Foam/Cotton vs Paper air filters

Soldato
Joined
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Well I was looking into getting either a foam or cotton drop in filter element to replace the standard paper one in my Octavia but after doing a bit of digging I've read lots of stuff about the filtration not being anywhere near as good. Is this true or is it one of those "x is 20 times better than y but in the real world it makes naff all difference" scenarios?

Also with this engine having MAF issues its recommended going for a non oiled foam filter from the likes of Pipercross. Do these have worse filtration characteristics to the usual cotton filter + oil setup?

Your opinions please.
 
I've always had people tending to go towards to foam (PiperX vs. K&N) but then its all a matter of opinion. I've never had a noticeable difference with either!
 
lordrobs said:
Also with this engine having MAF issues its recommended going for a non oiled foam filter from the likes of Pipercross.

Have you answered your own question there?
 
I would have thought that the foam filters didn't filter as much due to having much larger holes than paper filters... but then, the filter is built up in the form of a honeycomb, so if some dirt doesn't get stopped by the outer layer, chances are it will get trapped somewhere along the way.

I have an ITG Maxogen foam filter on my car. It's quite a popular filter and I haven't noticed any side-effects from using it.
 
Phil W said:
Have you answered your own question there?
LOL nope, just that's what I've read as being recommended for my car. You know what its like though, whilst thats flavour of the month at the moment it'll be something different next week.

I'm just after some opinions on the different options that are out there.
 
lordrobs said:
Also with this engine having MAF issues its recommended going for a non oiled foam filter from the likes of Pipercross. Do these have worse filtration characteristics to the usual cotton filter + oil setup?

Your opinions please.

Aye mate, deffo get a non oiled one, our MAF's really don't like the oiled ones, mind saying that they aint that expensive to replace :p

If i was you i would smooth the airbox and stick a green cotton in (Think those are non oil?)

Mark
 
I'd use a standard manufacturer's filter. The foam ones are pretty well, average - they only flow more by filtering less.

RE K&Ns, I read the reveiew of a back-to-back dyno with an oiled K&N and a standard paper filter on a Corvette and it gained...... 2BHP, which is accountable for via dyno errors and corrections.

I trust the standard item more.....

Also with the K&N, read an interesting article that showed how it 'outflowed' the standard filter for about 1000 miles, then after that began to flow much less than a standard filter of a similar milage.

I suspect it's only any benifit if you're revving ferociously high, or flowing vast quantities of air.
 
lordrobs said:
Also with this engine having MAF issues its recommended going for a non oiled foam filter from the likes of Pipercross.

Pipercross filters are oiled. In fact all foam and cotton filters need to be oiled to actualy be effective at stopping crud entering your engine.
 
Lashout- thanks for the info, managed to miss your post before my last reply :o

Dogbreath- I heard that the VAG 1.8T Pipercross filters were oil-less due to MAF problems. Could be wrong though as I've read conflicting things.

Liverpool Lad- I'm thinking you might have the right idea. Infact for what they cost I'm considering just sticking in a new one every service :o
 
lordrobs said:
Lashout- thanks for the info, managed to miss your post before my last reply :o

Dogbreath- I heard that the VAG 1.8T Pipercross filters were oil-less due to MAF problems. Could be wrong though as I've read conflicting things.

Liverpool Lad- I'm thinking you might have the right idea. Infact for what they cost I'm considering just sticking in a new one every service :o

They are not oiled, well at least the model for the VAG cars aren't.

The rubbers are little higher than the standard paper filter and the top is a right **** to get back on.
 
Ah ok, truth be told I just want a touch more noise :o :p

Thats my only complaint (well actually its not but the rest are just me being overly fussy ;) ) that when you mash the loud pedal theres no vocals to accompany the acceleration.
 
I agree, but don't really want to spend £400-500 on a new exhaust!

I can def hear the turbo a bit more and it sounds a tad noiser. Got the divertor valve done at the same time tho so that helps... i'm sure my old bosch one was faulty.

Going to paint the grill black soon... :D
 
ethos said:
I agree, but don't really want to spend £400-500 on a new exhaust!

I can def hear the turbo a bit more and it sounds a tad noiser. Got the divertor valve done at the same time tho so that helps... i'm sure my old bosch one was faulty.

Going to paint the grill black soon... :D
I'm with you there! Going to get my mechanic to knock me up a custom bracket to try and keep my current one stuck on the car as the current bracket is pretty rotten :o £325 heading the stealers way on Friday so thats any plans for spending on the car pretty much squashed :p

My standard one kicks out quite a beefy "whoosh" so I assume its still in working order. My minds at rest after running the trial of Vag-Com and only picking up one fault code and that was for the radio... thats assuming I did it properly :o

I saw on Briskoda someone had done the standard grill on a black Octy, looked pretty damn good, much better than the plain (miltec?) grills. Not too much point doing mine :p
 
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