Originally Posted By: jongies3
Looks like it did it's job just fine! I don't understand the whole louvers argument, I haven't seen any issues with them at all.
Did you see this thread?
Lack of Louvers [Link]
The argument is not if louvers are good or bad, but rather can they be formed correctly to ensure there is adequate flow area on the center tube. As seen in the link above, half or more of the louvers were not even punched all the way through the metal. If the flow area is restricted too much, then the delta-p across the filter could be high enough to open the bypass valve way too often, which is not really something you want happening.
Originally Posted By: jongies3
We use Performax filters (Classic clones) in our shop and nobody's brought a car back with a filter problem yet. Many cars rack up a [censored] ton of miles on those filters without issues. Way more miles than I'd go on conventional oil and a basic filter! If people were having problems, we would have quit using these filters a long time ago. I run them on all my vehicles with confidence. There's a lot of oil pressure on the filter, there has to be or oil filters wouldn't be able to filter at all, oil's going to pass through those louvers no problem!
If half the oil is always going through the bypass valve because the center tube it choked off, it will not 'blow-up' the engine, and it would be hard if not impossible to tell it's happening. People will drive along not knowing something isn't right. So if people judge the functionality of an oil filter based on if the engine blows up or not, then I guess choked off louvers are AOK.
On the other hand, those that know otherwise, wouldn't be putting a filter with closed louvers on anything they own. It would be beneficial to insect down the center tube of any oil filter with a louvered center tube to make sure they are opened up pretty good before installing it on the vehicle.