For both my previous car and my current car, I’ve purchased K&N reusable performance air filters. What makes them “performance” is that they apparently let more air in, which gives more power to the engine, in theory. In general, I have found my cars more responsive using these air filters, but I can’t say with absolute certainty that this isn’t just my imagination.
Even if you don’t believe the ‘performance’ aspect, perhaps you can appreciate the ‘reusable’ aspect. What’s not to like about buying one filter and never having to change it? Well, just because you don’t have to change it doesn’t mean you don’t have to clean it. And these things get nasty. Dirt, grease, oil. Flies. So once you’ve bought your performance air filter, you have to buy a “recharge” kit in order to A) clean the filter and B) properly oil the filter for reuse. I don’t believe the kit costs very much, but still.
Recently, it occurred to me that it had been nearly two years since I cleaned my car’s air filter. Oops. I remember doing it around the time I moved in to this house, and haven’t done it since. Cleaning the thing is just nasty and time consuming, and considering my lapse in maintenance, I have really had to ask if it isn’t just better to use regular filters and change them out on a regular basis. Mind you, when I bought my current car, the previous owner had not done this, and that was the nastiest filter I have ever seen. At the least the rest of the car was well-maintained!
I don’t know if it’s great for the environment, though I’m not sure “recharge” fluid is good for the environment either, but I’d have to lean toward just having a small stock of normal air filters and replacing the one in your car every 6 months. This keeps YOU on a schedule, and keeps your engine breathing clean air. Plus, you don’t have to either A) forget to clean the filter or B) have to deal with this grimy mess when you do.
Of course, since my recharge kit still has some juice, I’m just going to re-oil the filter once it dries and slap it back in. Maybe I’ll heed my own advice once the kit runs out. Sometimes paying a little extra can be worth it.
(Oh, and let’s not talk about the times I came close to buying a short-ram intake for my 4-cylinder Honda. Don’t be that guy….)