Is there any differences between air filters? Eg. OEM - Motormaster - Fram?
Which one is best for the Maxima?

Thank you!
Joey

 

they all do the same thing...filter the air going into the engine.
i prefer K&N because the flow is better and you can clean and reuse them.

 

Fram Tough Guard...its a really nice filter with THICK rubber seals on the edges...makes a real tight seal...the filter media is good quality as well

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=502476

 

Fram tough guard is the way to go.

 

That's like saying all cars do the same thing... carry people in them.

Some filter better than others, some flow better than others, some fit better than others... There are a lot of variables, some of which are VERY important to the longevity of your engine.

 

To the OP, ince the intake is not a major point of restriction, you should get the best filtration you can. Go with an Amsoil EaA air filter (not to be confused with their old foam filters, which weren't so good).

 

so.....
i bought a fram tough guard #TGA4309 and it doesn't fit....
whats the deal?

 

Like what? Would you give some reference we could look at? Thanks.

 

very good chance that someone could have switched the filters at the store?,.. IE(took 2 out of the box to compare them and put them back in wrong boxes? or purposly put them back in wrong boxes if one box was cheaper) ,.. bring it back to the store and go compare

 

what was the conclusion on the air filter?

 

bought a Purolator from Pepboys, looked similar to teh stock one i had, fit was a bit snug but at least it closed, compared to the fram tough guard

 

Most of my evidence is anecdotal, to tell the truth.


On the topic of filtration/flow, one of my sources is this:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm

(Note that the Amsoil filter they test there is their old one and not one of the new EaA line.)


On the topic of K&N's filtration in particular, a large proportion of used engine oil analysis I've seen on cars with K&N filters show relatively high levels of silicon, which is considered to be a strong indicator of dirt ingress.


On the fitment issue, I go by my own experiences and what I've been reading here. Amsoil EaA, K&N, and OEM filters almost always get comments for having a tight fit, whereas other brands like Fram, Purolator, and Duralast get mixed reviews in that department.

 

Has anyone dyno tested different filters? I would like to see the relationship between the dyno differential vs. filtration quality to see which filter would be the best. Bob's test does nothing for me as I would much rather filter out more stuff than increase the power. But I am at 150K and not driving the car that hard. Someoe driving for performance would rather the greater airflow. If I could compare the power increase vs. the filtration qualtiy (get 10% performance gain, but only 2% filtration loss) than that would make the choice easier. I am not about to tackle/guess at what the increase in airflow works out to be power wise.

PS. If Bob has a masters in Engineering Mgt and a BSME, why would you want to get an ASE mechanic cert?

 

I'll tell you that I almost burned out a maf because of the K&N. It doesn't matter how little oil you use or how long you dry it, these mafs are terrible that way. My mech cleaned it before it burned out, but the difference was negligible anyway.

 

Wouldn't the results of such a test vary with temperature and moisture conditions?

Either way, these are the things I fall back on when talking about air filters:


1. The intake is not a major point of restriction on a stock or mostly-stock Maxima. The throttle body is smallish at 2.5" in diameter, and it's debatable whether that is a limitation even at WOT, let alone when you're "not driving the car that hard". Even replacing the long, rough, twisty intake plumbing with short, smooth, straight pipes gives little to no power increase for daily driving. Given those, and given the size of the stock airbox (i.e. much bigger, it is extremely doubtful that any filter from any self-respecting company could possibly be so restrictive that it would hurt performance in a big way.

2. "Better" filtration means not only catching more particles, but also being able to catch smaller particles. That's important because smaller particles can fit into smaller spaces, like rod bearings...

3. Catching more particles will also extend the usable life of your oil. That also doesn't take much justification.


In short, if you're not trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your engine, no drop-in filter will give you enough power to justify any sacrifice in filtration, and no drop-in filter from any good company will be so restrictive that it wouldn't be worth having better filtration.




Maybe it's for his credibility about cars in others' eyes, and not for his own edification?

 

While I do agree with ease everything you said, I still have to askI don't agree.

And you know this, how? Do you have any scientific data with respect to the A32 maxima to support this theory?

 

If people can make much more than 190hp NA with that TB, isn't it safe to assume it's not being maxed out?

And I thought the Pathy TB gave virtually no gains except on fairly seriously modded engines...

 

It's a good theory, but no data is there to support it.

The FWD VQ35 has a larger TB, but the MAF is the same size.


Perhaps to make the ECU/MAF tuning easier to switchover (from A32->A33) and save some $$

 

Our cars have air filters???????? What on earth do they do?

 

Hm. Well, either way, thanks for the heads-up. Post duly edited.

 

They make VTEC kick in sooner and increase your RPM bands so that your horsepowers get bigger.

 

I bought an Amesoil filter. There is a dealer that has a special price on Amesoil for Maxima.Org members.

The filter works great as long as you clean it as required.

Check the Group Deals discussion.