Just replaced the 2 piece cabin filter and there was a lot of dirt and debris in the fan housing. There are gaps everywhere, especially between the two filters, so I guess it's by design.

Is there a one piece filter that would work on the 5th gen max to avoid this mess?

 

i wish i could remember correctly, but something tells me original 20 years ago were like that but then they were converted to the 2 piece. maybe rig the seam it with some duct tape or something for piece of mind?

 

I have not seen a 1-pc. Although it would be nice to have a 1-pc, the 2-pc is still better than no filter (e.g. 350z). To me the biggest plus of having any cabin filter is that i can actually get in the air box with a vacuum hose attachment and clean the coils and loose debris.

 

Mine was two pieces. No gaps. Seals nicely. What I used:

 

That's exactly what the old ones look like. The bumps and ridges on the top and bottom allow quite a bit of debris to get thru.

I could've sworn that it used to have a single piece filter but that might just be my memory fading

 

It's tongue and groove, not bumps, lol. You're doing it wrong.