Performance Air Filters - do they do anything????

[Andy G]

Interesting test here - K&N etc were all included in the tests but I haven't
attached all the tests & graphs etc - Too mind numbing - Anoraks only !!!



The Story behind the test:



First of all, many thanks to Arlen Spicer and Ken at Testand for organizing
and facilitating the test. Arlen is a professional Firefighter who also
operates a small tree service on the side. The tree service is the reason he
owns a diesel truck. This study was the result of nearly a year of work by
Arlen to get accurate independent data on air filters for the GM Duramax
Diesel. Arlen originally set out to build his own Filter Test Stand so that
he could perform accurate, repeatable and independent measurements on the
various filters available for the Duramax. Arlen questioned the claims made
by aftermarket filter manufacturers that their filters were superior to the
conventional OEM style paper filters. After spending many months, hours and
a considerable amount of his own money, he learned first hand how difficult
it was to perform an accurate air filter test. He found it was difficult to
maintain all the necessary controls to insure an accurate measurement. It
was at this juncture that Arlen received a call from Ken at Testand offering
to perform the ISO 5011 test free of charge. Ken found Arlen’s idea for an
independent comparison study very interesting and offered to do the ISO 5011
testing using one of Testand’s industrial Filter Test Machines. Arlen posted
the news on the Internet and immediately offers from other Duramax owners to
purchase and send filters for the test started rolling in. Some purchased
and donated filters and others made contributions to cover the expenses and
the cost of shipping the filters to Teststand. It was truly a team effort.
The end result is the top quality data presented in this report. The
following is a quote from Arlen.



(Arlen) SPICER wrote,

“Now that I am not doing the tests and my objectivity is not necessary, let
me explain my motivation. The reason I started this crusade was that I was
seeing people spend a lot of money on aftermarket filters based on the word
of a salesperson or based on the misleading, incomplete or outright
deceiving information printed on boxes and in sales literature. Gentlemen
and Ladies, Marketing and the lure of profit is VERY POWERFUL! It is amazing
how many people believe that better airflow = more power! Unless you have
modifications out the wazoo, a more porous filter will just dirty your oil!
Some will say " I have used aftermarket brand X for XXX # years with no
problems. The PROBLEM is you spent a chunk of ching on a product that not
only DID NOT increase your horsepower, but also let in a lot of dirt while
doing it! Now how much is a lot? ANY MORE THAN NECESSARY is TOO MUCH!

Others are persuaded by the claims of aftermarket manufacturers that their
filters filter dirt "better than any other filter on the market." Sounds
very enticing. To small timers like you and me, spending $1500 to test a
filter sounds like a lot. But if you were a filter manufacturer and you
believed your filter could filter dirt better than any other media on the
market, wouldn't you want to prove it? Guess what. Test your filter vs. the
OE paper. It will cost you $3000 and for that price you will have the data
that you can use in your advertisements. Your investment will be returned a
thousand fold! EASIER than shooting fish in a barrel! So why don't these
manufacturers do this? Hmmm? Probably not because they would feel guilty
about taking more market share.



Now I am not saying that ALL aftermarket filters are useless. A paper filter
does not do well if directly wetted or muddy. It may collapse. This is why
many off-road filters are foam. It is a compromise between filtering
efficiency and protection from a collapsed filter. Now how many of our
trucks collapse their filters from mud and water? However, if a filter is
using "better airflow" as their marketing tool, remember this....Does it
flow better? At very high airflow volumes, probably. BUT, Our trucks CAN'T
flow that much air unless super-modified, so what is the point? The stock
filter will flow MORE THAN ENOUGH AIR to give you ALL THE HORSEPOWER the
engine has to give. And this remains true until the filter is dirty enough
to trip the air filter life indicator. At that point performance will
decline somewhat. Replace the filter and get on with it.

Hopefully the results of this test will do 2 things. Shed some light on the
misleading marketing claims of some aftermarket manufacturers and/or give us
new insight on products already on the market that are superior to our OE
filter. I stand for truth and will eat my words publicly if my statements
prove wrong. I appreciate all of the help and support that you members have
offered in this project. It would simply be impossible without your help. A
huge thanks to Ken at Testand for his willingness to take on this project. I
would be spinning my wheels from here to eternity without his help… SPICERâ€

[Rich H]

So the oem filter is fine for my 4-pot metro engine then?

But it makes no mention of bling factor or the noise increase?
Seriously what sort of test can it be without Westwoods input?

Rich