Napa Gold (Wix) Or Fram Ultra What Are The Spec's

[crazyoildude]

I now choose Napa gold which is a wix A lot of people are using fram ultra lately What are the spec's on both of them?
Which one looks better on paper and which one is your favorite filter between the two.

 

[901Memphis]

Wix is 95% efficient @ 20 microns, the Ultra is 99%+ @ 20 microns. Fram also lists an 80% @ 5 microns efficiency for the ultra, which not many post due to not being that high.

The Ultra is rated for 15,000 miles comfortably, the Wix doesn't give this exact rating, but the Ultra surely wins in the longer filter interval using dual layer synthetic media vs Wix cellulose based media

If price was the same the Fram is clearly superior, but Wix can be had cheaper sometimes, and is certainly good enough for filtering.

 

[dave1251]

Well Napa Gold's for me cost about $4.50 to $5.40 a pop plus tax.
Fram Ultra's are $9 to $10.75 a pop plus tax.

Fram Ultra's are not 100% better so you can deduce for yourself were I am going.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: dave1251
Well Napa Gold's for me cost about $4.50 to $5.40 a pop plus tax.
Fram Ultra's are $9 to $10.75 a pop plus tax.

Fram Ultra's are not 100% better so you can deduce for yourself were I am going.


Well the Ultra filters better and can be used 15,000+, so if you are not using the Wix for at least 7,500+ miles then the Ultra still wins.

Also i got Ultras off Amazon for $5.30 not too long ago, but they raised the price recently.

 

[southernjeeper]

Napa gold all the way




Forget about fram.

 

[Hounds]

crazyoildude, I have a question for you. Are you going to forego an oil change until you've driven 15k miles, or as, say, Honda recommends, change oil once and not change the filter? If you are going to do either of these things, then clearly Fram's Ultra is your filter.

 

[pbm]

Shouldn't the comparison be between Wix 'Platinum' and Fram Ultra?

I agree that the Napa (Wix) Gold is great for a normal OCI (7.5 to 10K in a clean engine) and using an Ultra for less than 12K is a waste.

 

[Mr Nice]

Yeah, if you a going to buy an Ultra oil filter use it for 10K+ miles.

Silly to only use it for a few thousand miles.

 

[tommygunn]

What car, what OCI?

The Fram Ultra is on par with Napa Platinum/Wix XP. Good for 15k.

If you don't go past 10k, save your money and use the Napa/Wix.

 

[Noey]

Ok, this comes up for me, too, and if I sound overly simplistic, please bear with me and be kind...

For those of us that change the oil 7500 or less..or ftm, if you just want the best... why would anyone NOT want a filter with superior filtration? I mean, the difference in price is only 5 bucks.

Am I being overly simplistic, but isn't better always better?

 

[Boss302fan]

Both are great oil filters. Ultra for up to 15K miles or the Gold for 7500K miles... I use the Ultra when I do OCI's on my sons car and I change out the filter every other OCI...

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn

The Fram Ultra is on par with Napa Platinum/Wix XP. Good for 15k.


Not even close to being "on par" with each other in the efficiency department.

 

[crazyoildude]

ok... which is better?

 

[ZeeOSix]

The Ultra is better at filtering efficiency, and can do a longer OCI. Otherwise, I'd say they are pretty equal in quality and construction. Of course, most of the NAPA Golds & WIX have the base end bypass valve (vs the dome end on the Ultra) if that matters to you.

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
ok... which is better?


Doesn't that really depend upon your intended usage? For me the Fram Ultra because I'm going to use the filter for 2 OCI's, each one is 7,500 miles. I change at 7,500 intervals to coincide with the little decent weather we get so I can change the oil myself outside.

Whimsey

 

[Noey]

I dont want to shoot a dead horse here, but why would anyone want to use a filter with less efficiency? Isn't that the point?

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Noey
I dont want to shoot a dead horse here, but why would anyone want to use a filter with less efficiency? Isn't that the point?


The point is filtering efficiency does not really matter because both the Wix and FU are both very good at filtering. Splitting hairs for the shake of splitting hairs is rather absurd at any price.

 

[crazyoildude]

like i have always said i like a less restrictive filter but also want good filtration.. My beliefs have been flow is the most important because dirty oil lubes better than no oil.

Im leaning toward wix lately because i just dont trust fram knowing their lesser filters quality is so bad

 

[dave1251]

For me the filtering efficiency between the two is close enough that touting the difference is rather loony. The Wix filter around here is just as easy to obtain and is half the price. No brainier for my criteria.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
like i have always said i like a less restrictive filter but also want good filtration.. My beliefs have been flow is the most important because dirty oil lubes better than no oil.

Im leaning toward wix lately because i just dont trust fram knowing their lesser filters quality is so bad


With a positive displacement oil pump, you really don't have to worry about any good brand name filter being "too restrictive". The engine will never know a few PSID difference between filter A and filter B. The same oil flow will get to the engine with either filter installed.

Are these filters for your personal use, or for customer cars? If the latter, then WIX or jobber versions of WIX would be the way to go IMO.