Swelling 300E Air Filter
 

Hey take a look at what has happened to my 300E Hengst air filter. The filter is about 2 or 3 months old.

Here is a closeup

the air filter looks distorted/swollen-only thing thing i could think of is would be due to water or a faulty batch of filter.

That's nothing to be worried about.

Probarly the filter housing puts a little extra pressure on it there so it gets squezed together when installed.

I was thinking the air charge was too pressurized. The fastest I have taken it is about 100 mph. I haven't tampered with the air tubes. Moisture should not be a problem because it is very dry in CA and it is usually garaged.

Did this happen to any previous air filters used in this car?

If not, you might just simply swap it out with a new one.

It has nothing to do with air being pressurized.
Your filter has been sqeezed
notning to worry about

No, I had the MB Mann in there for god knows how long and its strips were quite uniform once I removed them. I don't get what is meant by "squeezed." Installation was simple and it was pretty snug fit. It came from fastlane in great condition.