E36 M3 Evo air filter

[Bennym]

E36 M3 Evo air filter


I need a new air filter for my M3 was wondering should i buy a stock air filter or performance?

I wouldnt mind a little more grunt from under the bonnent.


any help on makes and what has anyone else used?

[Nat_H]

I used to use BMC F1 filters on my M3.

[MarkwG]

Mine's had a K&N panel filter for years: not sure it's made a fat lot of difference, performance wise, but just needs a clean & re-oil every so often, so easier to service.

[dan101smith]

Personally I'd avoid oiled filters - the MAFs are sensitive to excess oil on them, so hardly worth the bother.

[Neil.D]

Keep it stock. For the extra 3 or 4bhp they alledagdly give you are not going to notice that on top of 300bhp.

[thegreengoblet]

Not sure about the panel filters, but I went for a K&N Induction kit for mine. Defo more aggressive on the throttle. However you have to tell your insurance company as it comes under a modification.

[BountyHunter]

if you want to retain the airbox then either a standard panel or a k&n is fine (make sure its not over oiled though)
the panel may or may not improve performance but it will give a mild increase to induction noise.

however if your open to modifications then theres a kit called a "dave f" that is very good and has been dyno proven on several occasions to increase power.
it consists of a monster sized k&n cone, a well designed heatshield, metal pipe to relocate the cone, and silicone tubing to connect it all up.

theyre quiet when driving normally, but on wide open throttle they make the engine simply sing.

the guy doesnt make them anymore for the E36 but they do come up for sale on ebay, ph classifieds and on bmwowner.com (dedicated e36 site) fairly regulaarly

do a youtube search for e36 m3 dave f

[chris7676]

I would stick with the stock. I could not feel or hear the difference between the 2 unlike on a 4 cylinder K-series.

[tjw110]

I used K&N 57i induction kit with the heat shield supplied on all my M3 EVO's, never had an issue with the MAF on any of my E36 M3's and the sound is very addictive

[ChrisMCoupe]

Years ago I had a Dave F filter on mine (Basically a K&N with a heatshield) and although power increase wasn't really noticable, the induction noise was very noticable

[E36GUY]

tjw110 said:

I used K&N 57i induction kit with the heat shield supplied on all my M3 EVO's, never had an issue with the MAF on any of my E36 M3's and the sound is very addictive

Right on. I have the DaveF heatshield with K&N. No tangible gain in power but throttle reponse and noise are the improvements.

38,000 miles on the filter and counting with no Maf problems

[TheEnd]

The K&N problem will be a case of too much fiddling.
In a similar way that people will end up changing spark plugs every 10k miles, they'll be washing and cleaning the filter too often, and each time it's cleaned, there is more of a chance of over-oiling it.

They only need a light oiling, but if you can't remember what a light oiling looks like, it'll tend to be overdone.