Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Yeah, agree to disagree is great. Read the Bus Study. And I'm all ears when someone here can post links to a
valid committee approved study showing that inefficient filters make no difference in oil cleanliness and engine wear.
Isn't that the study dNewton had issues with? Instead of posing all this again just read the other thread.
Quote:
What we all need to realize is that, to my knowledge, there is no current, relevant SAE study regarding filtration.
Most all of our information for discussion comes from decades old data (the GM filter study; the bus study). Those two in particular are often referenced as the gold standards, but one is an ALT that GROSSLY DISTORTS REALITY, and the other was done on 2-stroke DD engines that were notorious for soot generation and sub-standard air filtration.
My point in all this is that there's no relevant data that directly proves the points we discuss.
The only way we'd know with absolute certainty is that some company would have to run a large study with different filters, and see what pans out. For example, Fram could run a small fleet split into two groups; a control and a subject group. Perhaps run a fleet with EGs (95%) and another with TGs or FUs (99%). They'd have to run enough to get a true statistical data set that is large enough to be credible (minimum 30 samples for each group). The could do both UOAs (tracking wear over the life-cycle of perhaps 150k miles, with UOAs every 5k miles), and then at the end of the life-cycle, then do a TD analysis. That would take a LONG time, a HUGE amount of cash, and a commitment that would likely span past anyone's interest period. And for what? Would they sell any more filters? Most likely not. If not Fram, it could be Wix with the XP, Wix, and jobber filters. Or Purolator with the Classic (formerly white, now red), the PureOne and Boss.
My point is that I believe UOAs will show us wear trends, but ONLY when the metals are present. There is reasonable, sane explanation that would suggest that wear ONLY happens above 5um (above where spectral analysis would see it). Wear happens at ALL particle sizes, and so while UOAs will not not see all wear, they will indeed see a visible portion of wear, likely proportional to the overall trend. And so if your filter selection does not cause a discernible effect in UOA visible wear, it's also probably not causing any tangible difference in wear not seen by the UOA also. It if flat foolish to believe that the difference between 80% and 99% eff filters is ONLY going to manifest above 5um in particle wear. Therefore the UOAs should be able to see the difference, IF AND ONLY IF, the quantity of abrasive particles is substantial enough to generate a resulting echo in wear particles.
But that does not happen; hence filter differences really don't matter as much as some of you would like to think. That means that OTHER things are controlling wear; such as the air filter and lube add-pack and TCB.
It certainly cannot hurt to use a 99% FF filter. But it does not "help" as much as you'd think. Other items in the wear-control system are far more effective at controlling daily wear.
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The act of preventative maintenance, in and of itself, is FAR MORE important than brand/grade/base choices among lubes and filters.
- under maintaining something is akin to abuse/neglect; that can kill equipment by shortening the lifespan
- over maintaining something has never been proven to be anything but a waste of time and money
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4647800/Wix_XP_efficiency