Engine Masters Oil Filter Shootout
- Thread starter Jason2007
- Start date
Enginemasters new episode 4/30 oil filter showdown!
Just started watching. Available on the MT on demand app. Looks like they tear through fram, wix, and MC.
bobistheoilguy.com
I saw this show last night , very interesting.
They gave the nod to K&N Gold (because supposedly it had a 10 micron rating), regular Wix and Wix Racing.
Basically they tested gallons per minute and oil pressure.
They gave the nod to K&N Gold (because supposedly it had a 10 micron rating), regular Wix and Wix Racing.
Basically they tested gallons per minute and oil pressure.
FRAM got some bad press on that episode. They BUTCHERED the fiber-end disks on the ExtraGuard and ToughGuard before showing them. FRAM isn't my favorite, but I do know from experience that it's easier to bond cellulose media to cellulose disks than bonding paper to metal. Just like Champ sonic-welds their poly end disks to the poly in the media. Like-materials tend to bond easier.
The episode was a very low tech comparison all together. There are many facets of a "good filter" that were ignored. Most oil filter labs are accredited and equipped with over $3-million of equipment. Almost all filters flow pretty similar in hot oil. It's the higher viscosity flow that makes a difference too. If you're filter is very restrictive with cold/cool oil, your bypass valve will be open a lot longer (non-filter). Really efficient filters struggle with capacity, and vice versa. Efficiency, capacity and flow restriction are 3 related levers that always seem to oppose one another. Cleanliness is also very important. You want your brand new filter to be clean, not full of grime from the assembly factory. It's one of only (4) places from which debris can enter your engine: (1) air intake, (2) engine debris from factory or from wear, (3) debris introduced during sloppy oil change/maintenance practices, and (4) the oil filter.
The air filter is just as important as the oil filter. Honda uses very low efficient oil filters, but they offer very low restriction and longer life. But Honda has very high component cleanliness standards and very high air filter standards.
K&N is just a brand name. Champ, Purolator or China make all their filters. K&N air filters were designed for high air flow on the pretty clean asphalt race track. They're not great for off road / dusty environments. It's just multi-layer cotton gauze. The oil is what catches & holds most of the debris.
The episode was a very low tech comparison all together. There are many facets of a "good filter" that were ignored. Most oil filter labs are accredited and equipped with over $3-million of equipment. Almost all filters flow pretty similar in hot oil. It's the higher viscosity flow that makes a difference too. If you're filter is very restrictive with cold/cool oil, your bypass valve will be open a lot longer (non-filter). Really efficient filters struggle with capacity, and vice versa. Efficiency, capacity and flow restriction are 3 related levers that always seem to oppose one another. Cleanliness is also very important. You want your brand new filter to be clean, not full of grime from the assembly factory. It's one of only (4) places from which debris can enter your engine: (1) air intake, (2) engine debris from factory or from wear, (3) debris introduced during sloppy oil change/maintenance practices, and (4) the oil filter.
The air filter is just as important as the oil filter. Honda uses very low efficient oil filters, but they offer very low restriction and longer life. But Honda has very high component cleanliness standards and very high air filter standards.
K&N is just a brand name. Champ, Purolator or China make all their filters. K&N air filters were designed for high air flow on the pretty clean asphalt race track. They're not great for off road / dusty environments. It's just multi-layer cotton gauze. The oil is what catches & holds most of the debris.
One concern they didn't mention was the center metal tube. Some are more restrictive than
others. I wish they would have checked the SuperTechs as those plastic cages would flow
better than louvers or holes in most cases.
My 2¢
others. I wish they would have checked the SuperTechs as those plastic cages would flow
better than louvers or holes in most cases.
My 2¢
Center tubes don't have much flow resistance. Only time one might if it was a louvered center tube and the louvers were barely opened up (ie, bad job of forming the louvers during production).
The link I gave in post #2 is the main thread, and gets into the details and the downfalls of the testing that was done.
Very efficient filters can have great flow (meaning less delta-p vs flow) and also high holding capacity. Look at the ISO test data in this thread. Go to the beginning of the thread if you want to see how it all unfolded.
Would you all like to see ISO 4548-12 Oil Filter Lab Testing Comparison, Efficiency & Capacity, Pressure vs Flow, Bubble Point, and Burst?
I have this as a “watched” thread, so if you do happen to start a new one, could you put a note or link in this one to direct followers to the new thread? Thanks!! Yes, no problem I can do that.
bobistheoilguy.com
No oil filter is "too restrictive" unless it makes the postitive displacement oil pump go into pressure relief. That only happens when oil is very cold and thick, and the engine is revved up pretty high at the same time. Typically, and oil filter only contributes about 1/15th the restriction to oil flow vs the engine's oiling system, so the oil filter is virtually invisible to the PD oil pump.
How in the FRICK did they get K&N to cough up the efficiency specs on a filter?? I emailed K&N about the Premium ones, they directed me to Champ Labs (saying they didn’t know([?])! Champ said it was proprietary, a trade secret! I wouldn’t believe anything K&N said about anything…
^^^ It's so secret that not even the customers who buy them need to know the efficiency. 
WIX pulls the same non-sense with some of their oil filters ... the ones that they are too embarrassed to say what the efficiency is. 
WIX pulls the same non-sense with some of their oil filters ... the ones that they are too embarrassed to say what the efficiency is. 
