The past week or so, I've been looking at paper air filters, in 2 sizes: one for my mother's 94 Grand Marquis, the other for my 97 Neon. Both are panel-type filters. No Baldwins available locally. What I've found:
Grand Marquis size: the old Wix in the car had white paper, orange gasket. The new Wix I looked at had orange gskt, *brown* paper, could feel no oil on it. Fram looked like always(white paper, gskt overruns on mesh), other brands all looked like each other- black "grainy feeling" gasket, white paper. Didn't really count pleats, but all looked similar, except for the old dirty Wix I removed, which obviously has more pleats. I finally chose & installed the $5 Partsmaster on the Mercury.
Neon size(Fram CA3660/equiv); Fram looked as above. Wix, Purolator, STP, Partsmaster, & at least one other house brand all looked *identical* to each other- same black, "grainy feel" gskt as noted above, white paper, no obvious diff in # of pleats. Wix had 2 diff #'s that fit, both expensive, looked identical. Haven't bought a Neon filter yet, will probably get the STP or Partsmaster. I've seen no AC-Delcos or Motorcrafts on the shelf anywhere in my area. Any thoughts or suggestions?
The recent post of pic on the Jeep Liberty air filter makes me think maybe I should at least look at a Mopar at the dealer, but that'll probably cost ~$10-$15.
I've concluded that most of the air filter brands/sellers get their filters from a small # of sources. Also, that it's almost useless to make blanket assumptions of characteristics based on brand. All comments, disagreements, & even well mannered flames are welcome!
