Oil Filter Q,uality

i personally run fram on my junkers and k&n on my race car. fram seems to work fine but i wouldnt run them on a car i care about. i have heard complaint about them too like the drain back valve this is important to keep the oil in the passages for the next start up and also let it be know that almost no one cuts them open to see whats inside my self included everyone just tosses them. so who know how good there working or holding up. i guess the way i see it is i dont have to do it that often so it doesnt hurt to spend a little more on the filter

Fram (and many other aftermarket brand) filters now come in different quality levels.
I had an orange can Fram leak at the seams 'bout 30 years ago, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use one of their middle or upper tier filters today.

i have heard complaint about them too like the drain back valve this is important to keep the oil in the passages for the next start up and also let it be know that almost no one cuts them open to see whats inside my self included everyone just tosses them.

That is NOT true and has been proven to be NOT true.

Yes there are Fram filters that don’t have a drain back valve. But they are installed on vehicles where the filter is inverse mounted (opening on the top). So there is no need for the anti-drainback valve. For vehicles where the filter is mounted right-side-up (aka opening on the bottom)…then there is a drain-back valve. This is one little false statement Fram’s competitors tried to pass off. And unfortunately many people fell for it.

I am curious re the filter being sucked in to an hour glass shape. Who builds an engine that draws oil through the filter? All post 1960 engines that I am familiar with pump oil through the filter at full system pressure. Older engines filtered oil that was bypassing the filter when pressure exceeded the bypass valve spring.

This was a filter element, no can, so I’m guessing the filter element didn’t have enough interior support and was deformed by the oil flow through it. It wasn’t caused by suction, it was caused by the flow resistance of the element without enough inside support.

OK… I’m slow today, @texases.

I know that in my lifetime I have never seen a bad or failed oil filter on any automobile no matter the brand name; other than filters that were horribly sludged up due to lack of oil changes.

The only lousy filter I’ve personally seen, and used, was a white box Chinese filter that the guy running the BMW cycle shop started selling. I decided to give one a try on his recommendation as they were about 20% the cost of BMW OEM.

A couple of weeks after installing it the BMW guy told me to get that thing out of there as problems were developing.
It took me half an hour to dig the remnants of that filter out of the engine block cavity. It was stuck in place and disentegrating so it had to be picked out piece by piece. Luckily, this was caught before it plugged up oil passages.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the brand of oil filter and brand of oil are not nearly as important as following the manufacturers maintenance schedule. The brand of oil filter and brand of oil must meet the manufacturers specifications.

The posts about Kia. Like all manufacturers, Kia does not test aftermarket filters, so they cannot make any recommendations other than their house brand that they have tested. However, they are required to post their specifications so that aftermarket manufacturers can make parts that meet or exceed their specifications.

If you are uncomfortable with any particular brand, whether justified or not, don’t use it. Use what lets you sleep best at night. The price difference between the various brands is not enough to obsess over.

I have had two problems with oil filters which related to the physical characteristics and not the filtration.
Problem 1: I had a 14 horsepower MTD lawn tractor with the hydrostatic drive. The manual called for an annual fluid and filter change of the hydrostatic unit and a Fram filter with a particular model number was specified. I bought the tractor from Quality Farm and Fleet and couldn’t find the Fram filter on the shelf. I used the cross reference guide and picked up the Quality Farm and Fleet house brand equivalent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite equivalent. I changed the hydrostatic fluid and put on the new filter. I was mowing the yard and suddenly ground to a stop. I got off and looked at the tractor and there was hydrostatic fluid (automatic transmission type F) all over the place. The Quality Farm and Fleet filter was slightly longer than the Fram. When I would raise the mower deck, one arm of the deck would hit the filter and it knocked a hole in the filter. From then on, I used the specified Fram filter.

Problem 2: I bought a new 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the 260 V-8 engine. When I went to change the oil for the first time, I found that my oil filter wrench wouldn’t workl I had to use a wrenched designed to unscrew the filter from the end. I purchased an end oil filter wrench from the NAPA store that fit my 3/8" socket wrench set. I got the filter off and put on the new filter. I replaced the AC 45 filter specified for the car with a Purolator filter. All was well until I went to change oil for the second time. The wrench I bought that fit the AC 45 filter would not fit the end of the Purolator filter. The indentations were different. After a few frustrating moments I suddenly realized that I was wearing a filter wrench–my belt. I took my belt off and was able to wrap it around the end of the filter. As I pulled on my belt, it tightened around the filter and then loosened the filter. While a strap wrench wouldn’t work on the filter because of the clearance, I could fit my belt around the filter and I could pull on the belt at an angle where there wasn’t enough clearance to swing the handle on the strap wrench. Since that time, I bought whatever name brand filter was on sale, knowing that my trusty belt worked just fine as a filter wrench. In fact, in all my later vehicles, I have used my belt as a filter wrench and it worked just great.

Great idea with the belt @Triedaq.
Next belt that gets ratty looking I’ll put it with my tools instead of throwing it away.
I’d worry about getting oil/grime on a good belt.

I use only AC filters on my GM cars and Honda filters on my Acura. I pay from $5-10 each depending on the source. I also only buy Mobil oil. I just can’t see this is a good place to try to save $2-3 every 5000 miles. Better off to save money buying generic corn flakes instead.

I buy which ever filter is on sale with the oil change special. This has included Fram, Purolater, Bosch, STP, and AC. I’ve never had an issue and all my cars have over 250,000 miles on them, not a single oil-related problem. My Celica has 386,000 miles on it and still has solid compression on the original engine.

It is too bad that Viceroy didn’t make oil filters for cars. Viceroy had 20,000 fibers in each filter tip cigarette to smooth out the smoke. Imagine how a Viceroy filter could smooth out the motor oil.

On the other hand, Pall Mall cigarettes did not have a filter tip and stated that “fine tobacco was its own best filter”. GM had this idea as well when they designed the engine for my 1947 Pontiac. It didn’t have an oil filter. GM probably thought that good motor oil was its own best filter.

Air cooled VWs didnt have an oil filter either, or a fuel filter. I have never heard that Fram didn’t have an anti-drainback valve on filters that called for one, only that the valve wasn’t as good as some other brands.

“Air cooled VWs didnt have an oil filter either”

That got me thinking. I never changed my own oil on my 59 bug but there was round gasket that had to be replaced on it. I believe they had a screen that either had to be cleaned or replaced every time. So no filter but a screen to get the big chunks out. I think the VW dealer charged maybe $10 for the oil change and valve adjustment back in 1967.

I think any name brand oil filter will suit your car just fine. Some of the Euro makes have a very specific filter cartridge that is part of the 10,000 mile oil change regimen, but then I don’t think the bargain basement brands even offer that part for such a small market.

@Triedaq‌ and Santa Claus have the same idea about Pall Mall cigarettes, as shown in this ad:

BUT…do you pronounce it “Poll Moll” or “Pell Mell”?

insightful Always Pall Mall for me but I heard “Pell Mell” a lot when I was a kid.

Paul Mall

"Air cooled VWs didnt have an oil filter either, or a fuel filter."

I had a 72 Beetle and it had a fuel filter, and as Bing wrote, the oil filter was a screen that needed to be cleaned (or replaced) and the gasket needed to be replaced.