Tell me about oil filters

[griz]

Can some of you tell me what I need to know about oil filters?  The price seems to vary from under $3 to $9.  Why is there a three fold spread in price?  Is one brand much better than others?  I would assume that the filters ability to trap smaller particles is what would make it "better".  Are there other criteria?

If it matters to your answer, my driving is mostly highway, almost no short trips, and I change the oil at 5000 miles with synthetic.

[Declaration Day]

I am no expert, but the way I understand it, quality is determined by the filter's ability to trap smaller particles, and its longevity.

I use cheap oil and filters in all of our vehicles, and I change oil according to the color of the oil on the dipstick, not by miles or months.

[Sindawe]

Filters: http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml

Oil: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

And to think, I once thought us gun nuts were obsessive. 

[Monkeyleg]

The finer the filter, the more often it will need to be replaced. Otherwise, it will become clogged more often.

If you ever have a mechanic take apart your motor, or if you should do it yourself, take a look at some of the huge pieces of carbon that are floating around in your motor.

[mfree]

Read the sites given.

Basically it'll tell you to avoid Fram and anything made like a Fram at ALL COST.

[Art Eatman]

I've mostly used Fram filters on my Toyota, but it only has 290,000 miles on the original, not-reground crankshaft.  I change oil and filter every 3,000 to 3,500 miles.  Castrol GTX, mostly 20-50.  Nowadays, the Castrol Semi-Synthetic.

Art

[mtnbkr]

I mostly used Fram in my Toyota Paseo.  I used Mobil1 10w-30 and changed the oil every 5k miles.  I sold it just shy of 200k because I was tired of it and needed more legroom.  It ran great though.  In my 4Runner and Camry, I use Purolator, Mobil1 (10w-30 for the 4Runner and 5w-30 for the Camry), and change every 5k for the 4Runner and 7500 for the Camry (that's what the manual sez to do for the latter).  The 4Runner has 136k miles and doesn't use more than half a quart every 5k miles.  The Camry (86k miles) will use about half a quart in 7500.

In the tests I've seen, the Purolator performs the best out of the filters I can find easily (Wix is another good one).  I used Toyota until I learned the Purolators did better.  It helps that the Purolator is much less expensive.  I did go to a larger filter for the 4Runner for a tad more capacity (also did that for the Paseo back in the day).

Chris

[charby]

I use wix or purolator when I change my own oil. When I get my oil changed they use a napa filter.

-C

[mtnbkr]

IIRC, Napa is Wix.

Chris

[p12]

IIRC, Napa is Wix.

Chris

Confirmed. NAPA is WIX. That's the oil filter we use for our standard oil change.

[mfree]

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

I said what I said about Fram because of the above link, I thought one of the previous links would have caught that but apparently not.

[griz]

Thanks for the info folks.  I'll check it out.

Griz

[Brad Johnson]

An oil-related FYI - Mobil has changed the formulation of most of their Mobil 1 products. The primary base stock is no longer a Group IV (PAO-based full synthetic). It's now a Group III (conventional) base stock with a synthetic additive package. It's creating quite a stir in the automotive circles. It's double-bad because this is the same thing that Mobil sued Castrol for several years ago. Plus, Mobil is being highly circuitous in their responses to consumer inquiries on the issue.

Google or Yahoo "mobile synthetic group iii" if you want more info.

Brad