K&N vs AEM drop-in replacement air filter

[MarkVII88]

Does anyone on this forum have any experience with the AEM dryflow replacement air filter for their Mazda 5? I am trying to decide between the AEM or the K&N filter for my new 2012 Mazda5. I found the AEM filter from www.carid.com on sale for $35.99 (AEM product #28-20293). That is a somewhat lower price than the K&N oiled filter for $43.57 (K&N prodct #33-2293). I also own a 2008 Mazda 5 and I put the K&N filter in that one 4 years ago without any problems but I'm sick of having to clean, dry, and oil it. In my old 2004 Corolla I had a whole AEM Cold Air Kit with a conical dryflow filter and I loved it. I'm interested to hear about your experiences, good or bad with either of these filters. Thanks all!

 

[eyeballs]

I had no idea AEM made drop-ins. I'd certainly go that route rather than use the over-oiled K&N's. My favorite drop in so far is apex-i which is not available for these cars as far as I know. I used them on my turbo subies.

 

[MarkVII88]

At my workplace, there is a large underground parking garage that I walk through each day to enter and exit the building where my office is. One day last week, I was leaving work and walking through the garage and I found a $20 bill on the ground in one of the empty parking spaces! Good luck right? The following day I was leaving work and I found a $10 bill in another empty parking space! How about that? With my new-found $30 I went ahead and bought one of the AEM dryflow replacement air filters for my Mazda5 from www.carid.com. I just received it via UPS today and installed it in the airbox after dinner. My first impression of the AEM product is very positive. It is quite thick and has very deep grooves of the synthetic filter material offering a large surface area for filtration. It seems quite a bit thicker than the equivalent K&N oiled filter I have installed in our other 2008 Mazda5. All the surface area is reinforced with aluminum mesh. The filter fit absolutely perfectly into the airbox. My car has about 3300 miles on it now with the stock paper air filter, so I'll keep my eye on the mileage with the new AEM air filter.

 

[wmzda5]

If I were you I'd keep an eye on more empty parking spaces.

 

[torquelover]

Not a fan of K&N oiled filters. The oil tends to create issues with various intake tract sensors.