Which oil filters are best?

After I got two bad napa filters in a row I started shopping elsewhere. Both leaked at the spot welts on the end of the can. Another brand I avoid is fram. I had a fram PH8A blow up at 80psi on morning a few seconds after engine start. The rubber block gasket blew out.

I've been running super tech filters(the wal-mart store brand) for several years and I've never had a problem. I did at one time take the super tech, STP filters and the bosch filters and compare them for manufacturer markings on the canisters, and found all three to be completely identical with the super tech filter being the cheapest(obviously).

Good luck with it.

Chris

i hear this type of thing all the time for several different brands. thru the years I have used fram and napa filters for several diffferent types of vehicles. never had a problem with either.

i'm not an apologist for either--besides those i have also used other brands.i have also used delco, stp, cheapo's, expensiver, whatever...never had a problem with any of them...guess i'm lucky.

you're probably gonna wind up hearing all sorts of responses about this brand, not that one...frankly, they way things are these days, it seems quality is generally *just ok* across the board, and mass-manufactured products are prone to defects...

I have not found any independent tests regarding screw-on oil filters.

Any thoughts or independent tests on internet you can refer me to? _________________________________________________________

Here is a link to one person's personal tests a few years ago:

HTH.

Rodan.

I have compared Bosch gas filters that way. The 'cheap parts' stores sell them for $12.00 and Volvo sells them for $45.00.

Same part number in the same box.

Same for GE lights. The 'GE' brand ones were double the 'store' brand and when you opened the box, the bulb in both had the same markings exact up to including the 'GE' stamp.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Super Tech are made by Champion Labs, they are actually a VERY good filter. The also make the Lee, Deutsch, Champion, STP, Bosch, some AC Delco some Motorcraft some Mopar numbers.

Yes Wix are good as well BUT, NAPA filters are not all WIX the Gold line are WIX the Silver line may or may not be depending on the part number I run Wix or Baldwin.

Fram filters are crap. Cut one open next to a Wix and I would be very surprised if you did not agree. Under severe service they sometimes collapse and block oil flow. The glued-on cardboard end caps are less than impressive as is the piece of string that bundles the media. BTW -- Pennzoil is Fram. I use Wix in my circle-track car. My buddy used to use Fram until he lost oil pressure and found the inside of the filter ruptured and blocking 99% of the oil flow. Fortunately the

1% saved the engine from immediate death and he was back on the track with oil pressure after putting a different filter on. I had tried to tell him about Fram -- not the first time I have heard about this.

Cut some open and see for yourself.

Don

First of all, don't rely on reviews that include no real testing but instead only take filters apart to show the insides. They're not tests but merely beauty contests.

I know of only 2 independent tests, this one done 11 years ago by a Finnish auto magazine:

and a Consumer Reports review published in their 2/1987 issue, with a follow up a few months later.

Purolator and Champion Labs make many brands of filters. Purolator seems to make them all to the same standard, but with Champion Labs the quality varies according to the customer's requirements and willingness to pay.

If you want a better filter, try Fram Toughguard, Mobil 1, or Purolator Pure One. These are made primarily of synthetic fiber rather than cellulose and are claimed to remove at least 96-98% of the 20-micron particles in a single pass test, compared to 70-94% for most conventional filters.

I use Wix or Hastings.

Stay away from Fram unless you want your filter made from cardboard.

Chas

J J wrote:

I once cut open a used Fram PH3600A or PH25xx because I had dropped a new one and wondered if it had been damaged. The ends turned out to be metal, not cardboard.

The absolute BEST story like that I heard came from a friend who was working on a BMW 5-series, early 90s vintage. It needed a MAF sensor- something like $400 for the part indicated for a BMW. A bit of research revealed that the same Bosch MAF sensor is used in numerous Ford products. And lists for $40. Same part. Same Bosch P/N. Just a Ford oval engraved on it instead of a BMW roundel. And you know what? The BMW engine doesn't REALLY care about that.

Persoanlly, I like to buy the OEM Vehicle manufacturer's filters (i.e. - Motorcraft for Ford, Delco for GM, Nissan for Nissan). The only recent exception has been for my sister's Honda. I have been using NAPA Gold Filters on that. They have been trouble free (car now has 130,000 miles). For some reason, the local Honda dealer tries to screw people on the cost of filters. The Honda filter for my sister's Civic and the filters for my Nissan Frontier appear to be the same design (they cross reference in most filter books). I ordered a case of OEM Nissan Filters (and they are actually made in Japan) and they were half the cost of the similar Honda filters. I have no idea why.

Ed

I'm not aware of any lab tests that would prove or disprove the many baseless claims made by oil and air filter manufacturers. Forums such as this one are a ready resource for plenty of anecdotes like: Brand X filters are @#$%, buy brand Y instead because they are better.

If you are concerned about filter quality, in the absence of any useful information I would suggest that you wait for the dealer to put filters on sale and buy them by the box.

Many of the older BMW electrical parts are available from VW as well, for a considerable savings.

--scott

Can you describe this collapse? What moves and in which direction?

Why do you feel the non-metal end caps are a problem and what do you believe the purpose of the string is?

Hmm I don't recall the part # of the fram we opened, but it was cardboard inside. I think it might have been a ph8a.

I work in autoparts and we have a whole box of filters that have been cut open.

Wix & Hast> m6> > I use Wix or Hastings.

Yep the proof is in the pudding.. Fram sucks. It's all marketing.

Chas

D>

Why on earth? Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, etc. do NOT build their own filters. They are built and supplied by a contractor (lowest bidder that barely meets a minimum spec), and that contractor may change over the course of years. You never know WHAT you're getting when you buy an "OEM" filter. Far less than you do when you buy a name brand filter from a company that MAKEs filters (like Wix or Purolator, or yes... even Fram).

Yeah, do that. If you want a filter built by a random company that changes from year to year and box to box on the shelf.

Cut one open next to a Wix and I would be very

I won't speak for Don (even though he's a fellw South Austinite) :-) but I can describe the Fram failure I've had.

As you know, the oil in an oil filter flows into the filter via the outer ring of holes in the baseplate, then flows inward to the center of the filter through the cylinder of corrugated filter media, then out the center pipe to the engine. When I have had Fram filters that caused a sudden drop in oil pressure, what had happened is that the end-cap farthest from the filter based had broken loose from the cylindrical corrugated media, the media had then caved inward toward the center of the filter, ultimately folding downward toward the base of the filter and collapsing across the outlet hole in the center of the baseplate, drastically reducing the oil flow (and of course dumping lots of previously captured grit and dirt right into the engine's oiling system- fortunately it was a Chrysler 318 and nothing can kill it, not even a Fram.