Fram Ultra--Any Real Competition?

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by CharlieBauer
Although an Ultra should be much better than a 99% at 40 micron filter, that was an unusually good particle count result for the Ultra especially at 5k miles.

Would you believe that filter A is also an Ultra? Here is a particle count of an Ultra after 10k miles with exactly the same ISO code of 24/22/17 making it worse than the 99% at 40 micron Purolator Boss.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4395731/1

The one filter that has consistently showed good particle counts as early as 5k miles was the synthetic blend Mobil 1 filter which is rated slightly worse than an Ultra and Toughguard. It leads me to believe that a synthetic blend media is going to perform better in particle counts throughout it's usage compared to a high capacity full synthetic such as an Ultra or an Amsoil. There is data that shows both Amsoil and Ultras take about 15k miles before reducing particle counts in a significant way and there is data showing Mobil filters achieving similar particle counts at 5k (and maybe earlier).


Yeah, that's the one Ultra PC that a certain member would always latch onto for some reason. Go find more Ultra PCs and build up a database and you'll probably conclude like I did that bad PC is an out-flyer instance. Something went wrong there.


It is no more a one off than the one you latched onto showing an unusually good particle count. Like I said, I already looked at all the particle counts I could find. Not much data on the Ultra.

But the data on fully synthetic, long life, high capacity Amsoil showed it improved particle counts at 15k miles compared to a nominally less efficient synthetic blend Mobil filter achieving similar particle counts at just 5k miles.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by CharlieBauer
But the data on fully synthetic, long life, high capacity Amsoil showed it improved particle counts at 15k miles compared to a nominally less efficient synthetic blend Mobil filter achieving similar particle counts at just 5k miles.


Maybe just two more "one off" data points.

The PCs I plotted make sense as they lay out in the same order as their ISO efficiency ranking, which is what I would expect.

But of course, more data is needed to build a more telling trend on filtering performace using PCs.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted by IndyFan
My plan on the JK is to do two or three OCI's. It's lifetime warranty limits me to 6k OCI's. I run the Ultra with Mobil 1 HM 5w30.


You mentioned the warranty so I am guessing you care, but M1 doesn't carry the Chrysler spec does it?

 

[IndyFan]

Fully aware. Not worried about it. Besides, my Jeep dealership's premium oil changes include Mobil 1 oils. I have no doubt Mobil 1 exceeds MS6395. FCA's relationship with SOPUS is the sole reason Mobil 1 is not even offered the chance to be MS6395 approved. I'm also not worried that I'll have a failure related to the oil itself. If it did, Mobil 1 has a good warranty.

 

[Ablebody]

Originally Posted by IndyFan
When I was younger, from the time I bought my first car until I heard about the dreaded "cardboard" end caps, I used Fram oil filters religiously. I never had a known problem, but I guess I bought into the fear about those end caps. Fast forward to just a couple years ago, I was researching on Bitog and on manufacturer's web sites, as well as other automotive forums, and I decided to go back to Fram in the form of the Ultra oil filters. I liked that they had a mesh backing to the pleats and were recommended for longer change intervals.

Anyway, I've looked and looked, and have not seen any filter that competes with the Ultra, in terms of filtering performance. In fact, I noticed that even the Tough Guard and regular Fram Extra Guard outperform the published data on other filters, even the expensive Mobil 1 filter.

So, the question: Is there any other filter that can compete with the Fram's performance? I've not seen any that publish better than 99% at 30 microns or bigger, in the single pass standardized test. Of course, the Fram TG and UG get 99% at down to 20 microns.

According to Fram, the UG media flows better, too, so it appears to be a rare case of getting the best of all worlds...highest filtration, high flow, and high total dirt capacity.

I'd love to know if any competing filters are as effective as an Ultra Guard. Please don't say bypass filters, or something like that. I am just curious if any traditional can or cartridge filters can do as well, at least with their own published or claimed results.

I've been running UG's on all of my vehicles except the Mercedes for the past couple years. I haven't cut one open, but in the next year, I'll probably get to a long (10k plus) OCI on my JL Wrangler, where we'll get a good look at the cartridge filter.


I did a quick search around and found some info. The stp life oil filter states the exact same thing as the gram ultra, 99% Efficiency @ > 20 microns * ( as per ISO-4548-12. Boss says 99% dirt removal as does the stp maxlife. What does > 20 really tell us though lol.
The boldest claim, per advance Auto sight, the Purolator pure one spec sheet list this > 5. So if anyone is really taking the > x number as gospel, the pure one kicks the ultras rear end in filtering ability.

 

[StevieC]

I wonder if it has the same flow as the Fram like double the OE flow as I mentioned above for my application?

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by Ablebody
I did a quick search around and found some info. The stp life oil filter states the exact same thing as the gram ultra, 99% Efficiency @ > 20 microns * ( as per ISO-4548-12. Boss says 99% dirt removal as does the stp maxlife. What does > 20 really tell us though lol.
The boldest claim, per advance Auto sight, the Purolator pure one spec sheet list this > 5. So if anyone is really taking the > x number as gospel, the pure one kicks the ultras rear end in filtering ability.


You need to do some more research. The whole >20u has been hashed over for years in this forum. Hint: 20.0001 is >20.

And at what % is the PureOne >5u ... got a link to the info? PureOne is 99% at 20u (per Purolator Tech Line), which is essentially the same as the Ultra.

 

[CharlieBauer]

Are the new PureOnes tearing?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Originally Posted by CharlieBauer
Are the new PureOnes tearing?


Yes

 

[Ablebody]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by Ablebody
I did a quick search around and found some info. The stp life oil filter states the exact same thing as the gram ultra, 99% Efficiency @ > 20 microns * ( as per ISO-4548-12. Boss says 99% dirt removal as does the stp maxlife. What does > 20 really tell us though lol.
The boldest claim, per advance Auto sight, the Purolator pure one spec sheet list this > 5. So if anyone is really taking the > x number as gospel, the pure one kicks the ultras rear end in filtering ability.


You need to do some more research. The whole >20u has been hashed over for years in this forum. Hint: 20.0001 is >20.

And at what % is the PureOne >5u ... got a link to the info? PureOne is 99% at 20u (per Purolator Tech Line), which is essentially the same as the Ultra.

It's on advance Autos web page. Specification sheet for pure one.

You seem to be a little radical about some things. I've noticed. Anytime I've mentioned ultra you respond rather defensively?? So lets pretend I only compared the stp in this case, ok
At the least, if we're taking the marketers words for it several oil filters match 99% at 20 microns Which is on topic with this thread although I won't mention that one filter. Ya know that's the subject to the original posters question.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by Ablebody
You seem to be a little radical about some things. I've noticed. Anytime I've mentioned ultra you respond rather defensively?? So lets pretend I only compared the stp in this case, ok
At the least, if we're taking the marketers words for it several oil filters match 99% at 20 microns Which is on topic with this thread although I won't mention that one filter. Ya know that's the subject to the original posters question.

So after starting off slow (only dropping a hint or two in your first posts) we have come to the real reason you joined.

I figured that from the beginning, it didn't take long for you to reveal your intent.

 

[SatinSilver]

Who was this guy previously kschachn? Good catch and that's a lot of posts for someone that just joined this month.

 

[Ablebody]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by Ablebody
I did a quick search around and found some info. The stp life oil filter states the exact same thing as the gram ultra, 99% Efficiency @ > 20 microns * ( as per ISO-4548-12. Boss says 99% dirt removal as does the stp maxlife. What does > 20 really tell us though lol.
The boldest claim, per advance Auto sight, the Purolator pure one spec sheet list this > 5. So if anyone is really taking the > x number as gospel, the pure one kicks the ultras rear end in filtering ability.


You need to do some more research. The whole >20u has been hashed over for years in this forum. Hint: 20.0001 is >20.

And at what % is the PureOne >5u ... got a link to the info? PureOne is 99% at 20u (per Purolator Tech Line), which is essentially the same as the Ultra.

I understand that the >5 is nominal and I'll take your word for it that that means at 50%. But that's more revelation than Ive seen from any of the other filters so far that I've been looking at. I'm going to let the
> , Which to me and 99% of the rest of the world means some number to the left and that symbol is greater and the number on the right. In this case some unknown number. I'm going to let that rest. It appears to be a sensitive topic.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by Ablebody
You seem to be a little radical about some things. I've noticed. Anytime I've mentioned ultra you respond rather defensively??


It's called responding to misinformation. People that don't post facts and instead post misinformation will get responses from many members here.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by SatinSilver
Who was this guy previously kschachn? Good catch and that's a lot of posts for someone that just joined this month.

Hint: What show was JJ Walker in?

 

[RyanY]

Has anyone conducted a more recent comparison of filters, like the study described at http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html where RP, Amsoil, and Fram came out on top? I would like to see how the newish STP models, the wix XP, and Puro Boss compare. Otherwise we are left with marketing claims that are sometimes misleading.

 

[UncleDave]

When comparing, build quality, performance, price, and availability for standard automotive spin ons - not really. The Fram U has no peers I can find.

The M1 offering is an alternative - but the resined media isn't preferred over frams dual layer of synthetic. (not sure if this is still the same)

The Amsoil and RP perform as well (or close enough) but are much more expensive and mail order only for 99% of the readers.

Wix/ Napa are easy to get and built well, affordable and reliable - but are missing the filtration performance.

No one takes purolater seriously - at least here.

Microgreen after building the holy grail - appears to have to cheapened their build and it seem to have killed the performance from what I can glean from the 3rd party data recently made available.

It's not likely to fit any car but if you have a big diesel truck or RV - the absolute best spin on available today tech wise - is the Cummins stratapour venturi - with its internal stacked disk bypass, fully synthetic media, and robust construction. You get near external bypass level performance with a spin on convenience. (what the microgreen is supposed to do)

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted by UncleDave

When comparing, build quality, performance, price, and availability for standard automotive spin ons - not really. The Fram U has no peers I can find.

The M1 offering is an alternative - but the resined media isn't preferred over frams dual layer of synthetic. (not sure if this is still the same)

The Amsoil and RP perform as well (or close enough) but are much more expensive and mail order only for 99% of the readers.

Wix/ Napa are easy to get and built well, affordable and reliable - but are missing the filtration performance.

No one takes purolater seriously - at least here.

Microgreen after building the holy grail - appears to have to cheapened their build and it seem to have killed the performance from what I can glean from the 3rd party data recently made available.

It's not likely to fit any car but if you have a big diesel truck or RV - the absolute best spin on available today tech wise - is the Cummins stratapour venturi - with its internal stacked disk bypass, fully synthetic media, and robust construction. You get near external bypass level performance with a spin on convenience. (what the microgreen is supposed to do)


Nice summary UD!

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by UncleDave
No one takes purolater seriously - at least here.
Purolator Boss isn't bad. Not as good as a Fram Ultra though. The Boss ranks about where the Wix XP (Napa Platinum) is, a well-built oil filter that doesn't filter as well as the the Ultra, or Royal Purple & Amsoil's filter for that matter.
Originally Posted by RyanY
Has anyone conducted a more recent comparison of filters, like the study described at http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html where RP, Amsoil, and Fram came out on top? I would like to see how the newish STP models, the wix XP, and Puro Boss compare. Otherwise we are left with marketing claims that are sometimes misleading.
Fram Ultra used to be called the XtendedGuard back when that study was done, and the current Ultra actually filters better. Notice the old XtendedGuard version, while similar in construction to the current Ultra, got 97% on 4548-12
The Boss and WixXP(napa platinum cloned) would likely perform in the middle of the pack in the old study's dirty paper tests, as their efficiencies aren't that great. Acceptable, not great though.

 

[Ablebody]

Originally Posted by RyanY
Has anyone conducted a more recent comparison of filters, like the study described at http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html where RP, Amsoil, and Fram came out on top? I would like to see how the newish STP models, the wix XP, and Puro Boss compare. Otherwise we are left with marketing claims that are sometimes misleading.

I'd like to see it too