Panel Filter and Insurance?

Soldato
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So R888's or AO48's? If so, insurance wouldn't consider them a mod. It's the same misinformation regarding winter tyres being incorrectly considered a mod by those on the phone.

Indeed, anyone ringing their insurance company asking them if they would consider cut slicks a mod, when they are just normal E-Marked tyres is frankly, not someone I would take any car insurance advice from.
 
Soldato
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Indeed, anyone ringing their insurance company asking them if they would consider cut slicks a mod, when they are just normal E-Marked tyres is frankly, not someone I would take any car insurance advice from.

I was asked if i had "track day oriented tyres" by the insurer when going through my list of modifications, too which i replied "yes" thinking nothing of it... After that i started asking each company to save wasting my time with there tedious questioning.
 
Soldato
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I asked a similar question here before regarding OEM/uprated consumables before and didn't get a definitive answer. Not even my insurance company could tell me for sure other than their standard line from a book

Where do you draw the line? What if you ask your garage to get you good quality replacement brakes, and they end up putting a performance brand in and Mr. Average Joe doesn't know that the brand is a performance brand and just thinks it's a good brand.
 
Soldato
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I wouldn't bother tbh, it's simply a replacement filter that happens to be washable. There's no performance advantage, no noise advantage, and the oil will knacker up your MAF wire over time, waste of time IMO.
 
Soldato
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All this about not declaring is rubbish. i had loads of stuff like this on my last car, got a letter back with them all mentioned when they took the car, i just had to explain why they were fitted.

My reason for the filter was because it was cheaper in the long run as it can be cleaned.

They were fine with that, as well as all the other stuff.
If its a second hand car just claim it was already fitted, its up to them to prove you fitted them for performance gains.
 
Soldato
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Consumable part.

You needed a new consumable air filter, went into the shop and got an air filter drop in replacement. No different to using a different brand of oil from OEM.

There is no performance gain. Depends who you insure with whether you want to tell them I guess.

My cat-back is declared on my S2000 and to my surprise they wanted no extra money on my premium.
 
Soldato
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I was asked if i had "track day oriented tyres" by the insurer when going through my list of modifications

Ah so we now have a full story, not just the tyres fitted then.

The reality is, if you fit road legal E-Marked tyres there is no need to declare them to your insurance company, however, if you crash in the rain, with those tyres you may have some issues when trying to explain why you had them fitted.

The simple thing to do when having track day tyres is have them on a second set of wheels to fit at the track, using them on the road in all weathers is kinda asking for trouble. I know many say they are fine on the road, but they really aren't good in anything other than a light shower, and rubbish in standing water as they aquaplane really badly (Toyo 888's for me).
 
Soldato
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What's the story when mods were fitted by a previous owner and you potentially could have no idea if they're standard parts or not?

no issue at all like i said, i had various items fitted that i didnt know about, they were fine with it when i said i had no idea about them, inlcuded lowered suspension, catback, filter and quickshift.
 
Soldato
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the paper ones are perfectly fine and BETTER at filtering the air.

They are when new, but think of it like a vacuum cleaner, after a short while the dust in the air clogs the pores and reduces the flow BELOW manufacturer specifications. A cloth panel filter flows no more when clean, but flows much better when the oil has picked up the dust as it doesn't clog anywhere near as badly.

It is important people realise the importance of the oil, I use pipercross filter oil on mine, the oil acts as a trap allowing larger holes in the filter, if you skip this, or don't clean the filter every 3000 or so miles, then there will be no point fitting the cloth filter.

So whilst a panel filter offers no real gain over a paper filter when both are clean, the consistency is better over the life of the filter.

Oil MAY affect the MAF if it is over oiled, but this is easily cleaned with intake cleaner. If of course you run a mafless ECU, then you have no worries in this respect.
 
Soldato
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there is no performance gains by just swapping the paper filter for a "performance" filter. to get the full benifit you need cams exhauste and head work but you will find better throttle repsonce and mabe a few extra mpg, unless you get addicted to the induction roar in that case your mpg will drop

I know, am not looking for a performance gain as I don't exactly drive a performance car to get anything out of it. :p I'm planning on servicing my car soon so was thinking of using these panel filter, as they are reusable and since they let more air in they might add more responsiveness and a nice sound would be a bonus.
 
Soldato
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They are when new, but think of it like a vacuum cleaner, after a short while the dust in the air clogs the pores and reduces the flow BELOW manufacturer specifications.

A clean filter when brand new is usually on the limit of their filtration specifications, this is because as they are used and they get dirty their filtration improves not decreases, yes this means that the airflow drops but this is accounted for when the filter is specced out, under normal driving circumstances a paper filter won't need replacing due to being clogged with dirt unless you have gone past the filter service interval.

NB: If anybody wonders how stainless steel cone filters factor into this their not in the same league as paper/cotton/foam. Unless you plan on driving into a chip shop their just bling.
 
Associate
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All this about not declaring is rubbish. i had loads of stuff like this on my last car, got a letter back with them all mentioned when they took the car, i just had to explain why they were fitted.

My reason for the filter was because it was cheaper in the long run as it can be cleaned.

They were fine with that, as well as all the other stuff.
If its a second hand car just claim it was already fitted, its up to them to prove you fitted them for performance gains .

not exactly true for every company, there's a few cases where people have done quotes online for changes they "might" make to their car to check prices etc, if the insurance company pick up that you have a current policy and you are doing a few checks, they can add it on and get you to prove its not standard. negligence is not a good enough answer for a good number of insurance companies, If you have a claim, lets say you hit some one so the is a high reserve figure on the claim in case they go down the personal injury route, then the insurance company would use the fact you didn't notify them of the mods and void your policy based on one of the principles of insurance, repudiation
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Nov 2004
Posts
8,182
Location
Couvains, France
A clean filter when brand new is usually on the limit of their filtration specifications, this is because as they are used and they get dirty their filtration improves not decreases, yes this means that the airflow drops but this is accounted for when the filter is specced out, under normal driving circumstances a paper filter won't need replacing due to being clogged with dirt unless you have gone past the filter service interval.

NB: If anybody wonders how stainless steel cone filters factor into this their not in the same league as paper/cotton/foam. Unless you plan on driving into a chip shop their just bling.

It is not about the filtration, it is about the consistency of airflow, yes a paper filter offers the same filtration and as the pores get blocked it does filter better but reduces airflow and therefore performance.

In carbs it means fuel enrichment and even worse performance, but on fuel injection or turbo charged engines it's just loss of power. The more the engine is dependant on good airflow, the more power loss you will get from a stock dirty airfilter.

Stainless cone filters as you say are generally rubbish, as they sit in the engine bay and draw in warmer air and get dirty faster as well as having less surface area to filter the air. At least in a stock airbox, the filter gets ducted air, usually from an inner wing, that is cooler and cleaner. An oiled panel filter and exhaust (+ remap) usually see's a reasonable gain on turbo charged cars, allowing better breathing in and out. They make enough difference to be considered an essential part of a stage one package on most modded cars.

Just fitting a panel filter on a normally aspirated car with no remap generally makes little difference, maybe 1-2 bhp at the top end, but the main advantage is the washable aspect and consistency of airflow. If you aren't modding the car for performance, and don't drive it hard, you will see no real benefit in fitting one.

Because they use the stock airbox there is no improvement in noise, and no real improvement in throttle response on a non-turbo car.
 
Soldato
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the reusable aspect of them is not a positive at all

to clean an oiled foam filter you need petrol. you then need to hang it out to dry, no heat can be applied

then you need the oil. the oil costs money, about as much as a new paper filter and its messy

or, just put a new paper filter in and be done with it
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
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13,568
not exactly true for every company, there's a few cases where people have done quotes online for changes they "might" make to their car to check prices etc, if the insurance company pick up that you have a current policy and you are doing a few checks, they can add it on and get you to prove its not standard. negligence is not a good enough answer for a good number of insurance companies, If you have a claim, lets say you hit some one so the is a high reserve figure on the claim in case they go down the personal injury route, then the insurance company would use the fact you didn't notify them of the mods and void your policy based on one of the principles of insurance, repudiation

Not entirely true, they still have to proove you knew about the mods, and that the mods would have otherwise meant cancelling the policy. Its all on the ombudsmen website, trust me i have just been through it all with them trying to void my policy for a few items i knew nothing about. Buying a car second hand also makes this point a lot easier to be truthfull, how do i know what the previous owner has done.

In the small print of all policys its written, "to the best of your knowledge the statements are true". thats a very hard thing to disprove but they will try and fail if you know your rights and what to say and do.

Obviously certain mods would be daft to try and cover up like a completely different engine, but a panel filter i doubt it, who are they to say you even know what a filter is.
 
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