S&B air filter tests (Do you trust them?)

[chambers]

I'm just as concerned about filtration as the next guy on BITOG, and S&B's website is the only place w/ most of the newer air filters tested against each other. I've looked through the results and in at least one case they chose the worst filter from the competition (True flow) to test against their own, but the tests results seem legitimate w/ PDF's that have all the info on the ISO 5011 tests.

For the Ford 7.3 L powerstroke in the course dust test their tests results show OEM at 99.76%, S&B at 99.69%, AEM dryflow 95.29%, and AFE dry at 93.44%.

Their tests for the 6.6 chevy duramax application show efficiency numbers of 97.46 for K&N, 97.99 for amsoil nanofiber, 98.26 for AC delco, 99.39 for S&B, 99.61 for Airaid, 99.77 for AFE pro guard 7, and 99.82 for Wix.

The aftermarket performance filters that do the best in the tests are Airaid, S&B, and AFE pro guard 7 all w/ efficiencies higher than 99%. All the info and PDF's can be found here air filter tests just click "skip" at the bottom right then "view test results". I know a lot of people are gonna say what about fine dust tests, but if a filter can filter out smaller particles better then it should do the same for larger particles, right? I'm just looking for some input from fellow members to make the best choice on which air filter to use w/ intake.

 

[Pablo]

As a (former) S&B commercial customer for SBP, I must say they are a fairly lame company. They error often, never meet their commitment dates, filters were misshapen, ship the wrong filters, chrome often scratched, etc.

The videos are commercials to sell S&B filters. They probably are the best thing they have produced. I cannot say if their numbers are accurate.

I am NOT saying this as Amsoil guy. In fact, Amsoil USED to buy their oil breather series filters from S&B. S&B lost the contract for various reasons.

I wish S&B the best, and we kept hoping they would get their act together - I was their biggest fan, but my partner convinced me I was too involved in keeping the business with them. We have found another source.

 

[tomcat27]

who's S&B?

 

[Pablo]

A filter manufacturer.

 

[c3po]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
As a (former) S&B commercial customer for SBP, I must say they are a fairly lame company. They error often, never meet their commitment dates, filters were misshapen, ship the wrong filters, chrome often scratched, etc.

The videos are commercials to sell S&B filters. They probably are the best thing they have produced. I cannot say if their numbers are accurate.

I am NOT saying this as Amsoil guy. In fact, Amsoil USED to buy their oil breather series filters from S&B. S&B lost the contract for various reasons.

I wish S&B the best, and we kept hoping they would get their act together - I was their biggest fan, but my partner convinced me I was too involved in keeping the business with them. We have found another source.


Thanks, Pablo, guess I will be sticking with my Amsoil Eaa Air Filter, mine probably flows just as well as this S&B Air Filter.

 

[chambers]

Well 3po according to the ISO 5011 tests S&B ran on the chevy duramax here amsoil vs. oem and here wix vs. S&B the amsoil filter flowed 9% worse than the oem (AC delco) and filtered slightly less, and the S&B flowed 13.7% better than OEM and filterd a full percentage point better.

If you take the time to look through the website and read through the PDF's it presents some interesting data like the results that show the K&N drop in being only about .5% off the filtering efficiency of the amsoil nanofiber filter. Things like that just don't jive with the common consensus on BITOG.

 

[Buffman]

I prefer my S&B filters over K&N for overall quality and filter construction. A simple light test, showed more covering on teh S&B filter. However my Amsoil EAA filter was worth .5 mpg over the S&B that it replaced. The S&B was still practically brand new thanks to the outerwears cover.

 

[chambers]

I haven't personally used S&B, but they should filter better than K&N merely b/c they use more layers of cotton gauze, 8 vs. 4-6 of k&n. I don't see how a different filter can increase mpg and have never seen that effect myself, but I've read many comments about improved fuel economy w/ aftermarket filters.

Anyone running one of the top performing filters in these tests (airaid, S&B, afe pro guard 7) care to comment and/or link to UAO's when these filters were in use?

 

[Buffman]

I only have UOAs with the S&[censored], and the original unit produced higher than normal silicon levels, but after buying a new one, and covering it with an outerwears prefilter cover, silicon levels were well within average. The wife has a S&B panel filter in her 01 cavalier, and silicon levels are well within universal averages.

I'm not sure how to explain the increase in mpg. The S&B it replaced was practically brand new in terms of clean. MAF was clean. I calculate my mpg every week using the same shell station, and 9 out of 10 times the same pump (darn soccer moms!). I don't have that car anymore though.

 

[chambers]

It's kind of strange that the S&B would show high silicon since their tests show their filters to be on par w/ factory paper filters w/o any outerwear.

The trend seems to be the best performing filters all have more layers of media than the others. Airaid has several layers of cotton gauze backed up by a synthetic media, S&B is 8 layers of cotton gauze, and AFE pro guard 7 is 5 layers of cotton gauze backed up by 2 layers of synthetic media. IMO the pro guard 7 looks like the best choice b/c of the 2 layers of synthetic media to help capture the finer particles. I will be sending in a UOA of my own to see if my foam filter is doing a good enough job this week.