Just an FYI, tonight at 9:00 PM EST, Engine Masters on Motor Trend will be doing an “Oil Filter Shootout”.
No idea what that will consist of, but might be interesting.
The problem I have with the oil filters reviewers is “it really doesn’t matter.” As long as the filter meets or exceeds the manufacturers specs - it’s good. Based on several past reviews I should never have been able to run a vehicle to well over 400k miles on Fram Orange filter. I don’t know of any brand name filter that doesn’t meet or exceed all manufacturing specs. I personally buy Wix because the local parts store sells me a case at a discount.
I’ll have to see that, I’ve enjoyed some of their other shows. But I’m basically skeptical, unless they so some VERY involved filtering analysis. A ‘cut and look’ test is worse than useless.
Argue? Nobody here wants to argue, why would you ask such a question?
Just because Engine Masters features an item doesn’t mean they will say there is much if any difference between the choices. They showed little change when using mandrel vs crunch bent exhaust. As part of the same show they found that the straight through muffler provided no improvement over their favorite S-flow muffler. The conclusion was that for the engine in question, there was no difference, but they also suggested that for larger engines there might be a difference. Conclusion: gotta test to be certain.
OH BOY ANOTHER DISCUSSION ABOUT OIL & OIL FILTERS!!! 
For myself the only oil for me is the hand crafted, small batch, limited release, pot stilled, 12 year old “Old Slippery”, appropriatly served with the Werner Von Braun German engineered “Moon Shot” oil filter or failing that, the NASA/NSA Mil. Spec “Black Box” oil filter.
Simply putting these products near your vehicle will eliminate any wear, double your gas mileage and give your exhaust the aroma of leather, blackberries, Mom’s Home Cooking and fill in your bald spot!
But seriously, it’s simple. Read your owners manual, follow your vehicle manufacturers specifications and change recomendations and take 15 minutes a month to actually take a look at your vehicle/fluid levels/air pressure and your car will easily pass 100,000 miles.
And BTW, I’ve run Fram, Purolater, WIX, Bosch, Mobile 1 and OEM filters in my cars, changing the oil at the manufacture’s recommendations, and after 200,000 miles noticed no difference except for the price…
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I do not ever remember going for an oil change and asking what type of filter. Reputable shop or dealer,
Motor Trend 
I live in a mid/upper end suburb. Our Walmart had very low stock of filters. Stopped at another Walmart in a northern, working class suburb and they had a great supply. My store used to have a good stock.
And the store brand oil supply was zip.
Watched that show. Useless for street cars. Their main criteria was flow rate, which only varied a little, nothing about filtering ability.
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I don’t really understand why people hate on the OEM filters. They are usually pretty inexpensive, especially if you buy in bulk and have a great relationship with the guy at the parts counter (hint: be nice). They are specifically designed for your car’s engine and it makes arguing about warranty work a snap.
In my Mazdas with the SkyActiv engines the OEM filters are designed with specific flow rates and no drainback valves (since they all sit facing upward) to ensure proper lubrication. Switching to any other brand seems foolish to me. My dealer hands my filters and oil plug crush rings to me for free since they offer “free oil changes” to all their customers. If I had to buy them they are about six bucks each. Bonus: I never have to sweat through all the oil filter discussions online.
Agree, the cutting open the filters has been done before and the flow rates discussed were at the engines redline. Only of interest was location of bypass valve.
#1 - OEM filters are made by one of the large filter companies. For most asian vehicles it seems to be Denso. Each car manufacturer has their own choice of filter manufactueres.
#2 - Maybe it’s cheap where you live…but not here. I can get a Wix or Denso (OEM manufacturer) filters for literally half the price of the OEM filter from the dealer. I can buy in bulk from my local parts store.
#3 - I don’t know of anyone in the past 40+ years who’s had any issues what-so-ever with their engines while under warranty. Do you?
#4 - Wix, Fram, Purolator makes filters that are specifically designed for your vehicle.
So is Wix, Fram or Purolator filter designed for your engine.
Wix makes an OEM compatible filter for the SkyactivG (non-turbo) 2.0 and 2.5 liter engines, but it is more expensive than the OEM filter. While you can get an aftermarket filter that fits a SkyactivT (turbo) 2.5 liter, none of them are specifically engineered for that engine. And, more importantly, none of them are cheaper except for lesser quality filters.
My understanding of the Mazda engines is that they have very specifically engineered needs for oil filtration (flow rates and bypass valve pressures). While I agree that I have NEVER had an engine failure under warranty, I have heard from several Mazda engineers that have strongly recommended not using non-OEM filters. Since I can get the OEM filters for nothing (and they would still be cheap if I had to buy them), I am going to stick to OEM.
My son drives my old 2014 Mazda6 with 179,000 miles. 7,500 mile synthetic oil changes with OEM filters since brand new. It consumes less than a half a quart of oil between changes and runs like new.
You’re wrong. Aftermarket filters are designed to the EXACT specs as specified by the vehicle manufacturer. Your OEM filter is made by Denso.
Maybe where you live. The Toyota filters from the dealer are almost twice as expensive as the Wix or NAPA (also Wix) filter that I use. The Toyota dealer won’t give me a discount, but my local parts dealer that sells Wix will.
Of course they do. Everyone who works for the manufacturer will say that. Is that so hard to believe?
So what…We’ve owned 5 previous vehicles with well over 300k miles and a couple over 400k miles using nothing but aftermarket filters.
Show me the vehicle who’s engine failed while NOT using an OEM filter or brand name filter.
Great. Nothing wrong with OEM. No one ever said there was. If you can get them cheap…then why not. I don’t have that option.
I only had one bad oil filter experience and it was on an MTD yard tractor. The yard tractor had a hydrostatic transmission which also supplied power to a hydraulic lift for the attachments. The owner’s manual specified a particular model Fram filter for the hydrostatic transmission. When I changed the fluid and filter in the transmission, the specified Fram filter was not on the shelf at Rural King. I went to the cross reference manual and substituted the house brand filter.
Everything seemed to work and then suddenly the yard tractor wouldn’t move. The house brand filter was slightly longer than the Fram filter. Every time I raised the mower deck, a support arm for the deck hit the oil filter and eventually knocked a hole in the filter. I bought the correct Fram filter, replenished the transmission fluid and was back in business.
The only other oil filter problem I had was on my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the 260.V,8 engine. The engine was equipped with an AC45 oil.filter. There wasn’t room to use a strap wrench, so I had to purchase an end wench for my 3/8" socket set. Unfortunately, that end wrench would only fit the indentation on the AC filter. I only used AC filters on that car.
In my experiences, it was the physical size of the filter rather than the filtration and flow rate that made the difference.