So I have a Dinan CAI on the MINI, car has around 6k miles, and the filter is acting up lately, so I took it apart, and I give Dinan a call because I was pretty disappointed it got so bad so quickly. I live in suburbs of Los Angeles and I drive around that area too, I still don't know how it got so bad. But either way, I took it out and hit the filter against a table a few times, and a lot of the dirt fell out, and I then got a dry paper towel and kind of cleaned off the filter, and put it back in. Now I'm thinking, did I just mess up my filter? Or is it perfectly ok to do that to it. I gave Dinan a call but like always their techs never pick up or return calls.

It's a oiled paper filter thats non-reusable if your wondering.

Motor On!

 

Air filters do get dirty. It means it is doing its job - getting air into the air box and filtering it. Nothing to be upset about. Its OK to shake them out.