Your motorcycle engine loves clean air and the only way to get this is to either replace your stock air filter regularly or clean and re-oil aftermarket air filters. Why do you need a clean air filter in the first place. A clean air filter is critical to your motorcycle’s performance and a plugged-up air filter can seriously reduce the performance of your bike’s engine. Worse, an improperly maintained air filter can drastically shorten the life of the engine.

What we find today are three types of air filters, paper, foam and cotton. The paper ones which usually are stock air filters are not usable the other two are.

Paper air filters

Majority of the manufacturers will use paper air filters as these are cheap and are a one time use. They usually have a life based on the kilometers run that can be reduced by the kind of air that the bike has been run in. Dusty areas require the air filter to be replaced more often. We see a lot of people using high pressure air from the opposite side to dislodge the dust. This could work however we believe by doing so you are enlarging the size of the pores that in the end reduces the effectiveness of the filter

Cotton gauze air filters

These are the most common performance aftermarket air filters used on street bikes. You would upgrade to this type of an air filter to get more performance and save the costs associated with frequent replacements of your stock air filter. Cotton air filters can be reused again and again for a long period of time. The maintenance on these is very different, petrol or solvents shouldn’t be used to clean these kinds of filters. Instead, specially designed cotton-gauze filter detergents or a light detergent should be used. After thoroughly cleaning the filter with detergent and letting it dry naturally, oil should then be applied on the filter and letting it soak in.

Foam Air filters

These are used on off road/dirt bikes and require more frequent maintenance due to their use in dirtier conditions and the fact the foam is more porous. But foam filters are fairly simple to access, remove, clean and reinstall. Once removed from the airbox, a good way to clean your filter is by using solvent first, then following that with a water and detergent bath.

Maintenance and Re-oiling

Popular motorcycle oil companies, chemical companies or air filter manufacturers have their own cleaner and oil and their application varies depending on the type of filter. Maxima has its own AIR FILTER MAINTENANCE COMBO KIT that is a convenient way to clean and oil your foam or fabric air filter.

The 2 pack contains an AIR FILTER CLEANER aerosol spray and a FAB-1 spray-on air filter oil. The air filter cleaner is a heavy-duty emulsion-type cleaner designed to thoroughly clean air filters without damaging foam cells, paper or glue. It’s proven to remove oil and dirt from air filter elements and easily washes out with water. Whereas FAB-1’s proven formula will not plug foam cells or migrate off of filters. FAB-1’s protective coating catches dirt and fine dust without restricting airflow and is water-resistant.

For foam filters Maxima also has FFT that is its race proven synthetic foam filter treatment oil.