The New Fram Ultra......

[Danh]

This post is rife with assumptions, projections, and conjecture.
Nothing about what you have said can be depended on to be accurate, factual, or reliable.
The only thing you can say is that you don't know.

Except comments about accountants…

 

[tasch72]

This is what I got:

Good Morning Robert. We have changed from the single ply synthetic filter media with the wire mesh to a dual ply. The wire mesh was simply there for structural support, without it, the ultra synthetic filters wouldn't have lasted as long. The new dual layer media is stronger and provided finer filtration.

UPDATED: Info from Fram Engineers to my email inbox.

View attachment 66902

So in the end, Fram upgraded the Ultra instead of the downgrade we assumed. Hopefully this won't result in a years-long prejudice like the fiber endcaps.

 

[Bettez88]

Sort of related, received this in the mail today

 

[kjbock]

This post is rife with assumptions, projections, and conjecture.
Nothing about what you have said can be depended on to be accurate, factual, or reliable.
The only thing you can say is that you don't know.

Maybe this will suit you better.

Fact: Accountants don't design oil filters
Fact: Accountants don't re-design oil filters

 

[Averroes]

Maybe this will suit you better.

Fact: Accountants don't design oil filters
Fact: Accountants don't re-design oil filters

LOL. Let's overlook everything else and blame accountants. It was accountants that caused the economic crash, caused M1 to reduce PAO and use more GTL in their formulations and are the reason why some oil filters are in crappy to reach places.

Man feels good to blame others without thinking things through.

 

[Job]

Don’t know why it matters who exactly at Fram made the decision to change the Ultra, but even where I worked at a not for profit place, decisions were made by the top dog or group of top dogs. The engineers and accountants tell them their ideas, neither makes a decision.

 

[Blagoje]

My Meijer doesn't sell many Ultra's, I found some old Extended Gaurd's still on the shelf when I was looking at them a few weeks ago.

It's strange because my local Meijer has an abundance of XG7317 filter to include several with the Trico wire mesh annotated box and yet if you search for it on their website or app it reports that that specific store is completely out of stock of XG7317 filters. A bit fishy, perhaps they don't want people ordering the current stock from them? I've been to two local Walmarts recently and all have the XG7317 filters in the new First Brands box that does not indicate them having the wire mesh.

Like I said, some will protest and go use another filter that has less filtering efficiency. That'll show 'em.

For what it's worth, if I can find a Royal Purple 10-2867 with the e-core like the one in the video below that WILL become my new filter of choice.

 

[Krieg]

Only time and testing will prove or disprove an improvement to FU.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Has anyone opened a different filter type than the 7317? I skimmed through the 8 pages of posts, but curious is this is a blanket change across all XG filters or just some of the "lower end" filters that are on smaller engines. I'd be interested in knowing if they also changed them on diesel engines (e.g. XG9100).

I wouldn't say the 7317 a "lower end" model. It's probably one of the most sold filters that Fram makes.

I'm betting this change will be across the board. Why complicate it by making Ultras in two different configurations.

 

[4WD]

I rushed to Walmart and bought the entire inventory of XG10575’s

(they had two)

 

[Kawiguy454]

No surprise here. This is economics of INFLATION. If it was a chocolate bar it would be 2 Oz's lighter and sell for same price and 99% of the lemmings will never notice. If they raised the price by $2 the lemmings would go crazy. If you don't like inflation you know what you need to do but dont blame the manufacturer.

 

[ZeeOSix]

And yet, directly from their website on the previous Ultra click on (#3)Media tab "2-ply synthetic, metal-screen-reinforced media provides 99%+ filtration efficiency.*" Then...........

"Traps and holds more than double the dirt of typical retail brand oil filters. **
Rigid metal-screen support offers outstanding pressure resistance and flow spacing."

https://www.fram.com/products/consumer-products/oil-filters/fram-ultra-syntheticsup-sup-oil-filter/

It 'seems' First Brands attempting to rewrite history by disparaging the previous Ultra to make the current "appear" superior. smh.

The video below is the same one I posted in post #94 ... but jumps to where he shows the 2-layer media on the Ultra. Apparently not even the engineers or whoever is emailing this info at Fram know how the old Fram is designed.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Proves anyone might be answering the phone or an email, and give out wrong information.

The customer support group is only as good as the people who manage it, and are able to pass on accurate and timely information from the engineering group. Engineers are too busy making changes to the products to be working in customer support.

 

[loneryder]

I talked with Fram and basically got the run around…just going to switch to the extra guard. What filter companies don’t realize is that there are people who open filters and see changes

Not many open oil filters.

 

[loneryder]

I talked with Fram and basically got the run around…just going to switch to the extra guard. What filter companies don’t realize is that there are people who open filters and see changes

Is this on the phone or texting?

 

[OVERKILL]

So in the end, Fram upgraded the Ultra instead of the downgrade we assumed. Hopefully this won't result in a years-long prejudice like the fiber endcaps.

Well, the fact that the previous media was advertised as dual layer and they are now saying it wasn't raises red flags. I also wouldn't call it an upgrade, as cellulose won't flow as well as the depth/mesh combo, which is one of the reasons for the allure of that media, it provided excellent filtration while being able to simultaneously flow better because it didn't just work on the concept of pore blocking, which is how the cellulose media, which is what is backing the new ultra, operates on.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Well, the fact that the previous media was advertised as dual layer and they are now saying it wasn't raises red flags. I also wouldn't call it an upgrade, as cellulose won't flow as well as the depth/mesh combo, which is one of the reasons for the allure of that media, it provided excellent filtration while being able to simultaneously flow better because it didn't just work on the concept of pore blocking, which is how the cellulose media, which is what is backing the new ultra, operates on.

More media area will help if they indeed increased the media area enough. The Purolator PureOne with cellulose media (or maybe a blend) had a lot of media area and was high efficiency (99+% @ 20u), and flowed very well too as shown by flow vs delta-p data provided by Purolator.

Apparently, the cellulose/blend layer in the new Ultra design has enough rigidity to keep the media stable to flow without the metal screen backing. And if the number of pleats has increased and pleat spacing is tighter, then that should help also to keep the pleats from deforming and tearing under extreme use (ie, cold winter start-ups with very cold thick oil that causes max delta-p to bypass pressure).

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Nine pages of this and counting...

 

[drtyler]

An enterprising soul will have to check if the Tough Guards and Extra Guards come in new packaging and if there are any changes or updates listed. Got to think the changes weren't limited to only XG filters.

 

[OVERKILL]

More media area will help if they indeed increased the media area enough. The Purolator PureOne with cellulose media (or maybe a blend) had a lot of media area and was high efficiency (99+% @ 20u), and flowed very well too as shown by flow vs delta-p data provided by Purolator.

Apparently, the cellulose/blend layer in the new Ultra design has enough rigidity to keep the media stable to flow without the metal screen backing. And if the number of pleats has increased and pleat spacing is tighter, then that should help also to keep the pleats from deforming and tearing under extreme use (ie, cold winter start-ups with very cold thick oil that causes max delta-p to bypass pressure).

Yep, I know the mitigation mechanism in play (more pleat count) but whether that will wholly counteract the impact of switching from depth filtration to pore blocking? I doubt it. Will it be good enough? Absolutely. There are plenty of cellulose and cellulose blend medias that offer excellent efficiency and good flow, it's simply the fact that depth media is better on both counts and it is sad to see this shift as it definitely comes off as cheapening the product.