Fram responds to Cardboard

[GROUCHO MARX]

This was on another site:

A Letter from Fram

Mr. XXXXXX:

Thank you for the e-mail regarding the construction and micron rating 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.

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.

Fram engineers perform hot oil circulation tests on the filter element and 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.

Fram's latest entry in the automotive oil filter market is the X2 Extended Guard oil filter. The Fram X2 Extended Guard filter uses a filter media that includes a reinforced mesh screen for maximum pleat integrity, durability, and oil flow. The inclusion of the metal screen increased the glue tolerances or thickness required for proper adhesion to the end disk. The original X2 prototype development specified the cardboard end disk technology. However, the increased amount of adhesive required to join the cardboard end disk to the screened media resulted in prototypes that did not conform to design standards. We had no choice but to use a steel end disk with the X2 filter media to provide uniform Extended Guard oil filter construction.

Fram automotive oil filters, including the standard Extra Guard and premium X2 Extended Guard filters, have a micron rating of 10 micron.

If you require further assistance with Fram filter construction, please contact the Fram Engineering Department directly at 1-419-661-6700.

Thank you for your interest in Fram filters.

Cordially, Scott Jacobs, Catalog/Technical Service Representative

 

[Rick]

LOL I still won't use them, I like Wix filters and I think that they are doing a much better job at filtration and flow. Plus considering that fram filters have collaped in the past, also the anti-drain back valve that is also completely useless. As well as the pleats that are never fixed well. Some areas of there filter have been bunched up and others nice and open. There is no such thing as quality in there filters. Fram can say and will try and market there filters as great quality. They also know that alot of people know they are crap. But for some reason they never try and improve on there design.
Every other filter maker on the market uses metal end caps. They say that using cardboard is better for the adhesive, and then using metal is no better.
They can never convince me to buy there filter.
Once a company makes pour filters to gain profit they will never be able to sell there filters to me. Even if fram actualy discided that one day they were actualy going to make a quality filter. I still would not buy it.
Just for the fact that they are basicly robbing people of there money and spending a penny to create the filter.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

i wont use them ne more, my car acts differnt. i took apart an old filter that was sludged up in my z. it was a fram and i didnt find any problem wiht it. the cardboard was stirdy and took a long time to get off. the filter was in use for half a year as well. but haha i would never buy it again

 

[Mike_dup1]

I interperate this to say to we looked at how we can make it cheaper and still meet the minimum specs for the make and model vehicle. We know price drives the market and we want our share. Lets find a way to cut our costs to the bone so we make more profit.

If they were so good, why do they have better versions? They are catering to a segment of the marker who will always buy based on price.

btw
I was just in the local Walmart yesterday and they only Frams they now carry are the more expensive versions. I ran into someone I know there and he was ticked off that he could not find the cheaper Fram filter. The Extra Guard was all they had, he went and asked and they told him that what you see is all we sell now.

[ March 13, 2003, 08:52 AM: Message edited by: Mike ]

 

[Patman]

Fram knows that 99% of the people who buy their filters don't have a clue that they use cardboard inside, or even that the filters have a bad reputation for that matter. Fram has done such a good marketing job, that most DIY oil changers out there still believe it to be the best oil filter. As long as this trend continues, Fram has no incentive to make their filters any better. I seriously doubt they'll ever lose the huge market share they currently enjoy. Even someone who has never changed their own oil in their life, could probably still identify a Fram oil filter if you asked them to name just one brand that they've heard of.

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

AND what about the plastic valves that do not seal??

 

[widman]

My analysis of the FRAM was not only bad for the cardboard ends, but the cardboard was not centered over the perforated tube, so the valve assembly actually sat on the perforated tube without a seal.
This week I will take a close-up foto to add to the collection on my site.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

today my fram blew i think. i was driving the car really hard and i run a fram with my auto rx treatment. i was slamming the accelerator and then all of a sudden a loss in power and an increase in oil pressure was sudden. im giong to drive it again todoay to see what happend. there is nothing wrong in the engine. weird.

 

[Ryan]

It sounded to me like they tried to explain the carboard endcaps as being better than steel... then they go to explain that they had to use steel endcaps for the X2 filter. Wait, I thought the X2 filter was the higher priced filter, and you used the "crappy" endcap on it?