Lexus air/cabin filters

peachy · July 24, 2017

I'm looking to fit a new air and cabin filter in my IS250 this weekend.

Is it worth paying the £40 for the original filters? Looking on eBay I can get them from the likes of Croslands for about half the price.

Anybody had experience of these cheaper filters? I'm not that fussed about the cabin filter but I hear the lexus air filter is very free flowing and worried the cheap air filters could be more restricted in terms of flow.

steveledzep · July 24, 2017

Can't comment on the different filters Shaun. When you fit the cabin filter in the glovebox, make sure the aircon is in recirculate mode......otherwise you'll break it !!

gdh300 · July 24, 2017

I've only used aftermarket cabin filters on my Gen1 IS. I think I'd choke on spending £40 on such a tiny filter! May be it's bigger on the IS250? I tend to replace it every six months and take it out and brush it off in-between times. Four wasps last time!

Can't say I've ever noticed restricted flow (I suspect the opposite would be the case) with Crosslands etc. Windscreen doesn't seem to get too grubby. I wonder if the genuine Lexus filters may catch more of the finer stuff? No filter will ever capture the tiny diesel particulates I suppose, but that's what the recirculate button is for when you see the TDI badge in front!

July 24, 2017

Only ever used aftermarket MANN , Fram or Crossland, always seemed cheap at £11 to £13 and have worked well., I did get a price for a genuine OE Cabin Air and Engine Air filter from Lexus store on line via eBay, this is run by Lexus dealer in Birmingham, "The total price for the air and pollen filter would be £34.94 inc VAT.
We do keep them in stock so if you would like to order them please advise and I can arrange this for you." Inc Postage !

July 24, 2017

I should have said, That quote was for my IS220D F Sport

is200 Newbie · July 24, 2017

57 minutes ago, peachy said:

I'm looking to fit a new air and cabin filter in my IS250 this weekend.

Is it worth paying the £40 for the original filters? Looking on ebay I can get them from the likes of Croslands for about half the price.

Anybody had experience of these cheaper filters? I'm not that fussed about the cabin filter but I hear the lexus air filter is very free flowing and worried the cheap air filters could be more restricted in terms of flow.

Have used them and they are fine - changed once a year it makes good financial sense compared to the OEM ones. Just make a note of the flow direction (indicated by an arrow on the side of the replacement filter panel) and replace the same way round - don't think it matters but I have always followed it.

Make sure before doing it to follow the advice on putting the system in re-circulation mode as Steve mentioned above - it WILL break if not.

peachy · July 24, 2017

8 minutes ago, 999101999 said:

Only ever used aftermarket MANN , Fram or Crossland, always seemed cheap at £11 to £13 and have worked well., I did get a price for a genuine OE Cabin Air and Engine Air filter from Lexus store on line via ebay, this is run by Lexus dealer in Birmingham, "The total price for the air and pollen filter would be £34.94 inc VAT.
We do keep them in stock so if you would like to order them please advise and I can arrange this for you." Inc Postage !

I've looked at lexus Birmingham eBay store and the air filter is £25 and the cabin filter is £15.

July 24, 2017

The quote is in italics direct from an email they sent me on Friday so the cost is correct at £34 94

Rebecca · July 24, 2017

Personally I would spend the extra £20 or so and purchase the original filters because it's a lexus and I wouldn't use anything else on my vehicle, but that's just me.

Or maybe treat yourself to a K&N filter set.

July 24, 2017

Agreed, despite my use of aftermarket parts in the past, I will feel obliged to fit OE now as the car has two years Lexus warranty so I better had , just in case ! :-)

peachy · July 24, 2017

4 minutes ago, Rebecca said:

Personally I would spend the extra £20 or so and purchase the original filters because it's a lexus and I wouldn't use anything else on my vehicle, but that's just me.

Or maybe treat yourself to a K&N filter set.

KN panel filter no thanks at £49 and reading the online reviews people have claimed they got oil on the maf sensor causing erratic idle. Free flowing they might be but surely they let more muck into the engine.

I've decided to purchase the original set from lexus Birmingham eBay store.

Texas · July 24, 2017

"You know it makes sense" and now any/all doubt about the suitability of the said filter has been alleviated.

paul m.

J Henderson · July 25, 2017

Original cabin filter here. £14.99 form Lexus Birmingham. Generic £6 or 7 quid one off eBay probably does the same job just as effectively, but whatever...it's a Lexus, so it deserves it.

Print this out and keep it in your glovebox.

normski2 · July 25, 2017

Agree with all of the above.

Personally I use £6-9 ones off eBay....they are just fine.

When you remove the filter cover at the back of the glovebox the covering lid over the filter MUST be raised so that you can see the filter and its cassette.

If it's not ... do not try and lift it as it will probably break the spindle. Press RECIRCULATE button with ignition on and you will see the lid raise up.

johnatg · July 25, 2017

I get air and cabin filters on eBay - usually from 'autoperformanceonline'. I reckon it's a complete waste of money buying from Lexus - after all, they don't make filters - it's just that they sell ones they have sourced from a variety of suppliers. So their is/are plenty of middlemen's cuts in the price by the time they get to UK.

Regarding air filters, most do the job (I think the ones I get are Crosland - in the green box). You are better off changing them twice as often as recommended by Lexus and it would still save you money compared with Lexus prices. The rec change interval is 40K miles - seems a long way to me. They are just a tenner on eBay.

peachy · July 25, 2017

Well I ordered the cabin and air filter yesterday from lexus Birmingham. £40.50 with free delivery. Bit expensive I know

They will be delivered Thursday but me and my wife will both out at work. Thankfully I had the option of click and collect at my local argos store that happens to be open until 8pm. I'll pop in after work on Thursday evening and collect them and fit them both when I arrive home.

Should have them both fitted in 15 minutes tops 👍

messi · July 25, 2017

You could get oe filters from rockauto much cheaper. Toyota/Lexus use filters made by Denso and you can pick then up for around £5 to £8 from rockauto.

Just checked, total cost of cabin filter including delivery £8.34

peachy · July 27, 2017

Looking forward to fitting the new lexus air filter tomorrow and seeing the condition of the old one.

dougie175 · July 27, 2017

Good buy, I always used to user aftermarket filters on previous cars until a few years ago when someone a lot clever than myself did some serious research on optimum air filters on Hondas, obviously this is completely different to Toyota / Lexus but I wouldn't take the risk.

He was seeing as much as 3% reduction in power from some of the aftermarket filters, some where only 1% such as the K&N but none of the aftermarket filters matched the genuine filter. For me if an air filter is creating less power then that must come from starving the engine of airflow slightly, not worth the saving in my opinion.

If Toyota / Lexus do use Denso filters and you can buy the same filter on the aftermarket this would be the best option if you don't want to buy genuine items in my opinion as it should be the same item but at a reduced cost

Linas.P · July 29, 2017

I would not pay any extra for Lexus cabin filter, I got one with activated charcoal for £8 from amazon and it seems better quality than original Lexus. As for main/engine air filter I have K&N one - it has not improved anything, but there are no problem with it either. First of all I bought one which was factory oiled and not a kit with oil. One thing to note - K&N filters come oiled from the factory, they are good for 60k miles! After that if you want you can wash it and oil it again. I guess if you get properly oiled filter and then oil it on top from new, then obviously you going to have issues with MAF.

@dougie175 - you are talking about different thing here. The reduction in power happens when you replace original airbox with "cone type" performance filter. That is especially true for some high revving low volume engines (typical VTEC Civic is good example or S2000), for some reason these cars needs some vacuum in air intake and have pretty over engineered airboxes to achieve it. Removing airbox actually reduces the power.

When it comes to IS250 that is not the case, the original Lexus air filter has low resistance already, replacing it with K&N can give nicer sound (especially with F-Sport air intake amplifier) and probably higher service intervals. I doubt it would increase power at all, but equally it would not reduce it.

dougie175 · July 30, 2017

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

@dougie175 - you are talking about different thing here. The reduction in power happens when you replace original airbox with "cone type" performance filter. That is especially true for some high revving low volume engines (typical VTEC Civic is good example or S2000), for some reason these cars needs some vacuum in air intake and have pretty over engineered airboxes to achieve it. Removing airbox actually reduces the power.

When it comes to IS250 that is not the case, the original Lexus air filter has low resistance already, replacing it with K&N can give nicer sound (especially with F-Sport air intake amplifier) and probably higher service intervals. I doubt it would increase power at all, but equally it would not reduce it.

The research wasn't even based on a VTEC is was actually based on a diesel

Linas.P · July 30, 2017

2 hours ago, dougie175 said:

The research wasn't even based on a VTEC is was actually based on a diesel

Then we are probably talking about yet another issue. I am don't know much (or to be honest care) about diesels. I know for a fact Civic Type R's and S2000 looses power when OE airbox is replaced with "performance" cone filter which is less restrictive. In both cases that doesn't apply to IS250, especially if airbox is kept. I have red that apparently Lexus IS250/350 can benefit from "cold air" intake from K&N, but power gains are something in a range of 0.1-1%. For what it costs and all the complexity I would not bother..

dougie175 · July 30, 2017

6 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I have red that apparently Lexus IS250/350 can benefit from "cold air" intake from K&N, but power gains are something in a range of 0.1-1%. For what it costs and all the complexity I would not bother..

Exact same reason why i wouldn't put any inferior filters in my car, there is no research at all that any aftermarket filter performs as well as a genuine filter but potentially to reduce performance

peachy · July 30, 2017

This is the filter I took out. Quite dirty and needed a change. It was made by a company called comline

Now some of you lads will say I'm having a placebo effect here but since fitting the new original filter I've definitely noticed an improvement in throttle response and the V6 growl is more pronounced at lower rpm.