BlackWorksInc
New member
Performance Air Filter = Less Filtration = More Contaminants in the intake stream.
Doesn't matter where you drive, dirty air is dirty air. The factory CAI is pretty well designed, but dirt, dust, debris still get in the engine. Thickness of the filter media does not say much, mass, weave, material, ect. are more indicative of good filter design.
Now that being said, AFE and similar common use (will expand on that in a bit) high quality dry filters are pretty decent and don't lose too much filtration capability compared to OEM. That being said, a lot of people forget that "performance" means many different things. High-End Race Cars probably run the least restrictive filters (if any) compared to typical road-car; but then again those engines are torn-down and rebuilt every race or so.
Just because you can eek out some power and performance out of a vehicle, doesn't mean it's free; heat soaking, metal fatigue, bearing wear, ect. can compound and result in lower lifespan of an engine for that performance. Now most of the time, if tuned properly; a good balance between efficiency, performance, and reliability can be found. But more often than not, most people go about "tuning" a car all wrong; slapping on CAI & "CatBack" systems and throwing generic chips on the vehicle to eek out a few extra HP and force the transmission to work harder. But then again, most people either have money to spend or just pawn their mistakes off to someone else when it costs to much and blame the manufacturer/tuner/parts company/anyone but themselves for not properly building their vehicle. OR my favorite excuse, "it hasn't blown up/failed/broken/killed anyone/destroyed my car/ect. YET!"
TL;DR-
AFE is a good filter and it probably flows a bit better than factory with very minor lose in filtration performance. But thickness of filter media is not indicative of performance or flow characteristics.
Doesn't matter where you drive, dirty air is dirty air. The factory CAI is pretty well designed, but dirt, dust, debris still get in the engine. Thickness of the filter media does not say much, mass, weave, material, ect. are more indicative of good filter design.
Now that being said, AFE and similar common use (will expand on that in a bit) high quality dry filters are pretty decent and don't lose too much filtration capability compared to OEM. That being said, a lot of people forget that "performance" means many different things. High-End Race Cars probably run the least restrictive filters (if any) compared to typical road-car; but then again those engines are torn-down and rebuilt every race or so.
Just because you can eek out some power and performance out of a vehicle, doesn't mean it's free; heat soaking, metal fatigue, bearing wear, ect. can compound and result in lower lifespan of an engine for that performance. Now most of the time, if tuned properly; a good balance between efficiency, performance, and reliability can be found. But more often than not, most people go about "tuning" a car all wrong; slapping on CAI & "CatBack" systems and throwing generic chips on the vehicle to eek out a few extra HP and force the transmission to work harder. But then again, most people either have money to spend or just pawn their mistakes off to someone else when it costs to much and blame the manufacturer/tuner/parts company/anyone but themselves for not properly building their vehicle. OR my favorite excuse, "it hasn't blown up/failed/broken/killed anyone/destroyed my car/ect. YET!"
TL;DR-
AFE is a good filter and it probably flows a bit better than factory with very minor lose in filtration performance. But thickness of filter media is not indicative of performance or flow characteristics.
