Air Filters

[wart remover]

Im a car newbie, know absolutely nothing about 'em and this mightjust be a newbie question but other than "filters air" what exactly does an air filter do for car? How does it help it, let say you didn't have one, what problems would it cause? The reason why I ask is because my friend takes his out to "make it sound cooler."

[Auto_newb]

I don't think the air filter will do anything for the sound of the car, but I think what he means is the "resonator".

However, i don't know what were to happen if you didn't have an air filter

[MagicRat]

No air filter means accelerated wear for internal engine parts, especially cylinder walls. Dirt in the air would act like sandpaper and erode the pistons and cylinder walls as the engine ran. Also the oil would become more dirty more quickly and would not lubricate as efficiently. It would take many thousands of miles to wear the non filtered engine out, but it would definitely not last as long as normal.

[wart remover]

Good to know, thank you for the information.

[FranKey]

funny thing that happened to me: i was working on my friends car , a cavalier and he also took out his filter. Since he didnt use the car once in the winter,
a squirrel had the time to get stuck in the intake just before the throttle body , something that wouldve never happened if he had his filter since it would keep the squirrel from going in the intake lol