Choices Of Air Filters

Links at the bottom. Here is some info about what an air filter is and what it does

Car air filters play an important role in the overall maintenance of your engine and keeping it clean. Engines can accumulate a lot of dust, dirt, grease and grime from incoming air and despite their robust nature they can still be quite delicate in terms of damage if this gets through to them.

These car air filters therefore are designed to filter out these kinds of substances from the air that comes in to cool the engine. This can help improve the life of the engine itself. It is also thought that they can help keep a vehicle’s performance at optimum levels. A clean engine that isn’t getting clogged up all of the time will run more efficiently and smoothly increasing perfomance

Most manufacturers will recommend that car air filters are replaced or cleaned as necessary on a regular basis. This is often based on a mileage basis. So, for example, you may be recommended to check your filters after you have driven a certain number of miles. This may involve cleaning or replacing them.

In some cases car air filters will be automatically checked and cleaned or replaced when you put your car in for a service. This may be offered as part of the check or you can ask for them to be checked specially if you prefer. It is, however, relatively easy to do this for yourself with most cars - you simply need to work out where the filter is and how cleaning it or changing it may work.

Many mechanics will warn you not to change or clean car air filters too frequently, however. In a strange kind of way a slightly used and dirty air filter can work more effectively than one that is brand new or spanking clean. A slightly dirty filter will be able to trap dirt and debris more effectively as it will stick to what the filter already holds. A clean filter may not do this as well. However, a very dirty filter eventually will impede air getting through as it will become clogged.

Some car air filters, on the other hand, may play a different role. A filter that is set up on the air system coming into the car body itself may be beneficial to the driver and the passengers. This can help weed out dirt and substances from the air on the road whilst it brings fresh air into the car. These kinds of air filters are often known as pollen filters.

Here are some top websites linked to air filters

K&N website One of the well known makes and highly recommended
Pipercross website
Green Filters website
Demon Tweeks website