It was this one that put me off: clicky
....To be frank, I find T_T's opinions not 100% reliable - Some are and some aren't. His theory and logic is usually spot-on but doesn't always apply - In My Opinion. But please don't misunderstand me - T_T contributes a lot of good advice and help and always in his truest (and passionate and angry) belief, but....We each have to make up our own minds.
I must buy you some flowers next time we meet!
Regarding the ITG filter, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned, but how come myself and others with ITG filters haven't had any MAF failings?
I honestly don't know. But that is like asking someone to prove a negative. However, with MAFs, they don't usually fail in the traditonal 'light switch' sense (ie, going from perfectly OK to totaly shagged). Most MAFs with oiled air filters will just get progressively worse - and that actual degridation probably won't actually be detected by the driver of the car. Furthermore, a MAF which is even quite badly oil tarnished usually does not throw an error code, so, technically, when a stealer or whoever plugs in their VAS505* or VAG-COM - then nothing will be picked up. Only through careful data loging, can the MAF be detected as starting to go duff - and how many dub stealers do live data logging?
OH, and I hope you haven't just tempted fate!
I'll be changing my ITG filter at 60k miles anyway because cleaning it properly is a bit of a hassle.
Exactly. To correctly clean and correctly re-oil these types of filters is a pain in the ar$e - quite 'labour intensive'.
£50 for 60k miles of more efficient air filtration isn't expensive imo.
But it is NOT more efficient filtration. Granted, your ITG may be very slightly more efficient at allowing a freer flow of air, but I strongly dispute that ANY open-cell type of filter is more efficient at removing contaminents than a paper element filter. And, yes, they are fairly cheap - but I still honestly think that any kind of reduction of filtration efficiency is bad for the long term health of the engine. I've wasted far too many hours of my life rebuilding two stroke engines to know that K&N types of filters really are bad for engines.
ETTO, though.
To anyone who prefers to keep an oem paper filter, I'd say throw it away and replace it at every single service (either 10k or 20k miles).
Very, very sound advice.
