want to buy a panel filter for the golf, its a 240bhp 1.8T. I have the following options -

Ramair panel - £25

K&N panel - £38

Pipercross panel - £33

Green panel - £48

HKS panel - £38

BMC panel - £40


Is the Green one worth £23 more than the Ramair one?

What are peoples thoughts on these filters?

Thanks, Matt.

 

Always been a fan of k&n myself.
Foam ones don't filter to the same standard, letting through larger particles.

 

posted on the golf forum and got pretty negative feedback to them all. they all thought i would see no gain in performance at all and i would be better buying a cheap paper one.

bizarre.
but i didn't know that about the filtering. rules out the cheaper ram air filter.

 

Anyone else have any feedback?

 

I'd bet the VW ones are good...and filter far better too.

 

Paper filters lose efficiency as they get diry. K & N and other oil-impregnated filters don't lose unless they get really grubby and then you can clean them.
You won't much (if any) power gain over a clean paper filter.

I bought a K & N and it's still fine 19 years later.

 

And K&N etc dont filter much either...so it's easy to say they dont lose much filtration, as there really isnt a huge amount to start with compared to paper.

The chances of the OEM filter posing any restriction worth worrying about is almost zero.

 

I had a foam pipercross on my focus but wasn't a fan so bought a k&n panel instead which has since been on for years as you can clean them up pretty well. I blast mine with a compressor too. So in the long run a k&n will be more cost effective than standard ones

 

I know it's a slight tangent but I've always thought a good cone filter to buy would be a standard Honda S2000 one. They actually have a large cone filter as std inside an airbox. Obviously they'd use a good filtering medium for oe spec, good price too.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/351239582790?nav=SEARCH

 

May as well chuck it in the bin now then. Compressed air, pressure washing, brushing with a stiff brush etc will destroy a filters fine mesh, thus making it pretty useless as a filter.


To be honest on a standard car a standard filter will be fine, posh filters really aren't worth the money.

 

So what's happening when the engines sucking air in?

I'm just doing the same thing in the opposite direction

 

It's the volume and rate of air that's different mate.

 

Blasting high pressure air at the fine gauze will blow holes in it, some that you probably won't be able to see but will still be letting unfiltered air through.

 

Yeah I do it from a couple of feet to remove flies and leaves etc

 

In my opinion when it comes to aftermarket panel filters, best bet is just use an OEM one and make sure it gets replaced at service intervals and check it now and then. I doubt you would see a noticeable gain with an aftermarket one

 

Picture makes it look like green paper ?

 

That's not an OE one, just linked the first one I saw on ebay as an example of the style. Was just surprised when I took the lid of my airbox off to find that in there! You can actually run the lid off the airbox for 'more sound' but I hated the NA induction sound anyway.

Looking at the others on ebay it's a bit like the material of the cosworth air filters, like the ones you get for imprezas in the blue colour. Like a fine material style but disposable.

Just think it's a good option for a converted turbo car or similar with FMIC where you need a cone filter but you get OE quality filtration and the space convinience of a cone but a throw away service item that's relatively cheap.

 

Need a paper cone type filter ? Old Peugeot etc lol

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Air-Filter...item27f6ccd821

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-CI...item4ae0cba0ff

K&N make a replacement too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/K-N-OE-Rep...item566a630150