^That's an interesting post.
It makes you wonder if it would ever be possible to find filtration 'efficiency'; in the truest sense of the word', to find out if a brand will come forth with ratings defined as single or multi-pass(which test rating on the box etc) and have a 'micron' rating that is truly defined and not a source of marketing for a lineup perhaps not even specific item in lineup specific.
I like the thought on beta ratio, still it's nice to know if a filter 'could' hold more grams than another(BD+ marketing pitch for example) in extended OCI apps. At the same time, this must be weighed with how 'efficient' you want a filter to be vs the fear of going into bypass(filtering capacity of filter reached); primarily an issue in extended OCIs again. Still you could have the following...
Example: Car "A" has 1 pint of Kreen added to fresh oil after an oil change in an engine that is known(this 1 particular app) to have problems with formation of 'sludge' or the leadings to such.
Chunks that could potentially break loose and starve the vehicle for oil or not, another debate; perhaps the Kreen makes an impact with heavy carbon deposits etc...how long should any 1 filter be left on the vehicle whilst any chemical that is known to be 'aggressive' is breaking down insoluble contaminants?
Thus, a decision on filter choice, can be made with a goal in mind. Therefore, it's not 'always' related to a desire for the best filter at 'efficiency' compared to all others no questions asked. If the engine would be in a 'clean' state? Different scenario. Whereas the desire in this 'for instance' is to remove the particles of a certain size range that is considered most harmful first, that is oil starvation. Note that smaller items not being filtered 'well', compared to a better filter, may allow for more wear by passing these smaller contaminants/wear metals etc.
So, a few shorter mileage based changes are to follow related to the oil filter(1,000 miles for instance) all the while attempting to 'solve' the insols with a product like mentioned above; perhaps just a HDEO alone or even moderately with a HM oil. The 'lesser' filters do their job(your specific reason for using them not being tied to the thought of needing the best 'efficiency'; even if you "knew" one particular awesome filter was better than an "OEM" equivalent for instance. It still would get the 'worst' of the gunk out. You could still have the ultimate goal of more efficiency later to trap the smaller residual 'grainy' items that hopefully still remain suspended in the subsequent filter/oil changes when the large/slimy goo is removed first. Those smaller particles may be a cause initially for more wear(in very technical terms, perhaps the engine will still last hundreds of thousands of miles without noticing such *gasp* wear etc)...yet, for once some may see the 'need' for flow in such a scenario as more important than efficiency. Still, other factors such as actual filter size and overall holding capacity is important. A few posters that tested filters showed arbitrary to amateur results that would show a filter like an M1-EP as being good in both filtration and flow, on the other hand. Most of the time, that filter is larger than the OEM(which is so small so isn't as great at filtering in single pass but flow is never an issue for instance).
Oh, the choices.
