Posted October 28, 2021 by Jefferson Bryant2 Comments Maintenance

Best Auto Air Filters – An Automotive Air Filter Guide

Trying To Find The Best Auto Air Filters?

A gasoline or diesel engine needs three things to function: air, fuel and fire. Reduce or contaminate any one of those three components and your engine loses fuel economy, drivability, and performance. Additionally, if the air is dirty, the life expectancy of your engine is greatly reduced. We are focusing on the air component, specifically, keeping it clean and free flowing with a proper automotive air filter.

Enter The Air Filter

The average engine can breath in thousands of gallons of air per gallon of fuel. This air comes straight from the atmosphere, meaning that the inside of the engine is exposed to all the dirt, bugs, moisture and other contaminants that come with it. Just one aspirin worth of dirt can wreak havoc on the internals of the engine, to the tune of 30,000 miles worth of wear. Keeping the air clean is of the utmost importance. This is the sole job of the engine air filter.

The air filter is located between the fresh air inlet and the engine in an air box. Most modern fuel injected engines use large round tubing to connect the air box to the engine, making it easy to find. The box may be secured with spring clamps or screws, but they should be easy to remove, yielding access to the filter.

This is a typical automotive air filter airbox. This particular vehicle is a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado.

Air Filter Facts

Replacing an automotive air filter is quite simple, but what you replace it with is not. There are good filters that flow well and filter out all the dirt and then there are junk filters that don’t. Determining which can be tricky. There are several factors for selecting a filter- construction material, filtration, and flow.

Most airboxes use spring clamps. The filter looks clean, but this is the engine side.

Air Filter Construction

There are three common types of automotive air filters- non-woven (often paper, most common factory-style), cotton and foam. Aftermarket “performance” filters are typically made from oiled cotton gauze or foam. These filters are marketed for modified and performance vehicles, but their efficiency is up for debate. Most vehicle manufacturers uses paper-style filters, so for this air filter guide we will focus on factory-replacement units. Paper filters have very tight weaves, using a wood-pulp based paper element that is pleated (folded) in a simple over/under pattern. This yields a large filtration space inside the relatively small frame.

With the old filter (left) out, you can see the difference in cleanliness to a new filter (right). Now to pick the best auto air filter. — With the old filter (left) out, you can see the difference in cleanliness to a new filter (right).

If you look inside the automotive air filter pleats, you can see butterflies, lady bugs, all kinds of goodies!

Air Filtration

This is the main job of the filter, to catch the dirt and debris from entering the engine. When considering an air filter, the filtration level is the most important factor.

Air Flow

A free-flowing air filter is important to getting the most air into your engine. As the filter collects dirt, it will flow less air.

You can put a light behind your old filter to see if it used up. You can barely see the light in the old one. This is plugged up.

There is so much light coming through the filter, the camera had to be turned down. This is good and a sign of a best auto air filter. — There is so much light coming through the filter, the camera had to be turned down. This is good.

The biggest factor for an air cleaner is following the appropriate replacement schedule. A typical paper element should be replaced every 10-12,000 miles, while an oiled cotton-gauze element should be cleaned and re-oiled every 50,000. Check your air filter to ensure that your engine is operating at its peak. Here’s how to change an air filter:

Check out all the filters available on NAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on our automotive air filter guide, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store.

Jefferson Bryant View All

A life-long gearhead, Jefferson Bryant spends more time in the shop than anywhere else. His career began in the car audio industry as a shop manager, eventually working his way into a position at Rockford Fosgate as a product designer. In 2003, he began writing tech articles for magazines, and has been working as an automotive journalist ever since. His work has been featured in Car Craft, Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Truckin’, Mopar Muscle, and many more. Jefferson has also written 4 books and produced countless videos. Jefferson operates Red Dirt Rodz, his personal garage studio, where all of his magazine articles and tech videos are produced.