power? Depends on if its a butt dyno or chassis dyno. Do they look and sound cool? Yes. Will they make a difference after a tune? Yes. Can you get them with your choice of filter media? Yes. Do you have to buy one? NO. Now back to your original statement, "IF IT FLOWS MORE AIR IT FILTERS LESS AIR". That just isn't the case anymore. The new synthetic dry filters give you the best of both worlds. Even if they only filtered and flow the same as stock in a drop in install, they still give you long life. Increasing the surface area of any type filter will increase flow or available flow. Almost all CAI's have larger filters for this reason.

Didn't read your whole response but I'll assume you disagree. In any case, I've lost interesting in continuing this discussion. Good day.

 

[Stevej_1357]

So in conclusion, I think we can all agree on the following points:

• Filters with synthetic, cleanable materials have basically put the final nail in the coffin for oiled filters
• All other things being equal, in order to get more airflow one would either need to increase surface area or decrease resistance (less filtering capability, i.e. allow for larger particles to pass through filter media).
  • Synthetics adds a little wrinkle to the above statement, as manufacturers can control fiber diameter and fiber weave orientation, thereby making synthetic fiber filters more efficient per sq. inch as compared to traditional paper filters.
• Generally speaking, the CAI systems that have been mentioned are from well-known, reputable companies that engineer high-quality components.
• These CAI systems contain air filters made with synthetic fibers, and have larger surface areas than stock filters.
• Stock air intake systems are designed for airflow as well as to limit intake noise, so trade-offs are made in order to accommodate both. To reduce noise, auto mfrs employ harmonic dampening (baffles, pipe lengths/diameters/turns) as well as sound insulation (thicker air filters, think how fiberglass insulation works). It's this noise mitigation that has the most impact to airflow efficiency and therefore engine performance.
• All that said, without any other mods, we're basically having a discussion about MAYBE 5-10 HP performance, a few tenths improvement in MPG and the ability to hear the hairdryers spool up. This hold true for normally aspirated as well as compression engines.

As I've stated before, if your goal is to hear more turbo noise and a few tenths improvement in MPG (which with gas prices today a CAI would likely pay for itself in less than a month!), then go for it.

If your goal is performance, then you should have a plan for what you want the end results to be, and this plan will dictate your improvement path. At a bare minimum, on forced induction engines, focus should be on increasing airflow through the engine by eliminating restrictions, both inlet and outlet. The investment in these improvements should be coupled with a tune in order to realize the full benefits.

As for which CAI is the best? See my last 2 paragraphs, and pick one that best suits your goals. It is also important to note that without a deliberate change to parameters ( a tune), it will take the ECM a few cycles or so to "relearn" it's parameters so it may run a little sluggish at first.

Now for my rambling...
The basic principles of a combustion engine haven't changed. In the old school days, after you eliminated airflow restrictions (headers, bigger tube mandrel-bent exhaust pipes, high-flow air filter, etc.) you would then tune the vehicle by changing timing, fuel jets and mixtures, secondary linkages, shift points, etc. These tune methods were all "gross" measure tunes, i.e. you had to change or adjust a part, and the effect would be across all operational aspects of the engine. You had to optimize for a specific condition, and live with the resulting consequences.

The only difference in how today's engines are tuned is that instead of turning screwdrivers and wrenches for adjustments, you're changing bits in a lookup table. The biggest advantage now is that we can fine tune the parameters, with a resolution limited only by the size of the lookup tables. Imagine a carburetor that could be adjusted for 10 different throttle positions? How about per cylinder? Load conditions?

Point is, tuning is, and always has been, required to take full advantage of any performance part changes.

Sorry for yet another long rambling post...

 

[Yeti]

Unless you can?

Yes, an oiled filter generally catches 1% less particulate matter than a paper filter. But the majority of failures in oiled filters is not the 1% extra dirt. Its user error allowing dirt ingestion.

I agree, and most don't want to clean, dry and oil a filter. You really should have two to allow the freshly oiled filter to soak in and drain. You can still buy and toss a synthetic filter. I am so lazy these days I have my dealer do all my service. When its messed up I just say " you were the last to touch it, it was your oil and filter". Plus it adds a great history for trade in or warranty issues.

Just for you oilers out there.

This K&N pre ran the Baja for a week.
View attachment 2834

Here is the underside,
The 1%'s not too bad is it? You can see a little back fire marks but pretty damn clean.
View attachment 2835

Yes you can argue these motors get rebuilt on a regular basis. But no Tremor owner will ever see this much silt in the lifetime of their vehicle, even running chase truck. If you choose to run oiled, make sure you clean it properly. Oil it properly and double check it with a light. If you are worried about dust ingestion take a white tissue and wipe your intake runs. If its dirty you are in trouble. If not, keep doing what you're doing. K&N and the likes would be out of business if they passed as much dirt as people think. Remember K&N started in 1969.

after my trip to Wyoming, last year, I'm pretty sure anyone who lives in Wyoming eats a Baja 500's worth of dust, daily.

 

[FaKtor34]

after my trip to Wyoming, last year, I'm pretty sure anyone who lives in Wyoming eats a Baja 500's worth of dust, daily.

Check my review on the airaid drop in filter, I was skeptical at first but it keeps getting better. I think by 50k it will have saved me about $100.

 

[FaKtor34]

I purchased an airaid dry air filter about 2500 miles ago. I decided not for power gains but for the cost. The quality was very good, the fit is excellent. I had thought about a cai but the cost isn't worth it unless you do an aftermarket tune. Then it's a necessity to take full advantage of the tune. Back to the airaid, I looked at the cost, was able to purchase for $58 which is about 2 of the oem air filters. The cost of cleaning this air filter is about $12 every 2-3 cleanings.

Now the downside of this filter, for the first 500 miles the performance lagged. Mpg went down, acceleration went down, the truck just felt sluggish, because the truck had to learn the new airflow. After the computer did it's thing and made the adjustments necessary, my mpg has actually increased back to .2 over my previous average between 2 tanks of gas. Acceleration is about 3 mph faster in just a little over 1/8th mile. This has been measured at least 10 times each and is an average of before and after.

If anything changes overtime I will post the info but so far I will have to say I am pleased with the airaid filter. For those not wanting to run a stock filter I do recommend giving this a try. The downside is when you clean it you have to let it dry before putting it back in, but just hold on to the stock filter and you can slap it back in if you need to use the truck before it has a chance to dry.

This one.

 

[Fozzy]

after my trip to Wyoming, last year, I'm pretty sure anyone who lives in Wyoming eats a Baja 500's worth of dust, daily.

Grew up in Wyoming and I know that's not true, the wind blows the dust to another state.

 

[Charky]

Grew up in Wyoming and I know that's not true, the wind blows the dust to another state.

Can confirm, see Sandhills in Nebraska.

 

[MLBTremor]

Install complete and it sounds better and has made a noticeable improvement in both normal and sport modes. Pics to follow...

Any reason you chose the aFe over the S&B intake system ?