My APE air filter fell apart after about 45,000 miles of use.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by ibmike

Bad Batch? that thing is Melted like it was COOKED over a camp fire. I doubt that was a manufacturing problem.

So if the filter is the only thing in the area that shows any hint of heat related damage, what would you think it could be? If it really was a heat issue being produced by something else, wouldn't other things in that area of the engine bay shows signs of heat damage?

[DopeM3]

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by isugoo

From what I heard from the vendor, APE makes the MS filters for E9X M3s.

Yup. At the time I bought, it was advertised as basically being from the same OEM as the MS filters. I'm not sure how true that is but that is what was advertised and they look practically identical. I don't think APE is still active on this forum.

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by isugoo

From what I heard from the vendor, APE makes the MS filters for E9X M3s.

It looks nothing like my MS filter, the rubber surround feels more like the material used for powerflex bushings, it's very hard, almost un-pliable when I installed it.

[isugoo]

Originally Posted by thekurgan

It looks nothing like my MS filter, the rubber surround feels more like the material used for powerflex bushings, it's very hard, almost un-pliable when I installed it.

Really? It looks very much like MS to me.
Can anyone dig in the actual APE filter pics so we can compare with MS?

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by isugoo

Really? It looks very much like MS to me.
Can anyone dig in the actual APE filter pics so we can compare with MS?

After seeing your melted piece, I'm going to check mine soon, we've had 109+ temps here, that can't help these filters. I'll snap some photos as well.

[808MGuy]

Some info for those of you who are curious

http://www.apeperformance.com/perfor...ltere9xm3.html

APE filter


It is actually made by this company

http://www.sbfilters.com/

The same S&B logo is on the top panel of the filter. Here's a picture of what mine looked like




Here's pictures of the MS



This top panel looks exactly the same as the S&B except with a different logo

[thekurgan]

I photographed these this morning when it was cool. Far too hot to touch last night. This filter has ~4500k miles on it. I don't live in a dusty area, but it has been unusually hot. I generally pop the hood and leave it open all night when I return from work/traffic. Like I mentioned, this rubber material is of a high durometer rating, it's not flexible as much as even the stock filter.

Hope this helps some folks out; I will be checking this again if the temps rise to where they have been this week.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by thekurgan

I photographed these this morning when it was cool. Far too hot to touch last night. This filter has ~4500k miles on it. I don't live in a dusty area, but it has been unusually hot. I generally pop the hood and leave it open all night when I return from work/traffic. Like I mentioned, this rubber material is of a high durometer rating, it's not flexible as much as even the stock filter.

Hope this helps some folks out; I will be checking this again if the temps rise to where they have been this week.

I added a pic of the top of my old APE filter to the post above just so everyone can see the S&B logo. Like your MS, the rubber on my APE was hard at first. The top is much harder than the bottom but over time the bottom just got softer and softer until it melted.

[Longwong]

Perhaps when you took it out for a cleaning did you soak it in any water with detergent or cleaner by chance or something that could have effected the rubber somehow?

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

I added a pic of the top of my old APE filter to the post above just so everyone can see the S&B logo. Like your MS, the rubber on my APE was hard at first. The top is much harder than the bottom but over time the bottom just got softer and softer until it melted.

Definitely keeping an eye on it. Your photo makes the rubber looks dull and softer whereas mine feels almost urethane-like. Thanks for the alert, I normally wouldn't have checked this until December.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by thekurgan

Definitely keeping an eye on it. Your photo makes the rubber looks dull and softer whereas mine feels almost urethane-like. Thanks for the alert, I normally wouldn't have checked this until December.

Which picture, the one of the top panel or the one from APE website? Keep in mind that the picture if the top panel is my filter after 3 years 45,000 miles of use. If you're talking about the APE picture, its hard to tell because it's so small but from what I remember, it looked just like your MS when it was brand new.

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

Which picture, the one of the top panel or the one from APE website? Keep in mind that the picture if the top panel is my filter after 3 years 45,000 miles of use. If you're talking about the APE picture, its hard to tell because it's so small but from what I remember, it looked just like your MS when it was brand new.

The photo you added from the SB site. The rubber doesn't look the same. I may send a note into MS and see what they say about the possibility of it melting.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by Longwong

Perhaps when you took it out for a cleaning did you soak it in any water with detergent or cleaner by chance or something that could have effected the rubber somehow?

When cleaning, I only used the K&N cleaning solution which I let soak in for about 10 min and then rinsed. I never used any kind of detergent. I re-oiled with K&N oil and usually let the filter sit for about 6 hours before reinstalling it back into the car.