Air Filter with best Filtration

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Although this is an Oil Website, I think that some people downplay the importance of engine air Filtration in keeping an engine clean...

Who makes the Air Filter with the best particle Filtration? Would it be the Fram Ultra Air Filter? (Only sold at Walmart) or is it another brand I am missing?
 
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Maybe!
But, I don't know if there is one brand of air filter that would be considered "best filtration" due to having so many different applications. However, there is a "higher line" of filtration such as the FRAM Ultra AF you mention, and I think this is where the focus could be.
 
Depends on how often you want to change it. OE if you want to stick with the factory service interval or for better filtration at a much shorter interval you could look at something such a Micronair Blue by Corteco.
 
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Depends on how often you want to change it. OE if you want to stick with the factory service interval or for better filtration at a much shorter interval you could look at something such a Micronair Blue by Corteco.



Never mind. I thought OP meant Cabin Air Filter.
 
Go with a quality filter like a WIX or OEM and make sure the sealing surfaces are perfect.

Many air filter housings are difficult to open up fully and so people spread apart the housing a few inches and slap in a new filter. Better to take more apart and make sure the filter is seated properly.
 
tests have shown that OEM filter on the second half of their life have better filtration than new ones. A little dirt caught and a little oil vapor makes it a finer filter. It still flows enough to give the engine near full power (how often do you really floor it anyway).

For a regular grocerygetter OEM will work fin as long as it is properly installed and sealed.
 
OP said, "Although this is an Oil Website, I think that some people downplay the importance of engine air Filtration in keeping an engine clean..."

I must explain my disagreement with notion.

Dirt in the engine air supply is commonly cited as THE source of silicone contaminants in oil.

Also, many have conversationally referred to air filtration as being "more important than oil filtration" for removing abrasives.

In fact, high silicone is mentioned as a red flag to alert heavy machine owners to incorrectly installed air cleaners.

Dirt = bad, ALWAYS.
 
Originally Posted by Donald


Many air filter housings are difficult to open up fully and so people spread apart the housing a few inches and slap in a new filter. Better to take more apart and make sure the filter is seated properly.

Most cars that come through my shop have a mis installed air filter. Especially astro vans. None of them are installed correctly when they come in the door.
 
Denso has triple layer construction, Fram Ultra at Walmart if they have your size, and AC Delco are good ones. I like them so that's what I unscientifically think.

Good to resurrect a topic now and then that is long in the dust bin of old topics.
 
Originally Posted by danez_yoda
tests have shown that OEM filter on the second half of their life have better filtration than new ones. A little dirt caught and a little oil vapor makes it a finer filter. It still flows enough to give the engine near full power (how often do you really floor it anyway).
For a regular grocery getter, the OEM filter will work fin as long as it is properly installed and sealed.


^^ Agree with this...

And it should be a crime how poorly most air filters are installed. You can often blame the quick lube places for that error.
 
I remember reading that test report years ago and promptly removed the K&N from my 2000 Ranger. That filter has been washed and still in my shed...haven't been able to give it away!
 
Originally Posted by Yah-Tah-Hey
DENSO


From what I have seen of airfilters....DENSO has always been a quality looking one....but I don't have any empirical data.
 
Originally Posted by tundraotto
Originally Posted by Yah-Tah-Hey
DENSO


From what I have seen of airfilters....DENSO has always been a quality looking one....but I don't have any empirical data.


There's the rub (in the bold I added).
 
The best filter is the Donaldson PowerCore, however given its lack of availability for most applications without a retrofit, it barely warrants mention here.
 
Fram is one of the few companies I can think of that have a tiered offering for air filters. Most others just have a one-n-done approach.

There are some various articles out there, often accompanied by rather unscientifically conducted "study", which might give one a false sense of something being "better". I prefer to rely on the UOA; it will tell me if the air filter is doing a decent job. And generally, just about any brand name will suffice well.

There are some studies which do go in-depth and have trustworthy data; of note is the Donaldson "Total Filtration" one (SAE 952557). Yes - it's an older study, but it's one of the better ones and nothing has surpassed it that I'm aware of in recent years. It studies the cumulative effects of air filter, oil filter, fuel filter on overall engine health. The greatest contributor to wear, by far, is silica ingestion. Hence, the greatest effect one can have to improve engine life is a good air filter. But it does not have to be a super-duper-premium filter; just a decent one. And the greatest influence on ingested contamination (damage from silica) is the environment; how dirty is the air you operate in? If you're in a typical urban/suburban lifestyle, the air around you is fairly clean. If you run in the dusty fields of a large farm or mining operation, the air is much dirtier. Further, changing the air filter too often is a major contributor to increased engine wear. It truly is correct to say that you should leave your air filter in place and not change it often. Even the OEM schedules for air filters are too frequent, but they must post something as an average estimate, and so they defer to the frequent change to avoid heavy ingestion concerns. A better way to discern AF change intervals is to use a typical vacuum gauge; easily bought via many sources. I've installed one in my truck and my Taurus. I no longer have to guess; I know when to change filters (and it appears to be very infrequent at current indications).

Also, pretty much any car/truck from the last few decades is run via monitored fuel injection, and so the air/fuel ratio is always adjusted by the PCM (gas engines for sure, and even some diesels). So the fear of running rich (not enough air due to filter plugging) is a VERY rare occurrence.


You can seek out the "best" (your definition applies here), but frankly I doubt you'd see much if any difference in wear rates, depending upon where you live. My advice is to pick an OEM style filter (style means media construction, not brand) from any brand you loke, and then keep it in place for about 2x the OEM FCI, if you live in a reasonably clean environment.


If you have to just know what is "best", then you'll have to prove it out. You'll have to do a long series of UOAs, tracking the Si levels for each choice. Then study the data with statistical analysis. It will take 30 UOAs of each choice to make a fair and accurate prediction. So you can see the challenge here; time and money preclude this ...

Or, just trust the overall anecdotal evidence of a bazillion engines around the world. Most engines can run just fine for 250k+ miles using "normal" filters. Sure, you can drive a car further than that, and you can probably use normal filters for that, also. The things that will likely cause the vehicle to leave your possession are either being wrecked, rusted to death, or traded out via sheer boredom with the vehicle; these will happen long before your engine will die from air filter selection. Obviously, very low quality filters will compromise the effects I speak of. But decent brand name filters will carry the vehicle a very far distance, especially if you don't change it too frequently.
 
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