Aftermarket Drop in Air filter performance

[17MustangGT]

Looking to change the paper filter on the mustang, looking at AFE, or AEM for my filter replacement and I want to ensure I will still be getting proper filtration from an aftermarket filter. I have been searching high and low for a thread I was reading a month or so ago that had results of drop in VS stock and talked about the filtering properties and went into depth about the construction. One item I noticed was the drop in didn't filter out the fine material as good as the stock paper due to the amount of pleats and how deep they were. Can anyone provide some feedback or know of the thread I am talking about? Car lives in NJ and the overall goal was to replace with a more durable filter that will filter as good if not better than stock and that is Dry no oiling required.

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[Meraki Autoworks]

aFe dry filter then!

-Josh

 

[17MustangGT]

So in real world driving conditions you would trust an aftermarket filter such as the aFe to filter out just as many smaller particles and prevent premature engine wear?

 

[Zelek]

So in real world driving conditions you would trust an aftermarket filter such as the aFe to filter out just as many smaller particles and prevent premature engine wear?

Many of them are close to being the same. You can't have both amazing filtration and airflow. Something will have to give even if it's the tiny particles that it lets through.

If you're worried about best filtration, keep the stock one.

 

[17MustangGT]

I understand completely and have paid the compromise game many a time hah. I just want to ensure a happy healthy engine for many more miles and years. The plan was to move to a PP2 kit this year but funds and time have caused that to move to late this year/Next spring so I was looking to change the filter as its at 12K and wanted to see what all options are. Suppose I will try the aFe as I don't live in a dusty climate, and its not a daily driver that sits in traffic all the time.

 

[Zelek]

I understand completely and have paid the compromise game many a time hah. I just want to ensure a happy healthy engine for many more miles and years. The plan was to move to a PP2 kit this year but funds and time have caused that to move to late this year/Next spring so I was looking to change the filter as its at 12K and wanted to see what all options are. Suppose I will try the aFe as I don't live in a dusty climate, and its not a daily driver that sits in traffic all the time.

If you're not in a really dusty climate, you will be just fine.

 

[Zathras]

Does anyone have a link to any articles or videos, etc. with data (dyno results) to show what gains any of the drop-in filters have over the stock one (on a stock late-model Mustang)? I'd be surprised if they have any gains big enough to really stand out from random variation in the measurement.

 

[GregO]

Green Filter USA.
Great pricing.
Exceptional filtering.
High Air Flow.

Check it out, you’ll see the quality difference compared to the other brands.

 

[A7X]

Cleaned my AEM Dryflow this past weekend and used the stiock filter in the meantime.

Washed the AEM a few times and some extremely fine particles washed out - I was surprised how small they were. I think it does a great job of filtering air and my GT drives better with the AEM vs stock

 

[Deleted member 35786]

Biggest thing is will it block small sand particles? When it dries out here along the gulf coast it can get a bit dusty at times from the sand blowing around. Other times its tstorms every other day... lol

 

[WildHorse]

Judge for yourself:

 

[A7X]

Good video above

Mustang specific testing- -bolding below was mine

https://motoiq.com/tested-ford-mustang-gt-power-packs-1-3/3/

"The K&N drop-in panel filter picked up 7.37whp at 6,500rpm and 7.28lb-ft of torque at 4,000rpm. The K&N air filter filled in the stock Mustang’s factory torque dip between 4,000-5,400rpm with an average increase of 12whp and a maximum gain of 19.14whp and 18.61lb-ft of torque at 5,400rpm.

A peak gain of 7whp/tq and a maximum gain of 19whp is a massive increase for the price of a $55 air filter and a 10-second install. Since we didn’t pick up the 13-23whp peak gains that we saw in our M3, Viper, and IS-F, this leads us to believe Ford’s OEM air filter design, layout, and airbox is far more efficient and better engineered since the gain wasn’t as big.

Now that we saw the improvement from the air filter, we were very interested in seeing how much more Ford’s proprietary calibration would do to the 5.0L Coyote V8 since there’s now only 6HP to be gained based off of Ford’s 13HP claimed increase from PP1."

 

[Condor1970]

I installed an AEM, and liked it. However, I found out the micron rating isn't as good as a paper filter, so I pulled it. Since I live in the Seattle area where we get a lot of rain and not too dusty summers, I wonder if it would be OK to use it. Also, we do get some pretty heavy pollen in spring though.

 

[Deleted member 35786]

I installed an AEM, and liked it. However, I found out the micron rating isn't as good as a paper filter, so I pulled it. Since I live in the Seattle area where we get a lot of rain and not too dusty summers, I wonder if it would be OK to use it. Also, we do get some pretty heavy pollen in spring though.

Polen will not hurt your engine whatsoever, it is non abrasive and will wash right out when burned in the combustion chamber. But yea the cold, cloudy rain up there... uhhgggg I do not miss it one bit when I lived there..

 

[A7X]

I installed an AEM, and liked it. However, I found out the micron rating isn't as good as a paper filter, so I pulled it. Since I live in the Seattle area where we get a lot of rain and not too dusty summers, I wonder if it would be OK to use it. Also, we do get some pretty heavy pollen in spring though.

I worried about that until I saw the superfine dust the AEM was catching. If you have a link can you point to the micron rating on the AEM?

Cheers

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