Cabin Air Filter Replacement

I'm not exactly sure how I got to thinking about replacing my cabin air filter but Sunday it dawned on me that I should check it out.  Off to Google I went to see how to replace it and sure enough there were some detailed instructions which can be found here:
http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/67-diy-maintenance/6704-replacing-your-cabin-air-filter.html

I followed the instructions and two minutes later I had the old filter out for inspection.  It was extremely dirty and had a few flies and dandelion seeds stuck to it as well.  Those dandelions will try to grow anywhere......

Since it looked like it could use some replacing my next step was to find a replacement filter.  I emailed Kia to ask them how much a replacement filter was, they told me $53, I emailed back saying this seemed expensive and I would check around and let them know.  My second call was to NAPA Auto Parts, where the replacement filter was $32, much cheaper but it still seemed expensive for a flimsy 9" X 10" filter.  My third call was to Canadian Tire and they told me they had one for $15 but might have a hard time finding it since it was the last one in stock.

So of course I headed off to Canadian Tire and figured I would browse while they tried to find my air filter.  Much to my surprise however they found it in about 2 minutes, a nice Fram Freshbreeze like the picture above and I had just saved myself $40 on the filter.  I'm not sure how much Kia would have charged me to replace the filter but I did it myself in a minute.

The moral of the story..... never buy dealer parts or ask them to replace anything you can easily do yourself.  Google it and you may be surprised!