My friend installed my CAI for me a few months ago and i just thought i would clean or change the filter on it and was wondering if changing it was easy. From the way its placed, i cant see a way to take it off easy without either taking the bumper off or taking the whole cai off. Am i missing somethign?

 

Well, if you have enough access to remove the existing filter and replace it with a brand new one, why can't you just clean your existing one?

Sorry, I don't follow your logic.

 

you need to remove the front drivers side tire and pull down the plastic interior of the wheel well. there are a few clips and a screw or 2 and you are in. total job should only take like 15-20min including jacking up the car, removing wheel, removing liner, changing the filter, and then re-installing everything. It may take you a little longer if you have never disassembled those parts before.

you can either replace or clean. i would probably buy a new one and install that, and then clean the old one for your next filter change. then you can just swap between the two.

 

AEM makes a cleaner for those filters and you can get them pretty cheap on
Tirerack.com
Probably just a mild soap solution but I didn't feel like chancing it. They take forever to dry so I used the pusher function of my shop vac and duct taped it to the inlet to blow air through it and speed drying. It worked like a champ but make sure you clean the vacuum's filter before blowing the filter dry. Oh, don't let the cleaning solution go inside the filter, either.

 

I've used a solution of simple green instead of their expensive AEM stuff. Works great and they even recommend it on their site. Here's the procedure. Be sure not let any fluid enter over the top of the filter.

 

Why can't it enter over the top? Is the inside of the filter actually staying dry when its submerged to the top of the filter cone?
So you just swish it around in a Simple Green solution ( making sure it doesn't go over the top and get wet inside ) for 10 mins, then swish it around in water to rinse the SG away, then let dry. thats pretty easy, I need to do mine ASAP.

 

I think it's more they don't want you to risk getting the dirt and debris getting inside.