FF Oil filters

[BarkerMan]

Doe anyone have any idea if there is any real world difference between the best/most expensive ff filter and the cheapest ff filter? I'm not asking about specs, just actual on the road long term difference.

Is it possible that a filter with dense media might do a better job as it ages and collects more stuff? Could the best practice be to buy something like the new Amsoil ff filter and use it for more than one oil change interval? Say if you're doing 5k intervals then do 20k intervals with the filter?

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

I guess it does a good job as long as it doesn't go into bypass mode.

 

[Spector]

In terms of the overall longevity of an engine IMO it makes no difference. The engine will outlast the transmission and the rest of the thousands of parts if you use about any ole filter out there. My own personal testing revealed that in a 15,000 mile OCI there was no difference in the UOA when the filter was changed half way or let it go the entire 15,000. there is so little for a filter to trap, or should I say filters are not capable of trapping the particles less then 10-15 microns and will those shorten engine life, yea, maybe, from 400,000 miles to 200,000 no one really knows. IMO it is the oil, air filter and general maintenacne that keep the cars running, oil filters are useless appendages on todays modern engines with modern oil technology. Flow is much more important then filtration.

 

[Eddie]

I would be concerned with the quality consistency of very inexpensive filters i.e. quality control.

 

[BarkerMan]

Filter quality is not the problem, corrosion in the engine is the problem. Solve that and the filter is out of the equation.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'm halfway in Spector's camp. I don't think most of us will see the benefit in longevity choosing one filter over another. We may indeed not see a difference in condition at some advanced mileage.

..but the main thing I see is that you've got to apply sensible economics to filter choices. Short OCI ..where you're experiencing more service insult ..change it every time and go cheap. You're not going to get your money's worth out of a more expensive filter. Higher mileage ..longer OCI ..more expensive filter ..maybe used over 2 OCI.

I don't believe that they are useless appendages but I do agree ,that in terms of the production of combustion byproducts ..we've got some pretty clean engines. If that was all we were tending to ..then we're so far ahead of curve in terms of filter life it's not even funny.