what are the best quality auto part brands?

[kaffeene]

Hey I just wanted to get everyones opinion here on the top product brands for oil, filters, spark plugs & wires.

For the best brands of oil, I heard a lot about AMSOIL, are they as great as they sound? Is there one that is much better? What about Mobil, Pennzoil, Valvoline, Quakerstate, Castrol....

Who makes a good air filter? One that filters great but also provides good air flow? Gauze filter vs. paper vs. foam. I hear K&N has great air flow but not so great filtering for the very small particles that harm an engine as compared to an AMSOIL foam filter that filters even better.

Also I wanted to know who makes great oil filters.
ie. WIX, Purolator, AMSOIL...

And last ignition system brands for spark plugs and wires. ie. Splitfire, ACCEL, Bocsh...

I appreciate anyone who has feedback on this, whether their own personal favorite or a proven best.

 

[Ken42]

Oil I don't know heck I use Walmart's SuperTech

As far as filters both oil and Air I would go with the dealer unless the dealer is a rebranded Fram. Some say Fram is good some say this and some say that just look and read and make your own opinion. I would say stay away from gauze air filters to much dirt can get through. But that is just my opinion and I may be wrong

As far as wires and plugs go with NGK or Denso and you won't go wrong.

Ken

 

[3 Mad Ponchos]

Oil, use whatever floats your boat pretty much. I use Mobil 1. Amsoil is good stuff. On the rare occasion that I use conventional oil, I use Castrol GTX. Power equipment & beaters usually get Advance Auto $0.88 SL oil.

Filters, I use NAPA Gold (aka Wix) usually, or AC/Delco as an alternate, or Purolator if nothing else (note that factory Subaru filters are Purolators). A foam air filter caused a measurable performance degradation during a dyno test I conducted a few years ago.

Ignition stuff, different cars react differently so experiment and find what the car likes. I start with NGK or AC/Delco and only experiment if those don't work to my satisfaction. I don't usually worry much about the spark plug wires as long as they're some sort of recognized brand. If I'm after a performance set I'll use Magnecor.

But mostly any major brand will work for any of this stuff.

Cheers, 3MP

 

[Mike_dup1]

Thats a question that similar to asking which beer is better or who's better looking. You will get opinions all over the place.

Products fall into several categories from my years of observation;

elcheapo - Always a good market for these parts, some are decent and some are junk but money talk and BS walks, people will buy on price and find all the justification the want in $$.

average - Good but not great, have a average life span, sometimes you get good service, sometimes its no better than elcheapo, just lasts a little longer.

Best - The top shelf, cost a lot because higher quality parts or engineering went in making the product.


Like my friend who needed new tires on his 1996 Chevy Z71. He was drooling over the Michelin LT/X on my GMC and said, those are nice tires and I am going to get some. 2 weeks later I run into him and he has Dayton tires on his truck. I asked him what made him buy those? Price, they wanted $176 each for the 265/75R16 LR C Michelin's, so he got LR B Dayton's for $100 each. His tires were brand new and mine had 30,000 miles on them. We did a test, and found out my 30,000 miles had more tread in used condition than his new Dayton's. That was last fall, I have driven about 10,000 miles and my tires are very good yet, he has gone about 20,000 and his tires are really showing wear. Which are the better tires? To him the Dayton's are because they cost $100 to me the Michelin's are because they last longer due to the increase in quality and materials. A truck we had at work with the exact same Michelin's went 75,000 miles on them.

 

[labman]

Yeah Michelins, priced like gold, wear like iron, but ride like iron, and hold wet roads like iron. I wish they still made Strattons. Made by BFG, but cheaper, wore well, road nice, and held the road great. The Japs dropped them.

I find little relationship in price and quality. ST's are a screaming bargain at $2. I haven't seen and numbers showing more expensive one are better. On the other hand, I have gotten stuck with cheap junk I should have known better than to buy. That set of Jetzon tires.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

From what I have seen, I think the ST's can match any filter for under 4 bucks. Most filters are allright from what I have seen though. I don't really have a preference on plugs, although I do prefer HI-PO plug wires. They stand up to high amperage ingitions and high heat much better than standard wires. I have used Accel, MSD, and Jacobs and have had no problems with either.

 

[kaffeene]

I guess I will go with some type of synthetic, whether it be AMSOIL, Valvoline, Mobil or Quakerstate. WIX filters seem to be good. As for air filter I still dont know, I want to stay away from K&N because of less filtering. I guess I will go with OEM paper or my local auto store.
As far as plugs and wires who makes a good wire that isn't overpriced???

 

[thrace]

As far as spark plugs are concerned, I have had better luck with the original brand. In GM vehicles I found that if the vehicle had AC originally, AC worked the best. Even something expensive would not work better and sometimes was worse. Maybe it would knock or run more roughly with another brand. Similarly, Chrysler worked better with Champion. Ford worked better with Motorcraft. I would not necessarily use platinum if the plug was not too hard to replace. Your mileage may vary.

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike:
....
I don't think you will ever see them price them higher than, say a Fram.

Each to his own, you get what you pay for.

---

Not really. Frams are more expensive than ST's, but do not look near as well built. Since I can't find the quality AC's I need, I see no reason to pay more for other brands that aren't any better than ST. I haven't seen anything to prove the higher quality of WIX/NAPA, K&N, Mobil 1, etc. except their higher price.

I still count it a lucky day when I let a salesman talk me into Pirellis over Michelins.

 

[Mike_dup1]

I have no complaint with the ride, and I have had other vehicle with Michelin's.

As for Super Tech filters, you may consider them a great filter at a bargain price but I don't. To me they are just a cheap filter to cater to those who are looking to save a $. I doubt the sell them because of quality, its more because the can have them made cheaper and they can sell them cheaper than other brands. If the put a name brand filter on the shelf and price their brand at a lower price, they know people will go for the cheaper one, they count on that. I don't think you will ever see them price them higher than, say a Fram.

Each to his own, you get what you pay for.

 

[jsharp]

quote:

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Originally posted by thrace:
As far as spark plugs are concerned, I have had better luck with the original brand. In GM vehicles I found that if the vehicle had AC originally, AC worked the best. Even something expensive would not work better and sometimes was worse. Maybe it would knock or run more roughly with another brand. Similarly, Chrysler worked better with Champion. Ford worked better with Motorcraft. I would not necessarily use platinum if the plug was not too hard to replace. Your mileage may vary.

---

This what I've also found with plugs. I've had better luck using whatever brand was OE than changing brands...

 

[The_Jeff]

It also depends on what make car you're shopping for. For some reason Autozone is really Saturn-friendly. (EGR valves, motor mounts of roughly equal quality are much cheaper there.)

A local chain, V.I.P. is into small block chevys, but then that's the mother lode of aftermarket.

Pep Boys is, uhhhh, Honda Civic land.

Family Dollar is the place to go for havoline, $1/qt and they have both chevrontexaco and equilon at mine.

Walmart's $40 battery is like their $2 oil filter; you can beat it but must pay 2x more. Their $30 battery is junk compared.