Napa 'Nascar' filters?

[mkehler]

I was going to go out and buy my usual Napa Gold filter today to do an oil change, but see in their flyer they are now selling 'Napa Select by Nascar' filters.

Are these just their Gold filters with the Nascar 'pay more money for me' stamp on them? Desc from them is as follows

"spin-flow advanced filtration technology is exclusive to Napa on automotive oil filters and offers the most advanced flow technology available"

Did a search, but come up with zero hits here..

thx
Matt

 

[trynew]

I think they are like the silver Napa filter, but with the addition of a plastic finned ring to spin the oil before it goes through the paper filter.

 

[Schism]

Get the gold it's still the best they sell.

 

[Ken2]

Agreed, Gold is the best. If your NAPA store owner choosed to drop the Gold line, shop elsewhere.


Ken

 

[Steve S]

I don't see how the filter can work. If the filter causes the oil to spin fast enough to seperate out the heavier parTicles ,where do they go or trapped?

 

[LarryL]

If they call it a NASCAR filter are they going to put numbers on them? Faces would be better. Better yet, how about pictures of crew chiefs. Then I could be sure I'm getting a real NASCAR product.

 

[trynew]

I don't think the purpose of the spinning is to spin out the particles. I think it is to more evenly distribute the oil over the face of the paper filter so the oil doesn't all try to flow through one spot. It probably isn't a bad idea.

I am somewhat puzzled by the market positioning NAPA used for this filter. I think it is priced cheaper than the Gold filter; more like the Silver. Why didn't they just add the spin flow technology to the Gold filter and make it a premium filter at a little more cost? The cost of that plastic ring in bulk has to be about almost nothing.

 

[trynew]

Here is a quote:

quote:

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In traditional oil filters, unfiltered oil is forced under pressure through holes in the filter base plate directly to the top of the canister, creating turbulence in the filter. This constant turbulence concentrates the filtration of the dirty oil at one end of the filter media, resulting in only about 60 percent of the filter media doing the majority of the work.

The Spin-Flow technology, developed by Wix Filtration and used exclusively by NAPA for automotive applications, uses a ring of angled fins to force the dirty oil to flow in a circular motion around the filter media. This process evens out the flow of the dirty oil and virtually eliminates turbulence, thus using the entire filter media and maximizing the capacity and efficiency of the filter.

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quote:

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In addition to Spin-Flow technology, the NASCAR Select filter also features a newly designed filter media, combining cellulose with synthetic fibers. This new media, called T-52, was also developed by Wix Filtration for NAPA automotive use. T-52 greatly increases the filter's "Single-Pass Efficiency," which is a measure of how much of the oil's contaminates are removed in a single trip through the filter. NASCAR Select has one of the highest Single-Pass Efficiency ratings in the industry.

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Taken from the following site:

Info on NAPA Spin Tech Oil Filter

 

[kanling]

If "spin flow" and the "T-52" media is so great, why does the NAPA Gold filter have neither?

 

[tmorris1]

Probably because it is a NAPA only thing. Wix makes the equivalent of the Napa Gold for Carquest where they are called the Carquest Blue filter.

 

[kanling]

Well either NAPA Gold is better even though it doesn't have the miracles of "spin flow" and "T-52" or NAPA is ripping people off by charging more $$ for the inferior quality NAPA Gold.

(Then again, this is NAPA we're talking about.)

 

[kanling]

Right on, Larry. Clearly NAPA marketing is running the show. NAPA doesn't know whether "spin flow" and "T-52" makes any difference either. If there was solid evidence, they would present it. And those proven technologies would be in their highest-priced brand. I think they just did focus groups and found that they could make more money by having another brand with a different marketing style.

My I'm feeling cynical today.

 

[LarryL]

And that spinning stuff, did they learn that for the spinnder for you air intake. Why get so technical. I still think they should put pictures of drivers on the filter. The picture might filter oil as well as a spin on the oil. And after all that, it might just be a good enough filter.

 

[bretfraz]

I'm sure the Michael Waltrip filter will be available soon. I'll install one on my truck at the next OCI.

When the Robby Gordon filter becomes available, I'm gonna tie it to a piece of string and hang it so it dangles right next to the Waltrip filter. Then as I'm driving, the motion will cause the Gordon filter to smash into the Waltrip filter repeatedly.

Maybe I'll glue a little helmet onto the Gordon filter so it too hits the Waltrip filter, kinda like a 2 for 1 bonus.

 

[LarryL]

The problem is that without testsing how does one know which is best? And one could be better than the other in a different application. In a practical sense, I wonder if there is much difference between the best and worst full flow filter. How would one ever design a test that would answer such questions. Any test suggested here, would get sniped by someone. Not that sniping test protocals is bad, it just gets in the way of ever doing such a test.

I do computer software for fleet vehicle maintenance and we try to establish mtbf's for parts that will stop a car or truck and change them before they fail. They use Purolator filters and mostly the good ones. There are several vehicles that use the cheaper ones becaus the better Purolator filter is not available. Long term results between similar vehicles show no difference in filter performance based on manay used oil analysis using the same drivers, oils and maintenance schedules. Not scientific for sure, but just an observation.

I think you need to do your homework on filters and pick one. But to know one is better than the other might be difficult to figure out.