FRAM Fresh Breeze® Cabin Air Filters: Installation Is a Breeze!
Hello again,
AskPatty Nation! The folks at FRAM® were kind enough to
send me one of their Fresh Breeze cabin air filters (gratis, in fact - thanks FRAM®!) to try out. If
you're a little mystified as to what a cabin air filter is, you're
not alone – check out our Filtration
Education article from last month for all the details. Believe it
or not, I didn't think my car actually had a cabin air filter
until I started this process – which means of course that mine had
never been changed. Let that be a lesson to you all: don't assume you
don't have one – look it up! The FRAM
Fresh Breeze® website has a comprehensive list of
models they support, and installation really is a breeze.
Let's take a look at the process:
I drive a 2006 Kia Rio, and I love her.
I tend to drive cars until the wheels fall off, rather than searching
for a new one every few years, so I plan on taking this one well into
six digits on the odometer in the years to come. In my particular
model, the cabin air filter sits inside the dash, behind the glove
box. Some cars have the filter in a different spot, sometimes even in
the engine compartment, so this is by no means a comprehensive
installation guide (unless you also happen to drive an '06 Rio). The
first order of business for installation was to remove the glove box,
which turned out to be the hardest part of the process.
My particular model comes with two
stops on either side that needed to be removed. Some Rios have a
damper cable, which is easily disconnected, but mine does not.
Getting these two tabs out took a little bit of effort, for me, most
likely because the car is seven years old and they'd never been
removed. I was afraid of breaking one. The instructions that come
with the filter, my owner's manual, and even Google simply instructed
me to “remove” these tabs, with no real indication as to how
to do that. Thankfully, the FRAM
Fresh Breeze® site came to my rescue with a
very helpful video! Their video was for a slightly different model,
as their glove box had the damper cable, but it at least showed me
how to pull those tabs out. Once I understood how they were attached,
pulling them free just took a little encouragement with a flat-head
screwdriver. So, piece of advice for any of you first-time air filter
installers: visit the FRAM
Fresh Breeze® site and watch the instruction
video for your car. It's a lifesaver.
Once I had those pesky tabs removed, my
glove box was free to swing all the way down on its hinges, exposing
the air filter cover itself. Thanks to another variation in vehicle
styles, the filter cover in FRAM's video attached differently than
mine, but it was simple enough to figure out with my owner's manual:
squeeze the two tabs on either side, and pull straight out. The old
filter pulled out as easily as opening a sock drawer – although if
I saw this when I opened my sock drawer, I'd either move, call an
exterminator, hold an exorcism, or all of the above. Yikes!
Here's a side-by-side comparison of my
old filter and the new one. As you can see, my cabin air quality
should be improving immensely now that I have the new filter
installed. One thing to take note of: when you take the old filter
out, make sure to note the Air Flow direction indicated on its side,
and install the new filter in the same orientation. In my case, the
filter fit snugly in the sock-drawer housing, and simply slid back
into place and locked with a satisfying click. Easy peasy!
From here, it was a simple matter of
reinserting the stop tabs – which was easy now that I'd figured out
how they come out – and closing the glove box again. So, for a
final analysis – definitely visit the FRAM Fresh
Breeze® website for a wonderful and very
helpful installation video, and be aware that certain small details
may vary from model to model. To account for those minor nuances
puzzling you, have your owner's manual handy. It will contain
instructions specific to your particular vehicle. Finally, if you're
reading this and you, like me, have never replaced your cabin air
filter (or aren't even sure if you have one), visit
http://framfreshbreeze.com/
and find out right now. Your lungs will thank me - the air in your
car may be dirtier than the air outside! Thanks to the fine folks at
FRAM for the opportunity to educate myself and for the wonderful
product! Thanks to you, my morning commute today was a breath of
fresh air.
