Crud in new air filter

[leeharvey418]

This is partly a warning to anyone who reads it, and partly my own opportunity to gripe a little.

I finally succumbed to the evidence and ditched my K&N air filter in the Mazda3 yesterday. Go ahead and chalk up another prodigal son returning to the Church of the Paper Filter...

Anyway, I stopped by O'Reilly on the way home and got a Wix 42612 panel filter. Took it out of the box... it looked to be a good, sturdy item without any obvious manufacturing defects. I didn't bother to scour for a country of origin... I'd prefer to think that I bought an American filter, but it wasn't a deal-breaker for me. All in all I was satisfied. Then I looked in the pleats on the top (downstream) side of the filter - there were two flecks of what appeared to be cardboard, and one rather large wad of lint and paper fiber at scattered locations on the filter. I tried slapping the filter on my hand to jar the debris loose, but it was clinging to the filter medium. Tried blowing on it... it moved, but it didn't come flying out at me. I ended up using the corner of a business card to roll the cardboard bits out of the pleats, and the lint was big enough to get out without having to use the paper stock as a pick.

The moral of the story: ALWAYS check a new air filter for debris before installation.

 

[larryinnewyork]

I try to check everything I buy.

1) Check each package to see it's exactly what I want.
2) Look for damaged Item & Packaging
3) Look for Items switched in box
4) Check Safety Seals
5) Check Expiration Date

Doesn't matter if I take it off the shelf or if employee hands it to me from behind counter.

The moral of the story: ALWAYS check a new air filter for debris before installation.
Then check everything again just before using.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

My Fram (11 Forester FB25) was clean, but frame was warped to the point the airbox wouldn't close. Back to Wallymarty it went.

 

[leeharvey418]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
My Fram (11 Forester FB25) was clean, but frame was warped to the point the airbox wouldn't close. Back to Wallymarty it went.

Bah... just use a bigger hammer!

 

[bulwnkl]

How could a K&N possibly 'pass' more debris than that?

 

[CharlieJ]

From what I have seen, most Wix air filters are made in South Korea. They seem to be of good quality. I've used Parts Master air filters from AutoValue which are Wix air filters thrown in a different box at 1/2-2/3 of the cost, really.