Fram vs OEM Intake Air Filter

This is a companion review to my Cabin air filter review.

http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/45029-fram-vs-oem-cabin-air-filter.html

I purchased the Cabin air filter and Intake air filter from Auto Parts Fast at RockAuto. This intake air filter cost $7.50 vs around $12 for a Toyota air filter from Metro or probably about $18 from the dealer.

Here are the photos of the used Toyota filter at 20k miles and the Fram Filter.

In general the Fram filter did not look as good as the Toyota filter. Which, in my experience is surprising. Fram air filters are usually as good as or better than the OEM filters.

-Number of pleats Toyota - 16 Fram 13
-Quality/Thickness of filter material - seems identical
-Quality of plastic filter housing - Fram had a bit of mold leakage, which can be seen in the fotos.
-The Fram filter included the rubber seal, although the old rubber seal is clearly reusable. I wonder if the Toyota filters come with a new rubber seal.

So, the main difference is that the Fram has less pleats than the Toyota. Not that that necessarily means that it does not filter as well, but with similar media, more pleats is better.

Now before you guys get bent out of shape and start ripping on Fram, I want you to go back and read my cabin air filter comparison and rip on Toyota for making such an inferior cabin air filter. :heh:

One side note. The Prius has an interesting air filter housing. There is a secondary filter after this main air filter. It is kind of like todays vacuum cleaners that have multiple filters. It looks like the secondary filters are not replacible. To me, this secondary filter explains why Efusco is able to get good UOA's with low silicon while using a K&N filter. Of course, that is my humble opinion and shows my clear bias against K&N filters. I am sorry I did not take a photo of the secondary filter.

In summary, the Fram is is quite a bit cheaper than the OEM filter, but probably not as good either. I am just about to change my oil, so we will see how the Fram air filter performs on the next oil interval.