Jul 28th, 2010
When More Money is Worth it
A discussion on Twitter today prompted me to think about this post. Up for discussion was the changing of automotive air filters. My opinion was that that the reusable K&N filters were a great way to go and didn’t even consider their performance improvement claims–my claim was just because since I’ve changed over to them, I’ve never even needed to do a cleaning and oiling of the filter; it’s always passed the sun shining through test.
So when I was discussing that with someone who had never changed an air filter, a car technician I know–an incredibly nice, smart guy–joined the discussion and stated that at least the last time he read up on it there was no demonstrable difference in performance with clean, dirty, or third party filters. He also did say that he used the same test I did to indicate the need to replace or clean the filter, although he did wonder where debris went if the filter still looked acceptable.
The K&N filter probably costs about three to four times as much as a regular air filter and claims improved performance; I don’t know if it provides that. But it has passed the replacement test since I’ve had the truck, and that’s well over 100,000 miles.
So, I think that in this case, even if the performance claims aren’t substantiated, the lower maintenance was worth the extra cost- -at least for me.
