I had a bad feeling when I picked up this Summit brand re-usable air filter element today. As if I have not been in this hobby long enough to know that you get what you pay for. And what was I to expect when this 14×3 Summit air filter was almost half the price of the name brand equivalent? If you haven’t figured out what is wrong here, then let me detail it for you. The solution that Summit uses to oil-bath the air filter element chewed right through the nitrile sealing surfaces. This is not a one-off factory defect…. it’s a manufacturing disaster. The only good part is that the Summit retail store is just 5 miles from my house, if I had ordered this from another state… boy would I be furious.
Sigh! well some stuff just doesnt ‘cheap’ well, Rubber products being one of them. Man the “Name Brand” stuff is expensive but its worth it. Buy it once
Sorry ill step off my soap box , Sorry you got burned
I’ve had a good experience with some of the summit brand products. I have had to return stuff to them and I agree that it sucks when you have to ship stuff back, sometimes it’s not even worth the trouble. Many of their products are the same as the name brand stuff, except at a lower price. I will agree that in most cases you get what you pay for, but sometimes you are just paying for a name brand. I would always stick with K&N when it comes to filters, no reason not to.
I purchased a summit airfilter as well. The darn thing would not hold oil at all, after a week of little actual run time it would start to loose color, and I’d have a ton of oil on the filter base.
Its sad that a reputable firm Like Summit compromises their credibility with products such as this. I personally avoid ‘generic’ items.
Sorry about your experience. I’ve had a bit of both from them. The summit intake I bought fit really well, although I think it may not have been sealed as it’s already blotching up.
Summit doesn’t generally sell junk like that. Take it back but go the extra mile to explain what it wrong with the product and talk to someone in charge. You might be surprised to find out that they’ll probably consider to stop selling it or find another vendor. Believe me, there aren’t many people who would put that on their car. I can guarantee there are many other people with the same problem.
My summit dampner was a nice quality piece and had a great price, the battery box and wires is great quality stuff as well. The summit alternator I have is the best damn deal on a new alternator I have ever seen. Summit brand radiators are made by Northern, they are excellent radiators, ask anyone who has one. My summit line lock is the exact same line-lock hurst sells under their name brand for $30 more.
I’m sure there are more examples but just because the filter is junk doesn’t mean summit’s products are junk. They buy many of their items in bulk from the same suppliers as the big name brand guys but they sell it at a lower price.
That filter is probably from some junk supplier. If enough people make it a point to return the stuff then summit won’t continue to sell it.
have always bought k&n last one was over five years ago still working fine …just clean ,,oil and go wouldnt change even if paid too
stick with the brand names and you wont get swallowed by the after shore junk
if it sounds to good to be true then usually it is
“Summit doesn’t generally sell junk like that. Take it back but go the extra mile to explain what it wrong with the product and talk to someone in charge. You might be surprised to find out that they’ll probably consider to stop selling it or find another vendor.”
What I disagree with here is that it suggests that it is OK for Summit to use real world customers as their own R&D facility. When I was a bachelor, taking care of stuff like returning bad products in my spare time was no problem. Now, it’s an incredible inconvenience and shows a lack of concern for a customer’s time.
They should give them away for free !I have a K&N Panel for the Winter ,and a Conical with wind deflector for the Summer months for 15 yrs.! same 2 in my 5.0 and they look bran new still (with periodic cleaning of course) Thats a shame tho ! that they would use a chemical like that .Somebody’s going to eat that one.
“What I disagree with here is that it suggests that it is OK for Summit to use real world customers as their own R&D facility. When I was a bachelor, taking care of stuff like returning bad products in my spare time was no problem. Now, it’s an incredible inconvenience and shows a lack of concern for a customer’s time.”
You are correct! The right way for summit or any business to solve a problem like this is to not only make sure it doesn’t happen again, but that the end result is a satisfied customer. They should not only provide you with a refund but also make up for that inconvenience. If it were me, I would throw you a new K&N for free, that’s how I would deal with this type of problem. I think your business, especially considering the impact it has given the audience you can reach on this site, is worth the cost of a filter. More than likely given the fact that summit is such a large business, this type of individual treatment won’t occur. I am not sure how summit deals with R&D but there must be some thought in the process.