How often do you change air filters?

I'd say the big benefit is keeping debris from getting onto the evaporator coil. The coil sweats when in operation on humid days, and all that crap sticking to it can mold up.

I would hope nobody thinks a cabin filter is turning their car into some clean lab environment.. way too many points of ingress on a car to think you can keep the dust and pollen out.

 

You do get cleaner air when filter is replaced, a big plus for you or anyone that has allergies. Just like "Maybepossibly" said , once a year or twice if you are in tough conditions. After my first year I replace with K&N cabin filters. It's about 40 something dollars but it can be cleaned and replaced and is lifetime guarantee, way better flow than a paper filter....

 

I swapped my cabin filter for one of the reusable ones from Home Depot, cut to size. not sure how well it filters but I don't care I hose it house and spray it with orange oil odoban that I hope catches more pollen and dust

As for MAFF I was told every 10000 miles for regular driving and every 5000 for off roading a lot on paper filters.

I have a KnN filter that's supposed to be good for 25k or something, set me back 50
Bucks but it needs a cleaning kit and oiling.

 

Why every month? I've got 16K on my Pro Dry. I won't pull it out till 30K. About two years of use.

 

I change the cabin filter once a year...but check it and vacuum it out at 6 months.

My engine air filter I clean once a year. Spray with some Simple Green, rinse with warm water, set it in the sun to dry.

 

So 72k on the stock air filter is bad

 

my engine filter looked pretty crappy after 6 months and 8000 miles, but that included quite a few 100 miles of dirt roads, including traversing the black rock playa mid summer, which coats EVERYTHING in heavy white dust.

 

+1, this is what I do.

 

Another aFE ProDry user here. I just give it a shot of compressed air or vacuum every 5K while the oil is draining.

 

Careful. Compressed air is one of the things aFe, K&N and AEM warn against using. It can damage the cotton media.

 

++1 on this! also damages paper filters, can tear the media, separate it from the glue borders, etc etc.

 

just bought and changed my cabin filter the other day, picked a K&N cabin filter up from my local Wal-Mart. Set me back $35.

 

Just habits I suppose; I could go longer but there is a section of road by me that is just all dirt, gravel and lots of dust so if I don't keep up on it; I'll have to replace them ever so often. Takes me about 15 minutes a month so I don't mind it so much.

 

Yes I'm aware of that - pretty easy to clean the media without damaging it if you're careful.

 

Just ordered the AEM filter. For $40, it's well worth it considering a stocker is ~$22. Two filter changes and it has paid for itself, plus I used credit card points and paid nothing for it. I had an AEM on my first car (a Saturn, lol) and I loved it. Easy maintenance.

I have a K&N on the GTO, and I'm really not a fan. The oil creates a grease mess around the filter area. If you go too light, you aren't filtering enough. If you go too heavy, you can damage the MAF. I'm happy with the AEM, much less worry.

 

Having used both the aFe and the AEM....I can tell no difference in the quality of the two. Someone did an oil analysis on bobistheoilguy site after using an AEM dry filter and found all the #s in line.

Half the price of the aFe. It's a no brainer.

 

Stock Toyota engine filter is $19 on Amazon. I order it, its here day after tomorrow. takes 2 minutes to install. twice a year if I'm doing the occasional offroad. no brainer.

 

I will also vouch for the charcoal cabin filters. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XQ0Z39Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It helped considerably with some odd smells that I had in my truck.

 

My manual says every 30k. Im coming up on 60k so doing my first change (bought at 27k). Will see how it looks.
I change things as they need to be, I don't follow arbitrary guidelines.

If my cabin air filter looked like yours I'd be changing them sooner than 8k. It looks horribly dirty for 8k though. but obviously all depends on location and type of driving. Hence why manual intervals are just general guidelines

 

The cabin air filter gets checked and cleaned every oil change, about every 7 months and 7,000 miles. It gets replaced when it's too ratty to be cleaned and reused. My truck has it fairly easy (mostly street use, garaged overnight) so the cabin air filter gets replaced about every 3-4 years.

Engine air filter is an AFe Pro Dry which does not get replaced. It gets cleaned out every oil change, just tap it and blow out the dirt, put it back in. It's never very dirty.