Hello all. It's time to replace the cabin air filter in my trusty '97 S320. The car has the charcoal odor filter option, which means that the recommended cabin filter is the one with the carbon backing instead of the plain paper one. The problem is the carbon model is around $100 vs about $25 for the plain paper one.

Is there any technical reason why I can't use the plain paper one? They appear to be the same size and shape.


Carbon filter - $93.04:


Plain filter - $26.72:

__________________
"It's not about how fast you can go, but how well you can go fast."

Bob in Richmond

'97 S320 (LWB), Ruby Red Metallic, 73k miles
'97 S420V, Smoke Silver Metallic, 155k miles