MAHLE Air Filters
 

I just got my hands on MAHLE Air Filters for the M119.

This company has a lot under their sleeves but I'm not sure when it comes to Air Filters...

How is it compared to the OEM ones? Does anyone have any experience regarding this?


IF god forbid anything happens to my car engine wise, I would definitely replace the parts with MAHLE parts.

Mahle (Knecht) is a MB OE filter supplier.

Not all of their filters are OE on MB's, but about 95% of them are!

Other OE MB filter suppliers are Hengst & Mann.

99% of OE filters in MB passenger cars come from those big three suppliers!

I never knew that. Thank you for the info, Doc.

This would be an off-topic question but I have always wondered what suppliers do Mercedes Benz deal with when it comes to everything else?

The best or nothing!
 

That really depends on the product. Many are Bosch, Febi and a lot of others. In some other Euro countries, they do use some other suppliers.

There's a company in France called Purflux. They make very good very expensive oil filters. It's the only kind to get for a Citroen. They last much longer. Try cutting one apart, you see the extra metal reinforcement. They are maybe a $1.50 more per filter. Used in all the MB dealers in France.

I use them in Cits and stock up.

I know they are used in France because when I bought them at MB dealers a few years ago, that's what they gave me. And I speak French as well as English, so I could not be fooled. Plus I asked about them as a subsitute when I was there and I saw on the microfiche they were listed with Mann and Bosch.

Bottom line, it depends on the OEM manufacturer, but MB seems to really work hard to get good suppliers, not GM-style cheapest suppliers.

Febi? Why would Mercedes deal with Febi?? I heard that they just repackage, isn't that true?

That's it - if speaking French makes one invulnerable to sales puffery I'm going to learn it. I'll be able to order more rich creamy sauces at restaurants too.

I have Hengst/Mann/Mahle air filters on our cars....they are certainly better than the junk you find in a local store!

I have a Purflux filter that I purchased from the dealer about a year ago sitting in the garage. They are about $12 CDN ea. A regular Mahle filter is about $8. I don't know if there is much difference in filter design or quality, but I would be curious to know. I'm going to use the Mercedes filter on my next oil change.

I've used WIX filters in this country to great success. My first oil change I put a Mann filter from the dealer in and used a mechanical gauge to monitor oil pressure. When I changed to a wix, I noticed no difference in peak oil pressure, time the oil system takes to respond, time to build pressure on startup, hot or cold idle pressure, etc.

Shock absorbers on W204 C-class are Monroe.

That's only if you are living in France at the time, like I was. I could always tell them in French not to bull$#it me.