mis3

I am using stock air filter. Not sure how many of you use stock part.

How often do you change your air filter?

clk500b

I switched to K&N's, that way I only need to clean it every 50,000 miles.

M-bENZ

Check those when u do ur oil change ... If it's dirty then change it .

kbahl21

+1

BadDebt

Have you looked at your K&N's recently. I have some and I wouldnt dare leave them in without cleaning for 50,000 miles. I went 15,000 and they were dirty as hell.

Supafly

+1. I have a look at mine atleast once a month... cleaning them up only takes a few minutes and dry overnight. I always get nasty crap in the airbox. Ciggs/bees/lots of sand and once a twig.

babyman1737

I've had horrible luck with K&N filters, they use oil to help capture particles. That oil can make its way into your intake system (obviously...it's the intake air filter) and gum up air sensors. Not fun. If high performance MB cars run off paper filters, then I would think CLK's can also.

Unless you purchase a K&N to save money (pay big$ up front, but just clean each year)....but most MB owners I know don't complain about paying for an air filter once every couple years.

To the OP: Mercedes recommends changing the air filter every 54k miles or 4 years.

sknight

The paper filters still haven't been beaten. If you're racing, where you don't care, then use whatever you want, but you're not getting HP on the street using one of those filters and you're causing more trouble than they are worth, and it has been proven many times over, especially with small, particulate matter, which concerns me when people recommend 50k mile cleanings.

When buying used, when the seller reads down the list on the phone or in person, and then mentions using anything but good quality paper filters, I kindly decline to go further. Same when I see that K&N sticker. I don't need the baggage of dirty intakes, fouled MAF sensors, particulate matter, and the effects on emissions devices due to abnormal mixtures.

It's an air filter. It will not net any tangible amounts of power, when compared to these supposed high flow ones. Maybe you'd be better off with no filter if you're looking for power, but this is a membrane that separates the harsh environment from the clean innards of the engine. Do you really want to chance it?

dr_npz

And not mentioned here, the paper filters provide far better filtration then those cotton ones.
If I go with "sport" air filters, i would consider BMC, but change them for new ones when they would get dirty. Cleaning by yourself can cause a lot of problems with the MAF, it's difficult to use right amount of oil.

Anyone is using BMCs on their CLKs?

sknight

No, that was mentioned by me.

mis3

I went to the dealership to change to spark plugs this morning. I asked them to change all 12 spark plugs and the technician decided to change only one because the other ones were good.

I asked them to check the air filters since last time I changed them was Jun-2010. They actually showed them to me and they were both quite dirty. So, I changed them as well. Strange that I probably did about 20K KM since June and they are dirty already.

sknight

Doesn't make sense. When the plugs are out, you put new ones in, since they are annoying to get at all of them.

mis3

They said they inspected all of them and 11 of them were OK. I guess they tried to save me some money.

LexDiamonds

I dont think someone would pull all the plugs on a clk and then not replace them... He probably didnt like getting the plug wire off the one he did replace... Maybe I am just cynical.

mis3

The service advisor is my personal friend for many years.
Maybe they are trying to save me some money. The other 11 plugs would cost me another $100.

Supafly

I suggest you visit a diffrent indy shop. Im not joking.

clk500b

I check mine every month and I just shake out the filters. As for cleaning I don't need to clean them for 50000 miles, but I do live in florida. If the oil from the k&n filter gets into the intake system its because you used too much oil on the filter. I had that problem when I first switched to the K&n's on my other cars. When I asked my friend he said it was because I used too much of the oil. The filter only needs a light coating of the oil to work.

sknight

If by using the proper amount of oil no oil gets into the intake, then why would one ever need to reoil? Wouldn't it stand to reason that if the oil is doing the filtering, the only way to be assured, short of using a microscope, that there's enough oil, is to use an excess and get a slight film on the intake? The other thing is: what is the protection shown by K and N for small particulate matter compared to paper filters? How much does filtering ability drop off in time, in comparison to paper filters, where, despite reducing air flow, they filter better as time goes on?

clk500b

@ sknight> refering to one of your older posts, on the streets it won't make a diff which filter you use. I use K&N's because I race mine and I can feel the difference on the track. As to wether or not it really does filter small particulates better, you have a point, don't know if it really does better or not.

sknight

you've misinterpreted that. When you're racing, you may eek a tiny bit of negligible power out, but it's never been proven that any filter would help make anything significant. If you're really racing, you're racing without a filter if you want to free up power. Otherwise, even with your "racing", you're not getting anything out of the filter that can't be encompassed as "testing error", if anything. If you're a real racer, you're not too worried about filtration, as you can rebuild the engine, or use higher flow filters that really only keep out large particulate matter. That was the intent of the racing comment.

clk500b

i know what you mean. The races that I particpate in requires the car to be as stock as possible. So, any little bit helps, no matter how little.

Benz8

i may have come to this conversation a little late what about custom air intakes im planning on getting some two small ram air intakes there about $190 in parts and i will install them my self. just a thought since i know al you guys were talking about stock fillters any ideas thanks

sknight

Yeah, but in a race, a K & N? The filters I was talking about were just those foams that you throw in there for one race and will not do much with small particles (much like K and N), but actually breath better.

clk500b

Yeah, I tried others and for some reason the K&N's work best for me.