Found this during a Yahoo (normally use Google) search on Fram. Know similar things have been posted here, but I think that this may make a few more comments in defense of Fram. Either that or I fell asleep reading previous Fram factory posts....
"Recently, a good friend of mine challenged Fram to defend the many
negative reviews/comparos of their oil filters. My friend's original
inquiry can be read following this response from Scott Jacobs (a Fram
technical rep). Scott's response is well written and appears to be
sincere, but based on the many negative reviews/reports, etc. I remain
skeptical. What think thee listers?
From: PRB Catalog
To: 'Tom Schoen'
Subject: RE: Fram General Questions
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 13:25:22 -0700
Mr. Schoen:
Thank you for the e-mail regarding the construction and quality of Fram
oil filters. We welcome the opportunity to be of
service.
Fram filters meet the requirements of the original equipment filter
designed for a specific engine. Our filter
applications follow the recommendations of the vehicle manufacturer for
form, fit, and function. Fram filters follow
internally targeted design guidelines to meet the functional
requirements of a given filter. Fram filters are tested
against SAE standards to ensure uniform product quality and performance.
Material construction will vary between filter
manufacturers. We believe Fram filters have a proven record for
providing reliability, superior quality, and engine
protection over the service life of the filter. We will not debate the
opinions, statements, or studies made by
individuals, expressed in articles, or presented on websites. We welcome
the opportunity to enlighten you on the subject
of Fram filter construction.
A common misunderstanding among our customers concerns the end disks in
the oil filter. These disks hold the glue which
keeps the pleated media formed into a rigid circular tube. The
glue-to-media interface is also one of the sealing
surfaces keeping dirty and filtered oil from mixing. One common myth is
that only metal end disks can adequately seal
and have enough strength in the hot oil environment. For this reason,
Fram filters are criticized for having cardboard
end disks. The issue is, the material doing the sealing is the adhesive,
regardless of the material of the end disk.
What matters is the strength of the adhesive, its proper curing, the
thoroughness with which it can be applied to the
disk, and its adhesion to the disk. By using cardboard end disks, Fram
filter engineers are able to specify adhesives
with excellent strength and sealing properties, and strong adhesion to
the disk (intuitively, it is easy to make a
strong glue bond with cardboard). Moreover, just as paper media itself
is able to withstand the hot oil environment, so
too is the end disk designed of fibers engineered to be strong and inert
in hot oil. The thickness and strength of the
adhesive also stiffens the end disk considerably.
How do Fram engineers test these end disks to know that they hold up on
the job? Not only do they perform hot oil
circulation tests on the filter element, but they also regularly cut
open used filters to examine how well they have
withstood the rigors of actual use on a vehicle. For over 38 years, Fram
end disks have stood up to hot oil and their
adhesives have sealed off the dirty oil.
The anti drain back valve system provides a robust and effective seal
between the tapping plate and the cartridge
assembly. The tapping plate has a coined area within .005 inches flat to
seal directly against the molded Nitrile anti
drain gasket. The cardboard end disk is loaded against the opposite end
of the anti drain gasket to create a seal. The
myth is that cardboard and metal seal against each other. In fact, the
Nitrile rubber anti drain gasket comes between
the two. The leaf spring retainer creates a load of 70 lbs. to seal the
anti drain back gasket to the end disk on one
side and the tapping plate on the other. Tests performed (by Fram
engineers in accordance with SAEHS806 procedures) on
Fram and competitive brand filters found that Fram filters consistently
have the lowest or one of the lowest leak rates
for the anti drain back valve system.
Another commonly-held belief is that the amount of filter paper (media)
in a filter, as measured by its surface area, is
the sole determinant of filter capacity. For example, people will cut
open a filter, stretch out the media, and measure
how many square inches it is. This theory holds that the more square
inches of media, the more capacity. Thus, the
proponents of this theory believe that through a simple visual
inspection of one aspect of a filter's media, its length
and width, they can tell its relative ability to hold dirt. Plainly
stated, they believe that more paper surface means
more area to trap dirt. What they neglect in this analysis is that the
depth of the media also determines the surface
area available to trap dirt, and they neglect the complicated way that
dirt flows through the media and either becomes
lodged or doesn't. In fact, not only depth but also the actual fiber
structure in the media play an important role in
determining how much dirt a filter can trap before it becomes clogged.
For this reason, filter experts do not rely on a
visual inspection of any one aspect of filter media to tell its
performance. They perform industry-accepted tests. For
capacity, that test is described by SAE HS806, written by the Society of
Automotive Engineers. Only by running oil
filters through this test procedure can their relative dirt-holding
capacities be determined.
When looking at test results and square inches of media used by various
manufacturers, it is clear that some filter
manufacturers adopt a strategy of using media with a structure,
composition, and depth that are less able to hold
quantities of dirt, but by packing more of that media into the filter
housing they bring the overall filter capacity up
to an acceptable level. At Fram, the filter engineers have always worked
to optimize the media's ability to hold dirt.
Consequently, they can use less of the media in the housing but still
achieve high capacity. The only industry-accepted
way to measure the filter capacity is with testing performed to SAE
HS806 specifications.
Fram bypass valves are made of glass filled Nylon. They have withstood
hot oil durability testing of 1,000,000 opening
cycles at 275 degrees (F). The valves are 100% inspected to assure they
are properly assembled and have no molding
defects that would impair their operation.
We believe Fram filters are clearly the best filters available. Fram is
committed to standing behind and endorsing it's
products and filter recommendations listed in the current Fram
application catalogs. As part of this commitment, if you
should ever have reason to suspect or question the quality of a Fram
filter, we encourage you to contact the Fram
Product Evaluation Team toll free at 1-877-250-8361 for further
assistance.
Thank you for choosing Fram products.
Cordially,
Scott Jacobs
Catalog/Technical Service Representative
Catalog/Technical Services Department
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Schoen [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 11:19 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Fram General Questions
I am using Fram oil filter PH6017A in my 1988 Honda Gold Wing 1500
motorcycle. I may stop using Fram filters unless you
can tell why Fram filters will not harm my bike's engine by falling
apart. Several sources (do a quick Yahoo search)
tell me that Fram filters are the cheapest made: cardboard end caps,
cheap plastic by-pass valves, etc. Please address
those issues and tell me why I should keep using Fram filters.
Tom Schoen
6613 W. Bancroft 41F
Toledo, OH 43615
419-865-7264
Andy Bertsch
'99 VFR800/Sargent
Sidney, Ohio
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------------------
The VF/VFR mailing list--see http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~john/vfr-list/
for subscribe/unsubscribe, policy and archive information."
"Recently, a good friend of mine challenged Fram to defend the many
negative reviews/comparos of their oil filters. My friend's original
inquiry can be read following this response from Scott Jacobs (a Fram
technical rep). Scott's response is well written and appears to be
sincere, but based on the many negative reviews/reports, etc. I remain
skeptical. What think thee listers?
From: PRB Catalog
To: 'Tom Schoen'
Subject: RE: Fram General Questions
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 13:25:22 -0700
Mr. Schoen:
Thank you for the e-mail regarding the construction and quality of Fram
oil filters. We welcome the opportunity to be of
service.
Fram filters meet the requirements of the original equipment filter
designed for a specific engine. Our filter
applications follow the recommendations of the vehicle manufacturer for
form, fit, and function. Fram filters follow
internally targeted design guidelines to meet the functional
requirements of a given filter. Fram filters are tested
against SAE standards to ensure uniform product quality and performance.
Material construction will vary between filter
manufacturers. We believe Fram filters have a proven record for
providing reliability, superior quality, and engine
protection over the service life of the filter. We will not debate the
opinions, statements, or studies made by
individuals, expressed in articles, or presented on websites. We welcome
the opportunity to enlighten you on the subject
of Fram filter construction.
A common misunderstanding among our customers concerns the end disks in
the oil filter. These disks hold the glue which
keeps the pleated media formed into a rigid circular tube. The
glue-to-media interface is also one of the sealing
surfaces keeping dirty and filtered oil from mixing. One common myth is
that only metal end disks can adequately seal
and have enough strength in the hot oil environment. For this reason,
Fram filters are criticized for having cardboard
end disks. The issue is, the material doing the sealing is the adhesive,
regardless of the material of the end disk.
What matters is the strength of the adhesive, its proper curing, the
thoroughness with which it can be applied to the
disk, and its adhesion to the disk. By using cardboard end disks, Fram
filter engineers are able to specify adhesives
with excellent strength and sealing properties, and strong adhesion to
the disk (intuitively, it is easy to make a
strong glue bond with cardboard). Moreover, just as paper media itself
is able to withstand the hot oil environment, so
too is the end disk designed of fibers engineered to be strong and inert
in hot oil. The thickness and strength of the
adhesive also stiffens the end disk considerably.
How do Fram engineers test these end disks to know that they hold up on
the job? Not only do they perform hot oil
circulation tests on the filter element, but they also regularly cut
open used filters to examine how well they have
withstood the rigors of actual use on a vehicle. For over 38 years, Fram
end disks have stood up to hot oil and their
adhesives have sealed off the dirty oil.
The anti drain back valve system provides a robust and effective seal
between the tapping plate and the cartridge
assembly. The tapping plate has a coined area within .005 inches flat to
seal directly against the molded Nitrile anti
drain gasket. The cardboard end disk is loaded against the opposite end
of the anti drain gasket to create a seal. The
myth is that cardboard and metal seal against each other. In fact, the
Nitrile rubber anti drain gasket comes between
the two. The leaf spring retainer creates a load of 70 lbs. to seal the
anti drain back gasket to the end disk on one
side and the tapping plate on the other. Tests performed (by Fram
engineers in accordance with SAEHS806 procedures) on
Fram and competitive brand filters found that Fram filters consistently
have the lowest or one of the lowest leak rates
for the anti drain back valve system.
Another commonly-held belief is that the amount of filter paper (media)
in a filter, as measured by its surface area, is
the sole determinant of filter capacity. For example, people will cut
open a filter, stretch out the media, and measure
how many square inches it is. This theory holds that the more square
inches of media, the more capacity. Thus, the
proponents of this theory believe that through a simple visual
inspection of one aspect of a filter's media, its length
and width, they can tell its relative ability to hold dirt. Plainly
stated, they believe that more paper surface means
more area to trap dirt. What they neglect in this analysis is that the
depth of the media also determines the surface
area available to trap dirt, and they neglect the complicated way that
dirt flows through the media and either becomes
lodged or doesn't. In fact, not only depth but also the actual fiber
structure in the media play an important role in
determining how much dirt a filter can trap before it becomes clogged.
For this reason, filter experts do not rely on a
visual inspection of any one aspect of filter media to tell its
performance. They perform industry-accepted tests. For
capacity, that test is described by SAE HS806, written by the Society of
Automotive Engineers. Only by running oil
filters through this test procedure can their relative dirt-holding
capacities be determined.
When looking at test results and square inches of media used by various
manufacturers, it is clear that some filter
manufacturers adopt a strategy of using media with a structure,
composition, and depth that are less able to hold
quantities of dirt, but by packing more of that media into the filter
housing they bring the overall filter capacity up
to an acceptable level. At Fram, the filter engineers have always worked
to optimize the media's ability to hold dirt.
Consequently, they can use less of the media in the housing but still
achieve high capacity. The only industry-accepted
way to measure the filter capacity is with testing performed to SAE
HS806 specifications.
Fram bypass valves are made of glass filled Nylon. They have withstood
hot oil durability testing of 1,000,000 opening
cycles at 275 degrees (F). The valves are 100% inspected to assure they
are properly assembled and have no molding
defects that would impair their operation.
We believe Fram filters are clearly the best filters available. Fram is
committed to standing behind and endorsing it's
products and filter recommendations listed in the current Fram
application catalogs. As part of this commitment, if you
should ever have reason to suspect or question the quality of a Fram
filter, we encourage you to contact the Fram
Product Evaluation Team toll free at 1-877-250-8361 for further
assistance.
Thank you for choosing Fram products.
Cordially,
Scott Jacobs
Catalog/Technical Service Representative
Catalog/Technical Services Department
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Schoen [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 11:19 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Fram General Questions
I am using Fram oil filter PH6017A in my 1988 Honda Gold Wing 1500
motorcycle. I may stop using Fram filters unless you
can tell why Fram filters will not harm my bike's engine by falling
apart. Several sources (do a quick Yahoo search)
tell me that Fram filters are the cheapest made: cardboard end caps,
cheap plastic by-pass valves, etc. Please address
those issues and tell me why I should keep using Fram filters.
Tom Schoen
6613 W. Bancroft 41F
Toledo, OH 43615
419-865-7264
Andy Bertsch
'99 VFR800/Sargent
Sidney, Ohio
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------------------
The VF/VFR mailing list--see http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~john/vfr-list/
for subscribe/unsubscribe, policy and archive information."
