What's the scoop on Fram Ultra oil filters?

[barlowc]

I recently purchased 6 Fram Ultra XG7317 filters under the Pep Boys BOGO that ends this coming Sunday. (Thread about that here.) End cost was $5.30/each which seemed to be a pretty good deal for Fram's high-end filter, which seemed to receive some praise.

I've searched and found a few other threads on the Fram Ultra, but not necessarily much discussion around some questions I have. And one of the longer threads turned into mostly a multi-page argument about Fram's orange-can filter. (Let's not even talk about the orange can here please.

)

What's the deal between Xtended Guard and Ultra? Fram's website shows both (Xtended Guard and Ultra) and the pages are very, very similar, but their Parts Catalog only shows Xtended Guard results.

Are they really good for 15K miles? I've always put on a new, quality filter when changing the oil. I've been running 6,000 - 7,500 OCIs and am thinking about running these filters for two intervals. (The VUE has a Honda engine and Honda seems to outline that as standard maintenance procedure anyway.)

Why are all the boxes beat up and appear to be resealed? Maybe it's just the ones I got, but they were that way from two separate shipments to my local Pep Boys. They all have two of the round, clear stickers that seal that top of the box. At first they appeared to have been resealed, but upon closer inspection, both are in tact.

 

[RiceCake]

Whats the deal?

I think the consensus on that was they are the same filter, FRAM is just trying to market it as their top-of-the-line filter, so "Ultra" sounds more spiffy then the old XG nomination.

Are they really good for 15k?

Sure. I'd say so. The design is really ruggedly built and shouldn't deteriorate in any way. The only part that is different from most of your WIX and other counterparts is the plastic bypass valve, which some are indifferent to, but shouldn't be any issues at all, even for a long run. Obviously filter condition after 15k will vary, depending on how the car is run, any possible contaminants, sludge, etc. But in a good engine that can run out to 15k, I'd happily use one.

Why are they beat up?

Hard to say. Sounds like the warehouse supplying your area just has some gorillas. Maybe they spilled a pallet.

 

[chubbs1]

Hey Chris, The Ultra's appear to be the same as the Xtended Guard. I would feel very comfortable going two 6-7k OCI's with this filter on your well maintained vehicles.

The boxes that just arrived at our local walmart appear to be in good shape so maybe you do have gorillas working at your distributors warehouse...lol

 

[OilNerd]

Originally Posted By: barlowc
Why are all the boxes beat up and appear to be resealed? Maybe it's just the ones I got, but they were that way from two separate shipments to my local Pep Boys. They all have two of the round, clear stickers that seal that top of the box. At first they appeared to have been resealed, but upon closer inspection, both are in tact.


Funny that you mention this. I was at my "local" Pep Boys (150 miles away, in Albany) last weekend, and the obsessive-compulsive in me caused me to put a few boxes back on the shelf until I found a few that weren't beat-up looking. The selection wasn't great, but they had the two sizes I was after.

 

[KCJeep]

The Ultra is a bit different, they either added a layer of media or changed the media, efficiency went up from 97% to 99% IIRC. And the the suggested mileage rating from 10k to 15k.

But they are so similar Fram is using the same item numbers, just rolling the Extended inventory over into Ultras.

I have one of the older original Extended Guards on my Jeep right now. It only has one layer of wire backed media and was rated for 7k, still a great filter though IMO.