[SVJoe]

Hey everyone I have heard that you can clean the stock air filter. How do you go about doing so? I am asking becuase a replacement filter at the local stealership is 80 bucks and getting one from kneedragger.com will be $62.

 

[Drift]

80 smackers! WOW! WWW.Bikebandit.com has OEM filters for like $35. And an K&N should only be like $65. Do some shopping around. If you do have to clean the stock one, (I don't recommend it) tap it against the ground (not to hard) and vacuum out the dirt. But this is only a temp fix. It will get a little bit out and only if it is really dirty.

Good luck!
-Eric

 

[andyauger]

You can use compressed air to blow it out from the inside. Depending on where you ride you may be able to keep the original filter for a long, long time. What doesn't blow out easily is fine dust. So if most of what you get in the filter is coarse sand you can clean it pretty effectively. If you ride in central Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia and suck in that red clay, then you may not be able to clean it adequately at all.

 

[ubermensch]

You can use compressed air to blow it out from the inside.

Any idea why in the shop manual Suzuki recommends blowing it in the opposite direction? Just thought that was kind of weird.

 

[Marc]

The dirt is collecting on the inside of the filter, not like a car air filter on the outside. As Drift mentioned, vacuuming the inside is probably the best way to get it clean.

 

[andyauger]

OOPS! Sorry. When cleaning any air filter you need to move the air in the direction opposite that of normal air flow. With compressed air or with a vacuum you need to move the air backwards.

 

[Drift]

Yeah. Careful with the compressed air. It can tear the cloth in the filter and really embed a lot of dirt farther in to the filter.

 

[fishburn7]

Ron Ayers has replacement filters for 39.99.

In fact he has everything, a great resource.