[19SW1LE]

Originally Posted by Mighty Mouce

I put mine in in about 6 min.

Originally Posted by The_Dudebozo

Hey @19sw1le, going forward you should be good without completely taking the screws out. Just unthread them half way and should be able to lift the cover. I’m running the K&n reusable air filter without any problems. Good luck man

Awesome nice to know. I'm sure lots of folks did not know this. Thanks

[Silveradoss573]

My 2011 Silverado has the stupid screws as well. What should take nothing to check my filter usually ends up with something falling down in the wheel well. It's not complicated gm....use good quality clips instead.

[Airfuel]

Magnetized bit driver on a cordless drill. 30 seconds and done. Just don’t strip them putting them back on. Drill down then tighten by hand.

[internationlriders]

I have the green filter in as well and I like to say that the throttle response is slightly smoother? Might just be my imagination but otherwise it's better than the factory paper filter of course and no issues at all.

[19SW1LE]

Originally Posted by Airfuel

Magnetized bit driver on a cordless drill. 30 seconds and done. Just don’t strip them putting them back on. Drill down then tighten by hand.

Exactly what I was doing, until the screw right underneath the sound tube got knocked off by the sound tube, lol. Anyway, I'm over it and thanks for all the helpful insights. Still not a fan of those screws though,

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by cellsafemode

I'm sure filters being screwed down rather than nice little clips is a two part decision and it has nothing to do with protecting your interests.

1. Cost. Robots can essentially do screw jobs, and screws cost less than clips.

2. Deters people from replacing their own filter and taking it into a dealer. Anything that requires tools will deter a certain percentage of people over the same job being done without tools. That == money for dealers.

But seeing as how this is chevy and not bmw, i'd go with #1 as being the driving force.

Robots aren’t driving these screws.

Engineers consider multiple things in these decisions. Cost, mass, investment, serviceability and quality among others.

As pointed out other have observed failed clips. You and I don’t have GMs warranty data so the engineer you are complaining about may have fixed a customer complaint and traded off ease use for durability. Or simply chose a lower cost solution.

But I also think your complaint is fueled by dropping the screw. I know not much is worse than spending 30 minutes looking for the fastener on a 6 minute job.

[s346k]

eh yeah i dropped 2 screws but the stock air box i bought had all of them.