Latest Oil Filter Comparison

**Sarge** · 02-12-2011, 03:54 AM

Guy spent some major time and money for this.
http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articl...lterstudy.html
And no surprise to me which filter graded out highest.

For the filtration testing, after each filter was disassembled and all measurements and construction was examined, the filtering media was cut into 70mm circles. These filtering media circles were saturated with heated oil and placed into a 70mm büchner filter funnel vacuum filtering setup. The filter funnel was placed and sealed on top of a thick walled vacuum filtering flask. The vacuum was provided by a vacuum pump which pulled an almost full vacuum (~14psi) which simulates the oil pressure of the engine, although its lower than what is typical for our setup (which typically runs between 20-50psi), but 14psi is still considered in the 'normal' range from GM, so it does provide an accurate comparison. The test oil was heated to between 90-99 degrees Celsius, which is approximately full engine operating temperature, and 100mL amounts were mixed with approx .250g of contaminant and mixed well. This mixture was then filtered through the oil filter media circles, this filtered oil was collected and re-filtered again through a separate 90mm büchner filter funnel using a standardized 90mm fine lab filter paper which filters 98% at 2.5µm. The excess oil was filtered through the testing filter paper and then photographed next to the correlating 70mm filter media circles using a fixed normal lens (35mm f1.8 lens on a 1.5x crop sensor Nikon D90 DSLR).

**Sarge** · 02-12-2011, 04:32 AM

And for those who need cliff notes.........

The grading criteria was
30um Filtering........Overall Build Quality.....Media Surface Area.....Media Volume....Price.

And the top five are (Top First)
Fram XG
Mobil1
Royal Purple
Amsoil (Tie 4th)
K&N......(Tie 4th)

Bottom Five are.....(Worst first)
Shell
AC Delco
STP
ProLine
Fram High Mileage

**JayTA98** · 02-12-2011, 05:12 AM

Very nice info. Very nice of this individual to take the time and money to do it. Thanks for sharing.

**pajeff02** · 02-12-2011, 05:34 AM

Great info! I do not understand how the Wix and Napa Gold filters received different grades. I thought they were the exact same filter. Last trip to the parts store I tried to get a Fram Extended Guard for our Durango and there was no such thing. I'll have to see who stocks them in our area or just start ordering ahead of time.

**Sarge** · 02-12-2011, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

Great info! I do not understand how the Wix and Napa Gold filters received different grades. I thought they were the exact same filter. Last trip to the parts store I tried to get a Fram Extended Guard for our Durango and there was no such thing. I'll have to see who stocks them in our area or just start ordering ahead of time.

Manufacturers build to customer specs specific. They literally are the same filter but have various miniscule differences. I get the Fram XG at WalMart.
XG16 is for the 4.7L Durango. I looked up 2007....I dunno....

**0rion** · 02-12-2011, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by Sarge

Manufacturers build to customer specs specific. They literally are the same filter but have various miniscule differences. I get the Fram XG at WalMart.
XG16 is for the 4.7L Durango. I looked up 2007....I dunno....

yep...same here. Wally world carries them.

I have oil and filter changes coming on the Durango and the Duramax tomorrow.....expensive day between the 2 of them because the truck is also due for a fuel filter.

**KahanaReef** · 02-12-2011, 10:01 AM

Guess I'll have to start buying Fram XG and quit buying Wix

**Sarge** · 02-12-2011, 10:12 AM

One constant in the business of auto parts/fluids is change.

**CompSyn** · 02-13-2011, 05:08 PM

1) While it’s an interesting and well done test, some might argue that the industry standard for comparing oil filter efficiency is the ISO 4548-12.

2) Some might also argue that perfect environment laboratory conditions lack the actual real world conditions experienced by an oil filter in real world driving conditions, e.g, engine vibration, road shock, hot and cold starts, etc.

3) Latest oil filter cut always are nice.

5) "Filteration and build quality are somewhat objective so you can make your own judgments"

4) Amsoil EaO - highest grade for filtering, lowest grade for price, duh…

CompSyn

**KMdef9** · 02-13-2011, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge

And for those who need cliff notes.........

The grading criteria was
30um Filtering........Overall Build Quality.....Media Surface Area.....Media Volume....Price.

And the top five are (Top First)
Fram XG
Mobil1
Royal Purple
Amsoil (Tie 4th)
K&N......(Tie 4th)

Bottom Five are.....(Worst first)
Shell
AC Delco
STP
ProLine
Fram High Mileage

This is the only one I've put on the car.

I'm surprised there's such a big swing in fram products.

The GC usually gets the fram, but wasn't so lucky for this change.

**sjsingle1** · 02-13-2011, 07:38 PM

got me a RP filter today

**wheeliE-maxx** · 02-13-2011, 08:04 PM

Rp atleast puts their sticker on one decent product

**El Toro Loco** · 02-13-2011, 09:04 PM

ill be switching all the vehicles to Fram XG

**Sarge** · 02-14-2011, 03:20 AM

Originally Posted by KMdef9

This is the only one I've put on the car.

I'm surprised there's such a big swing in fram products.

The GC usually gets the fram, but wasn't so lucky for this change.

We are only seeing good returns/quality with the Fram Xtended Guard at not the other Fram oil filters.

**Sarge** · 02-14-2011, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by CompSyn

1) While it’s an interesting and well done test, some might argue that the industry standard for comparing oil filter efficiency is the ISO 4548-12.

2) Some might also argue that perfect environment laboratory conditions lack the actual real world conditions experienced by an oil filter in real world driving conditions, e.g, engine vibration, road shock, hot and cold starts, etc.

3) Latest oil filter cut always are nice.

5) "Filteration and build quality are somewhat objective so you can make your own judgments"

4) Amsoil EaO - highest grade for filtering, lowest grade for price, duh…

CompSyn

I agree man. But we must take this guys "test" for what it is.

**KMdef9** · 02-14-2011, 03:38 AM

Originally Posted by Sarge

We are only seeing good returns/quality with the Fram Xtended Guard at not the other Fram oil filters.

I am amazed that they would have both a filter in the highest category and a filter in the lowest.

Have they always been like this? I realize they shift a few places up/down every year, but this is the first time I've looked at a study like this, for filters. Does that depend on how often a product gets redesigned?

**Sarge** · 02-14-2011, 03:56 AM

Constant change is the norm.

**01A4Z28** · 02-14-2011, 04:43 AM

I've always been sold on mobile 1 or k&n oil filters, its hard to believe that there is a fram filter that would be rated number 1. Only reason i say this is because thats all we use at work and the pro filters we get i wouldn't put on my bicycle. Just my honest opinion but take the guys research for what its worth and very nice info thanks for sharing

**Sarge** · 02-14-2011, 04:45 AM

No doubt. I myself bashed the shit out of Fram for a long time. But as I have said.....things change. AC Delco went the e-core route and I would not put one of those on my bicycle now.

**01A4Z28** · 02-14-2011, 04:52 AM

I think it would be a cool idea as well to see how the oils have changed in comparison as to what they us to be and to see if mobile 1 stays at number 1. Has there been a post on that? Also i didn't realize how shitty the delco filter had become