Filters for cabin air?

Hello All:

I am looking for a filter for the ventilation system of my 2007 Corolla. I hear that there are filters --possibly with activated charcoal-- that eliminate the pollution from the street air.

Anybody has any experience with these types of filters? Do they work? Sources?

Thanks!

Deguza

Reply to
Kompu Kid
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I haven't personally used them, but you could go to a home supply/ hardware store, and get one of those filters from the HVAC system department. Then just cut it to size and install in place of the original cabin air filter. (directions to install the cabin air filter is probably in the Owner's Manual in the DIY repairs section)

Reply to
mrv

I did exactly that for my Sienna air filter, made my own and a lot less $$ :)

Reply to
dbu,.

That's what I've been doing for my Matrix for five years now. Buy a good furnace filter (a pleated one, not the spun fiberglass ones) and cut it to size. You can change them as often as you like for pennies rather than for the $12 the dealer wants for one.

Reply to
Sean Elkins

" dbu,." opin'd thus:

Likewise for my xB . . . and it works. A few thousand miles and the first filter I made was FULL of crud. I made another and I'm off . . . for a few cents more . . . .

Reply to
Don Fearn

I recently removed the cabin filter from in back of the glove box in my 2003 Avalon. Blew it out with air from a shopvac, then washed it and let it dry in the sun, and replaced it. I don't even care what a Toy dealer wants for a replacement. I'm going to keep doing this until it falls apart.

Reply to
mack

If you want to order a full case (24) at a time, the companies that make (wholesale) furnace filters will semi-custom make almost any size filter you could want in the 3/4" wide cardboard frame design, drop it in and you're done. If they get enough call for that size, they may already have them on the shelf.

You'd still come out ahead compared to the dealer - but you probably wouldn't beat the price versus a whole case of an aftermarket premade cabin air filter from Fram or Wix, since the economy of scale in mass production kicks in.

If you buy ahead the extra filters don't go bad, as long as they're kept clean in bags or sealed boxes.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

But none of these filters are made up of activated charcoal, are they?

Deguza

Reply to
Kompu Kid

Sort of like how you hang on to your unreal, totally out to lunch political theories.

Reply to
sharx35

I don't think they use charcoal.

I haven't changed my cabin filter yet, my 2007 Corolla was bought last September. The dealership had a display up back then showing the difference between a genuine Toyota filter and a third party knockoff.

The Toyota filter looked a lot like a miniature 3M Filtrete furnace filter. Sort of a pleated white polyester fiber electrostatic material medium. They are probably scented, but I didn't see any hint of charcoal.

Reply to
homepc

My original Toy filter didn't seem to be made with activated charcoal either, unless they have found some way to make it white.

I have little doubt you could find a furnace filter either with activated charcoal or possibly one of the 3M electrostatic ones that would do just as good of a job.

Reply to
Sean Elkins

At the time I was shopping for my first replacement, the Matrix was so new in the country that I couldn't find an aftermarket replacement anywhere, either for the cabin filter or even the air filter itself!

By the time you could get premade replacements from Purolator I had already started making my own--and now since I've seen how well my homemade ones work and how easy they are to make, I just can't see myself buying one.

Reply to
Sean Elkins

As several people have posted, you can make your own filter using a household pleated furnace filter. I have not seen any car cabin replacement filters that use activated charcoal, but charcoal does not eliminate pollution from the street air. Charcoal will absorb odors, but particulates have to be absorbed by the paper media and gases will not get absorbed by the charcoal or paper.

Reply to
Ray O

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