In case you were curious how it looks at the 15k mark, I requested my old one back when I had my 15k service done today.

Here are some pics of it:

Topside from an angle to see the airflow path:


The bottom to see just how much area is covered in dirt/soot on the other side in the channels:


The top again, straight down - you can see some small bits of leaves and such in there:


Keep in mind I live and drive in suburban/urban areas around DC, so there is plenty of traffic where I drive and lots of crap in the air.

Definitely will plan to change that filter no longer than every 20k miles.

Btw, I bent over for the full 15k service rape and paid $308 for it.

That's for oil & filter change, engine air filter, cabin air filter, balance tires, check air pressure in tires, check brakes, throttle body cleaning, and a bunch of BS checks. Could have done it for less than half that if I did it myself but I don't do it myself and it's cold and miserable weather here lately anyway. Excuses excuses, I know.

At least if anything happens to my car down the road, they can see I've done their services and will be more likely to help me out.

 

Thanks for the pictures, I definitely won't take changing the in-cabin filter lightly.

 

Thats disgusting, im def gonna check mine out

 

Mine hasnt been replaced in 30k miles

 

Just had 30K done, they said the filter could go another 30 at this rate, it is one of the things they checked... I rarely use the econ AC, just use the recirc, for clean cabin air... This helps even though I use fresh without the AC allot at night with roof open. A buddy has an 03 G sedan and tells me he goes through them all the time, I think he's on his 4th and it's about $60 alone at the same dealer.

 

i drive with my window open so it'll probably look worse then that...i don't plan on changing it either. no meaning for me.

 

I guess I should have also stated my frequent climate control settings:

The majority of the year, while my windows are down, my climate controls are set to Manual, lowest fan setting, 60F/60F, regular dash vent arrow selected.

I NEVER use recirc (generally because it's not as healthy for you as getting fresh air brought into the car, especially on drives of any reasonable duration) unless I'm driving past someone using a blower to blow dust, dirt, and cut grass into the street or a similar situation.

In the spring and Fall the windows are open except when it's too cold and I have the above settings except the temp is brought up to around 68-70F and I switch it to Auto but turn off the AC button (except if it's raining because the windows will fog up like crazy without the AC on).

In the winter it's the same as spring/fall except it's set warmer and if there's ice/snow covering the car I'll defrost it with both Defrost buttons (main and rear window defroster) until the car is clear and then reset it to the aforementioned settings - AC off unless it's precipitating, Auto 68-70F.

In the summer I have the windows open except when it's hot enough to warrant using the AC, which 85% of the time it is in use is set on AC Econ.

So I use the AC sparingly, generally keep the fan speed down, and I normally have the windows down unless temperatures dictate otherwise. Pretty normal use.

 

Honestly, they likely didn't bother going through the trouble of checking it. They know it's more work than most people would do on their own (involves taking apart/out the glovebox and several screws including one behind the molding alone the passenger door frame). They just know that by the next service 15k from now it'll be REALLY dirty and positively need changing.

If they actually went through all the effort of opening it up at the 30k service, it's almost certain it would have had enough dirt on it for them to convince you it was worth replacing.

 

wow he got ripped. my dealer sells them to customers for $30 and $22 if you're like me and work there.