If you’re shopping for a new replacement air filter for your car, truck, or SUV, you’ve probably discovered that there’s likely more than one air filter option for your specific application. Yes, in recent years, there’s been a quantum leap in air filter tech and now the market is chock-full of great filter options.
So, to help you pick the best air filter for your vehicle, here’s a handy primer on some of the more common types of air filters out there.
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A Guide to Common Air Filter Materials
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Paper Air Filter Elements

If you’ve got a stock air intake system, in all likelihood it was fitted with a paper air filter from the factory.
Paper filters are cheap, yet very, very good at filtering out any tiny airborne particles before they enter the engine—so it’s easy to see why these filters are the go-to source for automakers and OE suppliers.
Many performance aftermarket brands make paper filters too, thanks to their reliability and filtration capabilities, so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find a quality OE paper filter for your vehicle and engine application.

The are two main drawbacks with paper air filter elements.
The first one is service life. Once a paper filter gets clogged, it’s typically not washable and reusable—in other words, you have to yeet it in the trash. While the life of your filter is often dependent on how much you drive, many manufacturers recommend replacement every year, or in a 10,000 to 15,000 mile range.
The second downside to a paper air filter is, though it provides good filtration, it often restricts airflow—and that restriction increases significantly as the filter traps more and more particulates. Though that’s probably not a big deal for the typical daily driver commuter car or truck, if all-out performance is your goal, you may want to look to a cotton gauze air filter element. So let’s talk about those for a sec.
Cotton Gauze Air Filter Elements

In the market for a performance cold air intake kit? Then it’s almost certain that it’ll come with a filter made out of some sort of cotton gauze material. That’s because this filter design has greatly improved airflow characteristics, yet still boasts the excellent filtration capabilities you’ll need to prevent grit and nasty particulates from entering your engine.
Similar to the paper filters, cotton gauze filters typically have a mesh framework to hold the filter element itself.

These cotton gauze filters can be a bit more costly than their paper filter counterparts, yet usually boast a much longer service life to offset the upfront cost. As an added bonus, some cotton gauze filters can be washed and reused with no issue, resulting in an air filter that can easily last tens of thousands of miles—more on that in a moment.
While we alluded to their use in performance air intake kits earlier, you can still buy performance cotton gauze filters separately. In fact, quite a few air filter manufacturers offer stock replacement air filters that drop right in the place of the original filter, yet offer some performance improvements.
Video: Cotton vs. Paper Air Filters
Before we move on, the Summit Racing tech experts made a short video that dives deeper into the distinction between cotton and paper air filter elements, including some pros and cons of each. If you want some more insight into the topic, this roughly two-minute video is worth a watch:
Foam Air Filter Wraps

It’s important to mention foam air filters for a moment too. We typically don’t see these much for on-road vehicle use, but they’re certainly popular for racing, powersports (dirt bike/ATV), and small engine applications (like lawn mowers and generators).
Foam filters often have less filtration capabilities than a traditional cotton or paper filter, so it’s not uncommon to see them used in conjunction with those filters as a “pre-filter” to keep larger debris like leaves and grit out of the main filter element—hence why they’re so popular in dirt bike, circle track racing, and yard maintenance environments.
Foam filters like this are usually pretty durable and many can be cleaned-and re-used.
Understanding Dry vs. Oiled Air Filter Elements

As you’re shopping around for the best air filter for your vehicle, you’ll also notice a distinction between filters that require oil and those that do not. Depending on the application, oiling improves the filter’s ability to capture particles—but it’s important to only use oil on filters that require it.
As a general rule, paper filters don’t need to be oiled, and only certain types of cotton gauze filters need to be oiled. Each air filter manufacturer will specify if the particular filter requires oil. Air filter oil and cleaning kits are widely available.

Properly oiling an air filter increases both its longevity and filtration capability. In fact, some manufacturers design the element so that the oil creates a positive magnetic charge with the filter’s steel mesh to attract negatively charged particles.
Oiled filters traditionally last longer than a dry filter too, yet the downside is that oiled filters typically require more rigorous maintenance and cleaning routines—something to think about if your air filter is located in a hard-to-reach spot.
Oiling is what allows a filter to be reusable and washable to prolong its service life. Most cleaning kits come with detailed instructions on how to use them properly. But you’ll always want to take care when oiling and cleaning an air filter, as excess oil and cleaning solution could make their way downstream onto the mass airflow sensor to cause erratic and poor performance.
Tip: Your vehicle’s ECU relies on data from your mass airflow (MAF) sensor to calculate your engine’s air/fuel mix—something that’s really, really important—so you’ll always want to make sure your MAF sensor is happy and healthy. MAF sensors are usually located downstream from (AKA, after) the air filter, near the engine and throttle body.
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Believe it or not, air filters and air intakes are pretty complex and nuanced topics. That means we have oodles (yes, oodles) of tech information, buyers guides, and FAQs on them. Click the links below to learn more.
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