Aftermarket car air filters

[mikkhh]

Replaced oil filter, air filter and oil on a 2013 Mercedes some time ago.

Workshop who did previous service used some crappy air and oil filters.

I ran over the air filter with my finger and the glue was not stuck properly, there was some dust inside the filter too. Cheapest aftermarket air filter for these is 7 euros, the one that was used here costs way more and is on top of the price range - big brand name filter that costs 22 euros, on the other hand top of the line aftermarket brand whose slogan is quality since 1941 air filter (the ones that I would use, it is not pictured here) costs 25 euros.

Genuine air filter from dealer that has the same brand name as the crappy filter picutered here is 100 euros... A 651 094 00 04 64 is the part code pictures come up of the genuine filter. BUT genuine car brand filter vs aftermarket same manufacturer filters are not the same, there are differences for sure, since car manufacturer is not going to allow aftermarket to sell the same part under part manufacturer name.





Same guy (who runs is own shop, worked at dealership for many many years before) also installed some crappy oil filter and the o rings are wrong and the oil runs back from filter to engine quite fast and creates dry starts. It is beyond me how somebody can just throw on parts without thinking... Only way if want to save money using aftermarket parts is that you have to inspect everything and if things are no good be prepared to throw them away. Genuine oil filter costs 41.80 euros at the dealership. Good quality aftermarket costs 7.58 euros (which design I like way more since they do not use O ring to seal filter to filter tube.





On my own car I use the cheapest aftermarket air filters that cost 6-7 euros for a pair (V6 diesel mercedes with twin air filters). I replace those filters every 7000-8000km together with oil and oil filter. On V6 mercedes diesel cars those air filters get plugged up very very fast, running them 30 000km factory interval is just terrifying. Fuel filter I replace once per year with aftermarket filter, genuine filters cost way too much (for me) on a 20 year old car.

Here is picture how the filter looks after 8000km