Fram 9018s country of origins

[mjoekingz28]

I checked on two Frams today while at WalMart. The other day I was looking to buy and got the orange car which was US made and looked superb.

anyway, these two had a slightly differing box and one had an orange cage and was made in China while the other was more normal looking and made in the USA.

I don't remember exactly, but one smelled good. Maybe some pretty girl bought one only to be told to return it for something else.

These were both TG (Tough Guards).


Why are the canisters seem to stay stateside while the cartridges go overseas for production? I passed on getting the SuperTech for it's Chinese CoO last week.

Although, CoO is still meaningful to me......being from China has nowhere near the put off power it used to have. example. I just gave my dad my strippers and crimpers for electrical wiring. I went shopping to see which I will replace them with and for $25 Ace hardware had US Klein strippers and Lowe's had $25 Chinese crimpers. they both look top notch.


I'm also quite proud of my John Deere boots made in China for Dan Post. They fit phenomenal and I hope the Chinaman who put them together got a nice wage to take home.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
I checked on two Frams today while at WalMart. The other day I was looking to buy and got the orange car which was US made and looked superb.

anyway, these two had a slightly differing box and one had an orange cage and was made in China while the other was more normal looking and made in the USA.



I don't remember exactly, but one smelled good. Maybe some pretty girl bought one only to be told to return it for something else.

These were both TG (Tough Guards).


Why are the canisters seem to stay stateside while the cartridges go overseas for production? I passed on getting the SuperTech for it's Chinese CoO last week.

Although, CoO is still meaningful to me......being from China has nowhere near the put off power it used to have. example. I just gave my dad my strippers and crimpers for electrical wiring. I went shopping to see which I will replace them with and for $25 Ace hardware had US Klein strippers and Lowe's had $25 Chinese crimpers. they both look top notch.


I'm also quite proud of my John Deere boots made in China for Dan Post. They fit phenomenal and I hope the Chinaman who put them together got a nice wage to take home.


My guess is cartridges are plastic cored so sent overseas since cheap for plastic.. Wonder if the metal is sourced from USA??? Just a guess..

Id rather buy locally made too but some stuff made in china is good.. Apple products are made in China..

Doubtful that they get a good wage...

 

[AirgunSavant]

I have been using only M1 and Ultras until I hooked up with the Micro-Green sale.

But for a zero turn I have I bought a few Tough Guards off of Amazon. Honestly in all outwardly respects the quality was incredible. Better than the Ultras and finely oiled on the filter cap and everything was perfection. Must have also been a fresh batch.
So to save a few $$$ I switched the lawn care tractors over to TG's...

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The Ultra XG9018 should be US-made. The cheap Wix cartridges (ST, Napa Silver/Proselect, Microgard, etc) are Chinese for that application, but the regular Wix/Napa Gold/etc is made in Poland, and so is the XP/Platinum.

However, my top choice for that Ecotec would be the Mann HU 6007x (which is made in Spain). The Hengst E630H is the OEM filter and should also serve you well.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Thanks!

slacktide_bitog,

I have done two oil changes on this car. One with an AC 457G and now I have a Purolator in there. Awaiting is another 457G and a OCOD.


Once out of a canister, is the filter typically identical to a cartridge?

Puro and the AC delco both seem great. Only, one thing. The car sat for about ten days and upon startup it sounded terrible for about 3 seconds- then all was normal. Maybe the oil leaked down and it starved the motor's top-end for a moment.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Once out of a canister, is the filter typically identical to a cartridge?


Not exactly. Cartridge filters typically don't have metal end caps, except for TRD/RP, although some of them do in very rare cases.

Most cartridge filters are like ecores, cardboard endcaps (or no end caps) and a plastic cage in the middle (although some cartridges lack a cage). Toyota (and possibly other cars) has a separate, reusable, metal tube on the engine, where you install the filter, which means the cartridge doesn't need its own tube.

Many aftermarket cartridges are too long, so they buckle in the middle.

The media itself is usually the same (for example, Wix cartridges use the same media as their cans).

 

[mjoekingz28]

thanks a metric tonne!

 

[camrydriver111]

Fram Extraguards are well-known to fail in BMWs. I don't think Fram's Extraguard cartridges are good.

 

[tc1446]

I checked on two Frams today while at WalMart. The other day I was looking to buy and got the orange car which was US made and looked superb.

anyway, these two had a slightly differing box and one had an orange cage and was made in China while the other was more normal looking and made in the USA.

I don't remember exactly, but one smelled good. Maybe some pretty girl bought one only to be told to return it for something else.

These were both TG (Tough Guards). (quote)

Fram seems to be making TG9018 in both China and USA and they are radically different.
I went thru this when I got a Polaris Slingshot with an Ecotec motor. The US filter
has in inner plastic core that is the same diameter all the way thru with holes for
oil to come thru only on half of that core; the other part of the core has the filter
material glued to it. In my opinion, that is not good filtering. The Chinese one
has a tapered inner plastic core with holes on half and if you cut one open it outter
part of the taper has ridges so that incoming filtered oil can flow down and out. A much
better design. However, the filter material of the Chinese did not LOOK to be as good
as the USA one. For these reasons I decided not to use either.

I have since purchased a supply of the ACDelco 457G with an inner core that allows for good oil flow.

 

[artificialist]

I find that those filters seem to come from random locations. The first time I ever encountered an Ecotec filter that was made in the USA was when I went to Pep Boys and got the cheapest filter, called ProLine.

 

[tc1446]

Originally Posted By: tc1446

I checked on two Frams today while at WalMart. The other day I was looking to buy and got the orange car which was US made and looked superb.

anyway, these two had a slightly differing box and one had an orange cage and was made in China while the other was more normal looking and made in the USA.

I don't remember exactly, but one smelled good. Maybe some pretty girl bought one only to be told to return it for something else.

These were both TG (Tough Guards). (quote)

Fram seems to be making TG9018 in both China and USA and they are radically different.
I went thru this when I got a Polaris Slingshot with an Ecotec motor. The US filter
has in inner plastic core that is the same diameter all the way thru with holes for
oil to come thru only on half of that core; the other part of the core has the filter
material glued to it. In my opinion, that is not good filtering. The Chinese one
has a tapered inner plastic core with holes on half and if you cut one open it outter
part of the taper has ridges so that incoming filtered oil can flow down and out. A much
better design. However, the filter material of the Chinese did not LOOK to be as good
as the USA one. For these reasons I decided not to use either.

I have since purchased a supply of the ACDelco 457G with an inner core that allows for good oil flow.


Note to my above comment about ACDelco 457G: They are also made in two diff countries.
Look for the name "Hengst" stamped on the top of the filter if you want a USA made one.
I bought a supply off EBAY after ascertaining that Hengst was the maker. One other note;

 

[mjoekingz28]

Is it the durapack (12 count multipack) that is foreign? Isnt that the dealership model. I got a PF46 from Oreillys and one from the dealership and were no different to my study.


That was for my truck. I have like ten filters for that truck: CQ blue, Fram OC, Puro, STech, Wix, AC Delc or two, All are USA I believe.






For the Cobalt I have two. A OC Fram that looks nice and is American and a 457G from Auto Zone that is like the one I ran recently....a Hengst USA.


I hope AC isn't being bad by making a cross reference of their own filter. Maybe this is the Classic style I heard they are making righht about now for their ancestry, heritage, anniversary.