Best Air Filter Filtration wise?

Tl;dr from California where everything is dusty and dry, causing me to suck in a bunch of dust. Pretty sure I killed my MAF sensor doing it but that's a story for another time. That's just the reason for why I'm even posting.

I do have a snorkel so a dust sock is an option too.

Thought about getting a k&n filter but heard they're worse than the AFE ones. I've also heard cons about the AFE ones giving more "performance" at the cost of letting more dust and for the oiled ones, oil into the throttle body.

Is my best measure just to buy a couple stock air filters and a dust sock and call it a day? I'm not looking for improved air flow, I just want the best filtration that's possible.


Edit: Will be tearing apart the throttle body and IACV to clean. Is there anything else I should be doing while I'm there? Is there any mods that I'm able to do?

 

I travel alone over a lot of heavy, dusty off-roads in the deserts of eastern Nevada and southeastern Utah. Not wanting mechanical breakdowns 30 miles up some washed-out, two-track laden with roots, rocks, and ruts in the middle of nowhere, I change the oil when it looks dark, keep my U-joints well-lubed, shake out the air filter after each off-road experience, and replace the spark plugs every 50,000 miles. I just installed my third set of LBJs, and I'm on my third steering rack.

My truck has never so much as coughed during the last 27 years.

I recommend using nothing but Genuine Toyota Parts when replacing anything on the engine, suspension, or drive train. Why take a chance by saving a few bucks?

 

WIX air filters stop the most particles and have the least flow. If you want filtration you have to sacrifice flow, but we aren't building race cars it's ok.

 

I wouldn't be saving a few bucks, I'd be buying a $90 filter in hopes they clean better than OEM.

 

Alright, I appreciate it, thank you.

 

Good paper filter > Dry filter (such as AFE Pro Dry S) > Oiled (K&N)

 

K&N is the worst thing you could do. They don’t filter enough. Snorkel is good because because the intake is up high where you’re picking up less dirt. High quality paper filter is best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ3L-E-ufYo

 

Frequency of changing a paper filter in those conditions is probably more important than brand.

 

You can get the Denso one off Rockauto for a good price, and my UOAs from my Mazda (used to drive it through dust clouds from heavy construction all the time) show good air filtration.

But more important than which one is how often you change it.

 

I don't think you are going to do better than an OEM Toyota air filter. I have to live life having faith that they (Toyota engineers) have tested and likely improved them over the years and spent a lot in research and trials to be the best possible under all conditions, extremes, or otherwise.

I can easily find them on the Toyota Parts website from a dealer in my area for around $20 when they are on-sale. They also run free shipping at times or no charge pick-up at the dealer's parts counter. I change them out once a year in the fall which works out to about 15k miles per year for me.

 

Think I'm just gonna buy a wix filter, $36 so not bad. Read some old forum posts and general consensus is that they're good.

 

Yep.

Almost thinking of buying one of those snorkel heads where it has a dust filter.

Too bad they look ugly