VOLUME 57 ISSUE 15 APRIL 14, 2020 P73
BREATHING!
For those who would rather not
get their hands dirty, and there's
no shame here, there are even
air-filter cleaning services that
will professionally clean and oil
your filters for you, such as MX
Filter Service. Just stuff your dirty
laundry in a box, mail them to MX
Filter Service in Southern Califor-
nia, and presto, fresh oiled filters
(your same exact ones) arrive
at your doorstep! It doesn't get
much easier than that.
Once you're satisfied that your
filter is dirt- and grit-free, rinse it
thoroughly with tap water and let
it dry. You can help speed the
drying process by gently squeez-
ing the filter free of water (careful
not to damage the shape of the
filter) and setting it in a well-venti-
lated area to dry.
Be sure it's completely free of
water before you apply oil.
When the filter is completely
dried out, it's time to saturate the
foam with oil. The keyword here
is saturate. The most important
step in air-filter maintenance is
the correct application of oil.
To do it right, the foam element
must be completely submerged
in oil, thoroughly saturated, and
then all the excess oil must be
squeezed out. If your motorcycle
uses a universal-type filter pod
or a sock filter with the flex-core
design, it is necessary to remove
the spring support to squeeze
out the extra oil. This is the only
sure method of coating the en-
tire filter with dirt-catching oil.
In lieu of disposable plastic
gloves, you can use a plastic
bag to help make the operation
cleaner. Simply insert the filter in
the bag, pour in the oil, and mas-
sage the bag and filter until the
filter is saturated. Many people
just pour oil onto the filter from
the outside and try to work the
oil into the foam by hand, but this
isn't as effective as dunking the
filter in oil.
"Foam filter oil is unique as
it contains thinning agents to
expedite the oil evenly through
the foam pores," says Jeremy
Garges of TwinAir. "If you put too
much oil on the filter, it will drain
out of the foam, the filter dries
out, thus reducing the effective-
Many motorcycles,
such as this Suzuki
DR400S, require
no tools to access
the air filter, so you
have no excuse
for letting your air
filter go too long
before cleaning.
