Which Car Air Filter is Best? Let's find out! Fram, K&N, Wix, Purolator, & AC Delco showdown

if you want your vehicle to last a long time should you go ahead and spend a few extra dollars on the air filter now obviously if you want your vehicle to perform well having an air filter that allows plenty of air to get into the engines very important and also you want that air to be clean we're gonna be testing at both of those things today on six different brands to see if it really makes that much of a difference is that $50 air filter doing just as good or better than the $10.00 air filter let's get the testing underway and see which brand is the best we'll see which air filter provides the best air flow when it's new we'll see if air filter brands have any impact on zero-to-sixty acceleration times we'll see which air filters do the best at filtering out contaminants in order to test car air filters I built this air filter test and air filter is mounted at the very top of the test stand the air filter cover is encased in plexiglass so that contamination can easily be added to the top of the air filter air will move down and pass through an observation box that is encased in plexiglass the air then travels into a six-inch pipe as air passes through the pipe we'll be measuring both the velocity of the air as well as the static pressure more about that later at the very end of the tester is an electric fan motor and a first test will measure the air speed through the tester using each filter additionally we'll be using a manometer to measure static pressure so what a static pressure simply put it's the resistance to air flow it seems to make sense that an air filter which allows easier and faster air flow will allow the engine to make more horsepower compared to an air filter that is more restrictive let's establish our baseline air flow rate and static pressure by first running the test stand without a filter in place the gauge on the Left shows the speed of the air and it's moving on average at 59.4 miles per hour the gauge on the right is showing static pressure which is the resistance to flow from the 12 by 12 inch box into the six inch diameter pipe static pressure is measured in inches of water column and the static pressure is just under one inch of water column the air filter we'll be testing is for 2003 chevrolet suburban it also fits many other makes and models so we'll be using this filter for the testing at a price at only $8 at 87 cents the least expensive air filter we'll be testing is this EP Auto extra guard pail air filter claims to deliver outstanding protection helps improve performance improve fuel mileage protect against dirt change every 12,000 miles made in China I counted all the pleats of the filter media and there are a total of 80 the EPI 2 also has a couple layers of adhesive going from top to bottom of this filter and in order to keep these pleats separated the filter weighs right at 507 grams the wire mesh on the inside the filter seems quite durable the EP Otto had an average static pressure have 2.76 and an airspeed of fifty four point seven miles per hour so the EP Otto air filter is definitely slowing down the air at a price of $12.47 this fram extra guard filter is the second least expensive filter we'll be testing it claims to offer twice the engine protection it claims to be a 12,000 mile air filter placing a clogged air filter can lead to increased horsepower and increased acceleration engine protection is the Fram measure of a filters ability to trap dirt particles and keep them from entering into your engine Fram air filters left through two times less dirt than the average leading standard retail brands we're gonna test that made in Mexico VP Auto had two layers of adhesive from top to bottom and the Fram air filter has three the EPI Auto filter had 80 plates but the Fram has 76 the wire mesh on the Fram as well as the EPI to look very similar but the whole size on the Fram is a little bit larger than the EP Otto EPI to wait 507 grams the Fram is holy 441 grams a lot lighter the Fram had a slightly lower static pressure than EP Otto of 2.75 and an airspeed slightly higher at fifty four point nine miles per hour so the Fram takes the lead from EP Otto at $16.23 AC Delco is the third least expensive filter we'll be testing it does cost twice as much as the EP Otto AC Delco filters deliver longer engine life smoother performance made in USA three different applications of adhesive on the front of the filter AC Delco filter has 76 pleats the wire mesh on the AC Delco is offset in three different areas to allow a gap between the mesh and the filter media okay 577 grams by far the heaviest filter we've tested yet the ACDelco had a slightly higher static pressure of 3.03 and a lower air speed than the Fram - the Fram is still in the lead at $21.59 the pure later one is the fourth most expensive filter we'll be testing defend your engine pure later one air filter is trapped 99% of harmful contaminants a clogged air filter decreases throttle power and can wear down your engine by replacing your old dirty air filter you can improve acceleration by up to eleven percent and optimise your engines performance an American brand since 1923 made in us a few different lines of adhesive on the pure layer one filter what's also interesting it looks like part of the filter media has been pressed in wire mesh on a pure later one filter looks very similar to the EP ATO as well as the Fram filter pure later one only weighs 451 grams which is slightly more than the Fram filter the pure lay one has 75 layers of filter media the pure later one had a higher static pressure of 3.09 compared to 2.76 for the EP otto and a slower air speed than the fram of 54 point six so the fram holds on to the lead at twenty two dollars and twelve says the wicks filter is the fifth most expensive filter will be testing quality filtration since 1939 made in USA unlike the other brands Wix did not apply any sort of adhesive on the filter media there are four different areas on this wire mesh that extend outward from the filter media Wow at 413 grams the wicks is definitely the lightest air filter the wicks filter also has the least number of pleats at 72 above the filters tested the wicks had the highest static pressure at four point zero seven in the lowest air speed of fifty two point one at forty four dollars a nineteen cents this km air filter is more than twice as expensive as the competition high airflow filter designed to increase horsepower and acceleration washable reusable lifetime product the original cotton high flow air filter invented by km reduces air filter restriction allowing an engine to breathe easier than traditional paper air filters using a km air filter can actually increase horsepower and acceleration in many vehicles Kangnam claims were tough on dirt thousands of microscopic cotton threads absorb our specially formulated oil to create a powerful filtering medium most of the paper air filters need to changed out every 12 months or 12,000 miles but not the km it's good for 50,000 miles made in USA right out of the packaging this filter is very oily the K&N filter has 32 layers obviously this has quite a bit different design it has a wire mesh that's actually part of the filter media 516 grams so can the most expensive filter the kam which is known for high performance beat the competition the K&N did an amazing job at the low static pressure of all the brands at 1.7 to in the highest air speed of fifty seven point three nine miles per hour find it very interesting that there's a negative correlation between price and the number of filter please more specifically the more expensive filters actually have less filter pleats than the budget filters having more filter pleats would seem to offer more filter surface area using no air filters our control which had a static pressure of 0.96 can ended a far better job than the competition at 1.72 which is over a full inch of water column better than the Fram and EP Otto so the question is will the filters with lower static pressure actually do just as good at filtering out contamination we're about to find out next let's see how each of the air filter brands perform in a time 0-60 run in the 2003 suburban using each air filter for two timed runs we'll go with the fastest of the two timed runs the EP auto made it to 60 and nine point four seconds in the first run and nine point four seconds in the second run the Fram had a slightly better static pressure and air speed on the test and let's see if it can do a little better the time was nearly identical but slightly slower at 9.5 on the first and second tests so the EPA auto with nine point four seconds is the time to beat the ACDelco seems slightly more restrictive on the test stand than a piatto but it matched the best time of 9.4 seconds on the first run and was slightly slower at nine point six seconds on the second attempt the pure later was a very restrictive filter in the first time was nine point eight seconds which seemed a little slower than it should have been however it did much better on a second run at nine point four seconds matching the fastest time yet the wicks filter matched the best time of 9.4 seconds on a first attempt and actually tipped the best yet at nine point three on the second attempt the cane admitted to 60 and 9.3 seconds on the first attempt and the fastest time yet of 9.2 seconds on the second attempt so the km definitely outperformed the competition comparing the best zero-to-sixty times of the two attempts the Canyon filtered it outperformed a competition with the fastest time of 9.2 seconds however the most restrictive filter the wicks along with the other brands were very close behind so if you're trying to shave off a fraction of a second the canyon might help compared to the other more restrictive paper filters but if you're concerned about air filter actually removing the bad stuff that goes into the engine you might be interested in the next test and the next test I'll be placing a particle counter inside the air box the number on the left side of the screen indicates the number of particles between 1 and 5 microns in size the number on the right indicates the number of particles that five microns are larger those car air filters are designed to filter out particles that are around 5 microns once the test filter is in place the 3-minute test will begin I'll begin by spreading one half cup of all-purpose flour across the filter and we'll keep an eye on the particle counter to see how much flour passes through the air filter around the 1-minute mark I'll power up the electric motor for about 1/2 a second this pulse of air will pull some of the contamination through the filter and will keep track of the maximum number of particles around the two-minute mark will power up the blower motor for an entire a minute and we'll look at the particle counter and static pressure well begin with the EPO which already had a count of 80 for small and to large particles inside of the test box after subtracting out the 80 for small and the two large particles already inside of the test box the small particle count increased by 107 small and 76 large particles after the 1-minute mark the blower motor was powered up for 1/2 a second which caused a particle count to increase after subtracting out the original 84 particles inside of the test box the particle count peaked at 165 small and 61 large particles at the two-minute mark the electric blower mode was powered up for a full minute the small particle count increased to 587 in the large particles peaked at 26 the static pressure the new filter was at 2.76 and increased to approximately 3.4 9 from the half cup of contamination Fram claims to provide twice the protection compared to the competition so does it subtracting out the 129 particles already inside the test chamber the Fram peaked at 173 small and 126 large particles which is quite a bit more than the EPA Otto after the air polls after subtracting out the original small and large particles that were already inside the air box the small particle count increased to 361 the large 252 so compared to the less expensive e piata the fram had more than twice as many small particles and four times as many large particles not good during the one minute continuous airflow test the numbers peaked at 697 small particles and 166 large the new fram filter had a static pressure of 2.75 and increased 23.82 so the e piatto seems to have done a far better job than the fram the AC Delco peaked at 76 small particles and 58 large particles during the first minute which is better than both the EP Otto and the fram after the air pulse it increased to 326 small and 182 large which is better than the Fram but not quite as good as the EP Otto during the continuous airflow test a small particle count reached 697 the same as the Fram but the large particle count was at 157 which is slightly better than the Fram but not as good as the EP Otto the static pressure increased from three point zero 3 to four point one eight to the EP Otto seems to have outperformed the ACDelco filter the pure later started with the particle count of 114 small and one large particle inside the test box after spreading the test contamination on to the filter the small particle number actually went down by 13 in the large particle count stayed the same very impressive after the air pulse the small particle count went up to 116 and large increase by only 35 which is the best of all the filters yet during the continuous airflow test the small particle count increased by 468 and the small particles by 14 which is the best yet the static pressure increased from three point zero nine to four point four eight so the pure later one is the best filter tested for blocking contamination so far and takes the lead from the EP Otto just like the pure later the wicks also saw a small particle count decrease after the contamination was dumped on top of the air filter it dropped by two small and one large particles very impressive after the air pulse the particle count increased by forty three small and eighteen large which is the best of all the filters tested during the continuous airflow test a small particle count peaked at 401 and the large particle count did not increase it all the static pressure increased from four point zero seven to six point six three so the wicks is now in the lead for filtering out the most contamination unfortunately things did not go very well for the K&N filter which had a small particle count of 3604 and large particle count of 2972 after the air pulse the particle count was at 572 small and 421 large during the one minute continuous airflow test the particle count was at 407 and 5 the static pressure increased from 1 point 7 to 2 3.79 since air filters are mainly designed to trap particles around 5 microns or larger let's compare the large particle filtering performance large particles weren't able to get past the pure later and Wix filter media when I sprinkled contamination on top of the filters the ACDelco which is an OEM filter did a pretty good job at only 58 the frame which claims to offer two times of protection finished next to last and the km performance filter really struggled after the tester delivered a sudden burst of air through the filter the wicks only had 18 particles the pure later 35 in the EP out of 61 again the frame and the km finished in next to last and last respectively during the one-minute continuous airflow test the wicks remained 0 km at 5 and the pure later at 14 JC del Qin Fram finished in the next to last and last place respectively on the surface it appears that the km actually did pretty well on this test my theory is that the air filter released nearly all of the large particle contamination quickly allowing it to pass through the air box before the particle counter had a chance to count the particles while the other brands released the contamination gradually after contaminating the air filters the EP ATO came out on top with the static pressure of 3.49 they came in second and the Fram third the filters that had the highest original static pressure did the best at blocking out contamination and had a static pressure of four point four eight and six point six three it's all about performance and you're heading down to the track for the weekend the K&N filter is definitely going to help with regard to performance but if you're like me and you really want you a vehicle to last a long time having clean air going into the engine is a huge deal and I really didn't expect that we would see such a huge difference between the pure later one as well as the wicks and the other brands those two brands the pure later and the wicks really outperform the other brands in a huge sort of way showing why they do cost a little bit more and they're probably well worth the money all my video ideas including this one come from viewers so if you have a video idea I hope you'll take time to leave a comment whether it's regarding other air filter brands you like tested or an entirely new prod category thanks so much for watching the video please take care I look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 1,794,657

Rating: 4.9503365 out of 5

Keywords: Seafoam, project farm, fram, fram extra guard air filter, purolator, purolator air filter, air filter test, car air filter test, ac delco, ac delco air filter, acdelco, wix, wix air filter vs oem, wix air filter review, wix air filter, car air filter review, auto air filter, auto air filter reviews, auto air filter comparison, best air filter, project farm review, air filter, air filter replacement car, air filter cleaning, air filter replacement, epauto air filter

Id: sJ3L-E-ufYo

Length: 15min 33sec (933 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Moo_Fridge]

Project farm is a really good channel, gets straight to the point and never accepts sponsors.

[u/RamblingMutt]

This was a really interesting real world test, although minor changes in temperature probably have a lot more to do with variations in the suburban testing.

Another really really good rundown of filters is Engine Masters, who tested a very high horsepower motor with a ton of different filters and styles.

[u/tplayer100]

Welp never buying K&N air filters again.

[u/gHHqdm5a4UySnUFM]

I really appreciated their testing setup. I've always wondered whether the performance filters just allowed more dirt to get through.

[u/BondGoldBond007]

Great video and experimental setup.

[u/xvInoahIvx]

Gotta love project farm <3

[u/RandomCollection]

Well I'm glad I use Wix filters after seeing this test for my engine air and cabin air filter.

Project Farm has some really good reviews - and for most people, the Wix is the best daily driver. The K&N it seems letting in more particles may not be the hearsay and this does make a case for this being a legitimate concern.

[u/edmonto]

Is higher static pressure better? Looking at the Wix vs the Purolator, the Wix does a bit better on particles but has a much higher static air pressure. Is this good or bad?

[u/Juri89]

Been watching this channel for a while, I love all his videos.