frankjr said:This would be a good myth buster episode: the cheapo at .89 or the 3m at $16.00

I believe el cheapo is better - replace every 3 or 4 weeks
IMO, the Filtrete is probably better. The filtrete does get dark within a couple of months, hence the advice to change it every quarter. It's holding crap that used to be in the air. The cheap ones take a lot longer to get dirty, making me wonder what it is leaving in the air instead of capturing.

It would make a good myth buster. At the end of the day, all of us are guessin' and hypothesizin'.

viet124 said:I went to get my car serviced and they said my cabin air filter was totally black (they had just replaced it 3 to 4 months before at my 30,000 mile maintenance).

What a crock. Many cabin air filters start out very dark grey to begin with because they have charcoal in them.

mpkb said:JonesBeach said:viet124 said:I went to get my car serviced and they said my cabin air filter was totally black (they had just replaced it 3 to 4 months before at my 30,000 mile maintenance).

What a crock. Many cabin air filters start out very dark grey to begin with because they have charcoal in them.FWIW, my Honda and Toyota ones are white when new.
I can get both regular (white) and charcoal impregnated (dark gray) OEM cabin air filters for my Toyota. The charcoal is supposed to remove odor.

poohbie said:mpkb said:JonesBeach said:viet124 said:I went to get my car serviced and they said my cabin air filter was totally black (they had just replaced it 3 to 4 months before at my 30,000 mile maintenance).

What a crock. Many cabin air filters start out very dark grey to begin with because they have charcoal in them.FWIW, my Honda and Toyota ones are white when new.
I can get both regular (white) and charcoal impregnated (dark gray) OEM cabin air filters for my Toyota. The charcoal is supposed to remove odor.
Might be good after taking advantage of the Olive Garden hot deal.

mpkb said:poohbie said:mpkb said:JonesBeach said:viet124 said:I went to get my car serviced and they said my cabin air filter was totally black (they had just replaced it 3 to 4 months before at my 30,000 mile maintenance).

What a crock. Many cabin air filters start out very dark grey to begin with because they have charcoal in them.FWIW, my Honda and Toyota ones are white when new.
I can get both regular (white) and charcoal impregnated (dark gray) OEM cabin air filters for my Toyota. The charcoal is supposed to remove odor.Now, if they can only get rid of the musty smell that is left in the vents after the A/C has been sitting idle for a couple of hours
Spraying Lysol into the intake vents is supposed to take care of that for a while.

RicheyRock said:I signed up for the Clean Air Plegde, and you also get links to PDFs where you and a friend can each get a Lowes $5.00 gift card when they buy a filter and mail in the rebate form with your "pledge number" on it.
Also a rebate form for when you buy 4 filters, get a rebate on the 4th one.Good to know for future reference.

For those FW-ers who are thinking about maybe stacking all the rebates, no go as each requires the original receipt.

stevie123 said:I think theres always the debate on whether these filters are "good". Well, when new, they definitely work by filtering dust, but let enough air through. The airflow performance is listed on most good filters. However, they only last "up to 3 months". I find that if you have an older house, 2 months is pretty much max. I also know that most people forget about the filter and leave it in there for the year. I think thats where having the 3M filter will destroy your furnace fan motor....

In comparison, the $1/$5 fiber filters are next to useless for cleaning your air. It will keep the big debris from getting in your motor, but thats pretty much it.... And spraying pledge on it? Well, would you spray pledge into the fan motor?? Would you want to breath small amounts of pledge for the first few days of spraying your filter?

If you want cleanER air, and remember to change your filter regularly (at least once every 3 months!), you will definitely breath better and won't harm your furnace/AC much with these 3M filters...

Where are you living that you need your furnace on 12 months a year? For most people they'd be fine changing it once before winter comes and then again around Jan. if they want to be really careful.

Does anyone know where you can get these at 19.99? From the Filtrete website it says you can only order it on their website ($24.95), plus $5 for shipping which brings this up to $10 for the deal, not free...

From the FAQ:
Can I get a Filtrete cabin air filter for my car at a dealer or auto repair shop ?
At the current time, the 3M Cabin Air filter is only available through Filtrete.com.

Thanks all, I have got the rebate form.

cstu11 said:Where are you living that you need your furnace on 12 months a year? For most people they'd be fine changing it once before winter comes and then again around Jan. if they want to be really careful.

Here it's called a heat pump, heats and cools the house, is on nearly 12 months. We have two, one upstairs and one downstairs and change the filter nearly every 6 weeks because of the dust and dogs. The small price we pay for having the closest neighbor 1/4 mile away.

Anyways, thanks OP.