Second Rock Auto...
Watch the shipping costs, however...
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/toyota,2017,rav4,2.5l+l4+electric/gas,3437066,heat+&+air+conditioning,cabin+air+filter,6832
A good cabin filter
- Thread starter NH73
- Start date
TYC
Originally Posted by jrvn
TYC
Been using TYC for several years. Cheap and work great.I have a Puro One installed and I was pleasantly shocked to see it was made in the US and not China as I was expecting. It wasn't like the Toyota design with a flange but still fit the filter drawer.
Freudenberg is a major supplier of CAFs, if you ever replaced an OEM one and saw MicronAir printed on it, it's made by them. I'm assuming the non-HEPA Bosch and most Puro filters are made by Freudenberg. Mann & Hummel as well as Mahle make their own filters, and that Puro Boss looks like the new Mann FreciousPlus that claims antibacterial qualities and PM2.5 reduction.
I've installed a few Chinese ones - TYC and EPAuto with no issues. They are fine if you just want basic pollen and big particle filtration.
I am not brand loyal, Amazon has a few brands with hundreds of ratings. Usually 9-10 bucks for most applications.
Sure, big dirt knocks off but ENOUGH OF the fine dirt goes so deep into the fibers you can never knock it free.
I'm all for cleaning and reusing anything but gallons and gallons of water to free 5% to 10% of the fine dirt in a cabin air filter is something I won't
do. Better to spend that time cleaning the housing's interior and inspecting for large debris.
I'll bet there are filtration engineers out there who'll claim the media used has "super-trapping" attributes which resist cleaning.
And of course, I have no data or science to back this up.
I'm all for cleaning and reusing anything but gallons and gallons of water to free 5% to 10% of the fine dirt in a cabin air filter is something I won't
do. Better to spend that time cleaning the housing's interior and inspecting for large debris.
I'll bet there are filtration engineers out there who'll claim the media used has "super-trapping" attributes which resist cleaning.
And of course, I have no data or science to back this up.
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The cheapest I can find is my plan. Charcoal might be worth a buck or two extra.
Silly statement. My 99 has a cabin filter.
I buy a few at a time from RA & change them 2-3x a year, they're cheap.
The cheapest would be no filter at all. After all, we survived the first 100 years of driving without them and nobody died because of it. Wasn't until some marketing guy at an air filter company back in the 90's came up with the idea for selling more filters.
The only vehicle we have with one is a Taurus. I bought a bunch of Fram filters with charcoal on wholesaler close out from RA for $2-3 each. Should have enough for a long time.
TYC or DENSO from ROCKAUTO for the money
FYI, the DENSO filters at ROCKAUTO aren't from the same manufacturer as the OEM DENSOs, although I use them they are decent quality for a good price, they are made in Taiwan, the OEMs are US made by Micronair company
While true that is like dismissing other advancements as "we didn't have them way back when, so therefore we don't need them now".
I kinda like cabin filters. I suffer greatly from allergies and while I'm not sure I'm in the car long enough for a cabin filter to do much, it is still a nice thought.
More importantly, over the last few years I've had to replace several that mice had been nesting on. Nasty! but luckily it was easy to deal with. Open up, pull out the mess, quick vac and done. Cannot imagine how bad it'd be if they had been living on the squirrel cage instead, and letting stuff get blown through the vents.
At some point I'm going to go find some metal window screen to put over the filters. I think parking on the other side of the driveway has fixed the problem... for now...
I've been using Wix Cabin Filters and have been happy with them.
OK, ONE MORE TIME......
They're there NOT to cleanse the air...they're there to protect the air conditioning evaporator.
The "fresh air" marketing is a natural subsequence in my opinion.
I remember opening the fresh air vent in a friend's 1985 Subaru GL. She screamed NO as I flicked the lever but it was too late....all this grit and dirt was blown at us. All that grit and dirt would inevitably be routed through the evaporator had AC been selected.
They're there NOT to cleanse the air...they're there to protect the air conditioning evaporator.
The "fresh air" marketing is a natural subsequence in my opinion.
I remember opening the fresh air vent in a friend's 1985 Subaru GL. She screamed NO as I flicked the lever but it was too late....all this grit and dirt was blown at us. All that grit and dirt would inevitably be routed through the evaporator had AC been selected.
Same here. Just take it out clean it and you are good to go.
I prefer the Denso charcoal activated cabin filters for Asian vehicles. Amazon has a large selection of Denso and other Asian brand filters.
