When I was a kid in the 50's, I think you were more likely to get what you paid for. Some manufacturers take advantage of the gullible by selling inferior goods cheap. Then there are the people that are suckered into paying a premium price for something believing if it is expensive, it must be better. In many cases the premium price goes not into better materials design, and workmanship; but advertising, marketing, and profits. Finding the information to make good decisions is tough sometimes. Oil filters, with their guts hidden in a metal can, are especially tough. It is not like your engine will throw a rod in the first 1000 miles with a poor filter. I used Frams for years, and never saw a problem. There isn't much hard data showing your engine will last longer with even the expensive K&N or Mobil 1, than with Fram or ST. Still, after I cut one open, I never bought another Fram. The worst thing is, that the relative ranking of the different brands seems to be different with each application. Except for some recent data on made for Honda, Fram otherwise does poorly. In many cases, ST is about as good or better than more expensive filters. AC usually does well. There is a lot of good data on WIX, but I have seen postings of miserable little filter elements in a big can for them. My conclusion, unless you see a posting for your application, cut a few apart your self and then decide. Used filters are a little messy, but I have soap and water.
