Brand new XG9018... You be the judge

[ZeeOSix]

I understand what you are saying here. But it seems that closely-spaced pleats would get loaded up with debris/contaminants in the upper area, which could prevent oil from reaching the deeper portion of these tight pleats...? Effectively reducing the available surface area of the filter media over the OCI?

I don't think so. What about some oil filters that have tightly packed pleats all the way around the filter element? No pleat packing is going to be so tight that it's going to drastically change the oil flow field through an oil filter media enough to matter. Pleat packing worries are right next to the worry about the number of holes in the base plate and center, which are also nothing burgers.