panel filters worth it?

cypher007

Active Member
Jul 13, 2008
263
0
thinking of changing the stock paper one for a bmc panel filter, on my mk1 110bhp leon. is it worth it? some people recon they have no effect.
 
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Nam-uk

Active Member
May 11, 2011
1,258
408
lancashire.
the K&N is in for life and will save money in the long run, also the oil issue is Bull before asked :)
 
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GMan_88

Active Member
Sep 19, 2012
189
0
Reading
I picked up a pipercross one from fleabay last night for for less than £30 delivered to my door ahead of my service this weekend. Let me know if you interested and il drag up the link.
 

dazjstuart

Active Member
May 18, 2012
660
8
Aberdeen
I have a green cotton one, tbh I wouldn't bother. You maybe get slightly more induction noise but not a lot, bit more of a dump noise too. They cost about £40, OEM ones are about £6 so you would need to have your car for a few years before it pays! If you want induction noise get a cone, if you don't then stick with the original. Yes it will be more restrictive but the air box and tiny airfeed to the wing I imagine is the limiting factor rather than the filter itself.
 
After 18 months on a piper cross panel, I've just gone back to a paper one. When I cleaned the foam one, I wasn't convinced the middle of the foam was too clean. Also I'm not sure if I sprayed the correct amount of oil on the filter after cleaning. Too much kills the maf, too little and you get bad filtration. I've just bought a brand new bosch maf so thought best go back to the paper ones
 

mty12345

Active Member
Jun 17, 2011
4,087
668
bristol
After 18 months on a piper cross panel, I've just gone back to a paper one. When I cleaned the foam one, I wasn't convinced the middle of the foam was too clean. Also I'm not sure if I sprayed the correct amount of oil on the filter after cleaning. Too much kills the maf, too little and you get bad filtration. I've just bought a brand new bosch maf so thought best go back to the paper ones

+1 on this and what LEE69 said, stick with paper matey. You won't gain any noticable power from aftermarket ones just a bit of induction noise. Foam filters allow microscopic dust particles to get into your engine as well, the holes in them are about 10x the size of the holes in a paper one, and on a 110bhp car the airbox is MORE than able to flow all the air you need.

The oil issue is definatly NOT bull!! As said above it WILL bugger up the MAF in no time as oil gets on it and kills them and at £200 odd quid for a new bosch MAF it's never worth it!

If you look through the posts on here where people have gone through MAF after MAF, they are all running oil covered filters. As also said above at £6 a time compared to £40+ for a foam one it would take you about 100,000 miles just to break even and by then the car's gonna be in the big scrapyard in the sky :)
 
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mty12345

Active Member
Jun 17, 2011
4,087
668
bristol
the K&N is in for life and will save money in the long run, also the oil issue is Bull before asked :)


Foam filters were fine 20 years ago when cars had carbs and hence no need for a MAF but things have moved on a bit since then. The fact that on every MAF equipped car that i've ever seen the MAF is fitted straight after the airbox, where the air is free from contaminents, and not further into the inlet tract where it would get oily from the crankcase ventalation system says it all in my mind.
Infact fitting the MAF further from the filter would be cheaper, because it would remove the need for the "lattice like" screen that is there to smooth the airflow out, because the air flow would be a lot less turbulent at that point. I'm pretty sure bosch put it in clean air and choose to add the lattice (and hence make it harder to manufacture and cost more) for a reason..... to keep if free from oil!
 
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cypher007

Active Member
Jul 13, 2008
263
0
cheers for the reply's. I was also wondering if it was possible to flash the ecu myself.
 
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