[tubman]

In my opinion, you are wrong in your thinking. On the odd chance that something gets ingested into your engine that would harm it, you have no protection at all. But, given the way most of these cars are driven these days, the chance of something getting into the engine are remote.

But then, I have always been a "Belt and Suspenders" type of guy when it comes to engines. What I don't understand is why someone would remove any type engine protection; I kinda bitched about the cost of filters before, but they just make a lot of sense.