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If I may bother your memory. If you got genuine MB cabin filter, which sealing type did you get ?
When I bought the car in 2018, this was the cabin filter installed. I call this POOR SEALING DESIGN, this A212 830 03 18 is a 3rd gen, supposedly the latest and greatest...
I then got a new one in like late 2018 and I never paid attention to the P/N as it does fit. Its so happened to be A204 830 00 18 which is Gen 1 version of W204 or W212, they are both the same actually.
I only realized it was a A204 830 00 18 when I decided to replace it again in Sept 2022 using MANN CUK29005. So I returned the MANN filter because it wont fit , due to that stupid black fin shaped rubber,
and that is a poor sealing design too.... for my HVAC housing.
The 1st gen A204 830 00 18 above is actually the BETTER SEALING design than the 3rd gen, because it produce zero gap and a very tight zero-dust-passthru sealing when installed.
Here is why the 1st gen sealing design is the best, see the filter cabin cavity shape of the HVAC housing to receive the cabin filter.
The foam is needed to allow it to sit well and flushed and well sealed, compared to 3rd gen A212 830 03 18 plastic sealing lip and crude one too. The two male alignment dots wont truly engage into the 3rd gen filter female dots,
as the lip seal of 3rd gen is so hard as I recalled.
My evaporator is super duper clean and I want to keep it that way within my ownership of this car, which is approx 11 more years.
So, I wanted to buy a new one now, because the activated carbon of the 1st gen A204 830 00 18 would be already saturated by now and will not work well, albeit the filter is still very clean as my mileage is very low and
I always use re-circulated air instead of fresh air to gain best coldness and not be poisoned by trucks black diesel smoke or 2 cycle motorbike smoky exhaust.
So I checked my 2018 photo archive ( 1st image of this post ) and realized why would a latest gen 3 version A212 830 03 18 become so bad a design for its sealing design ?
So I googled today for genuine MB parts and Dang, the Gen3 version seems to have a revision again and now it is the nice foam I wanted, the right side image.
The left image is the same as my 2018 filter, 1st image of this post. Stupid plastic lip for sealing.
So, my question is, your last purchase of genuine MB one, which type of sealing did you get ? , for a P/N I assumed you would get the latest gen 3 version A212 830 03 18.
If I order based on P/N A212 830 03 18 from MB Indonesia , I can't tell if the local stock is still the plastic lip or already the foam lip
I am hoping you guys in the US, MB USA has faster turnover of cabin filter sales and is already getting the foam lip one as I would really want to see someone in this fourm already bought it,
instead of some EU website showing it and I can't confirm its real, the foam lip seal.
Mann FreciousPlus in all my cars. For anything new you just have to go OE. The OE ones for 2017+ have a biofunctional option which is a huge upgrade to the HVAC system it's really tough to believe until you try it. The filtration and flow characteristics are far superior to the carbon ones available. That IS the actual part for the car. Don't use paper, it goes bad in 6 months. The Hengst Bluecare Biofunctional is also superb. Avoid the Hengst Carbon and Mahle Carbon they use a weird plastic spacer which likes to detach or deform the pleats on installation.
The OEM one made by Mann or Mahle/Behr is plastic, it's the best quality design so far, the rest are imitations that use paper or foam even the Mann units themselves. What youre noticing is what I noticed about 10 years ago when I was at the dealer, that even the OEM isn't always the OE part. This applies especially to cabin filters, gaskets (which made me depressed) etc.
I have always wanted the MANN yellow Fercocius filter, but it has to be a right hand drive version. This filter has directional requirement, hence I can't buy one from USA, it has to be from UK.
The yellow side being finer filtration has to be on the clean side .
However, looking at the MANN regular one CUK29005 ( yellow is FP29005/1) which its dimension is 100% the same as yellow ferocious but non-directional, it won't fit my HVAC housing.
That rubber long blade is too tall and the white locking slider underneath the filter wont lock, there is a gap like almost 8mm
It seems LHD version and RHD version HVAC housing has different cavity design for the cabin filter, otherwise you guys would have realized the MANN yellow FP29005 or even MANN standard CUK29005 won't allow you
to lock the white slider, unless you guys brute force it.
MANN CUK29005 compared to MB genuine for my car, which is A204 830 00 18
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Our W212 HVAC housing is the exact same as C Class, hence the the P/N starts with A 204.
Since this housing is from a C-Class, if we use EPC and not enter specific VIN number but simply use generic W212.059 which is M276 W212, we get 2 versions of each Left and Right hand drive.
If I use a member's VIN , I get only one P/N.
So becareful when using EPC. If the parts is not specific to our W212 but a borrowed design from W204, the date range called AEJ would reflect a W204 related timeline.
The meaning of AEJ is CHANGE YEAR or Aenderungsjahrin German.
Until someone in a Left Hand Drive W212 take photos of the cabin filter cavity to compare with mine.............. this still remains a mystery for me as to why you guys on LHD cars can fit a MANN yellow FP29005 or any filter with
similar extra height at the top, that rubber blade.
07-08-2023, 11:24 AM
