Is getting an aftermarket air filter worth the money for my XJL? If so what is the best one to go with?

 

The OEM filter is already top notch. Many of the aftermarket units are a step backwards.

 

ken6889, first off, welcome to JF. Lots of good information here and tons of people willing to help you out. But, we do ask a small favor from you though. Please stop by the "New Member" section and give us a quick bit about you and your car. We pride ourselves in being a better car group than you will find elsewhere and as part of this, we like to get to know a little bit about everyone. This will also give you a chance to meet those that make this place what it is.

As for your question about upgrading the filter. Are you going to see a change in how the car drives? Probably not. Like was mentioned, the factory air filter is pretty good and the tubing does not leave a lot to improve upon unless you start going nuts with the power.

With this being said, I would offer another way to look at things. Going with an aftermarket "oiled" filter will save you money most likely in the long term (ie, more than 5 years/75K miles of ownership). Where you are saving money is now you don't have to buy two new air filters every year because the paper ones got dirty. You would simply pull out the oiled filter, clean it, re-oil the filter properly and all it costs you is an hour of your time.

I am currently doing a theory to practice where I have modified the factory intake slightly to see if I can cut down on the restrictions in an attempt to get more power and/or mileage. So far, about the only gain that I am seeing is I have slightly better throttle response and if there is any more power, we are talking only a few at best which is not really noticeable when you are starting with the factory 385 hp. As for mileage, I am still on my first tank and am waiting on what numbers I am going to come up with. But if there is a gain, we are only looking at maybe 0.2 mpg or so.