WIX quality? Can't we have anything?

[CleanSump]

I only buy European. Even then, my Jetta "Wolfsburg" Edition was made in Mexico.
I don't believe the location of the factory dictates the QA of a company. They're all getting pretty lazy to save a nickel to stick in the CEO bonus.

 

[wdn]

I buy WIX filters and that's all I use now. The ones I use are made in North Carolina. Read up on the Fram thread where they have completely changed and cheapened the Ultra but still call it the same thing and charge the same money for it. Fram who got bought out by TRICO the windshield wiper company.

 

[Imp4]

Read up on the Fram thread where they have completely changed and cheapened the Ultra but still call it the same thing and charge the same money for it. Fram who got bought out by TRICO the windshield wiper company.

Yeah, the improved efficiency of the new Fram Ultras sure is something to complain about.

 

[bullwinkle]

I buy WIX filters and that's all I use now. The ones I use are made in North Carolina. Read up on the Fram thread where they have completely changed and cheapened the Ultra but still call it the same thing and charge the same money for it. Fram who got bought out by TRICO the windshield wiper company.

Mann & Hummel’s Wix production isn’t exactly anything to brag about-they’ve been offshoring a lot of the NAPA/Wix Gold production!

 

[Hootbro]

Did you clutch your pearls when discovered?

 

[thastinger]

How will they ever recover from this egregious failure?

They are getting the "lessons learned" from Motorcraft on the 820s filters

 

[Rockrz]

Fram ultra’s from now on

I thought everyone was saying Fram suxxed???

All made in Mexico

Mexicans have no good workmanship?
The guys from Mexico I've worked with easily beat the lazY Mericans
(it's OK... I'm a gringo yo)

Does anyone wipe the threads anymore?

I wiped my wife's threads once... she told me to cut it out

It's all subjective, except for measured parameters like efficiency, holding capacity, media strength, delta-p vs flow, etc ...

So what brand stacks up to be the best based on all this stuff?

 

[NashNative]

So what brand stacks up to be the best based on all this stuff?

For what it's worth, thinking about which brand of filter to buy across the board isn't going to mean very much honestly. Every filter manufacturer purchases a certain amount of product from other manufacturers, so there's not a good way to tell which is make vs buy necessarily. Fleetguard makes some product for Donaldson and WIX, Donaldson makes filters for Fleetguard and WIX, and it goes around in circles like that quite a bit. If you're going with the higher/newer technology filters from a brand (StrataPore or NanoNet media filters with Fleetguard, Powercore air filters from Donaldson, etc.), those will generally be made in-house by that brand and they wont sell to their competitors.

 

[gregk24]

Yikes. Imagine that flowing through the bearings. This could happen to any brand, worth checking moving forward I suppose.

 

[Rockrz]

Amsoil buys all the components they believe to be the best and assembles their own filters so they may be the best over all... and their only $15 each!

 

[Hermann]

Can't ever remember a filter that had perfect threads. They all seem a little rough. That is why they all got cleaned with a paper shop towel. Just a quick wipe. You don't want towel fuzz in the oil

 

[Rockrz]

They need to be deburred... I've been using Wix for years and have never seen one that was so rough it was a problem.

 

[OVERKILL]

Amsoil buys all the components they believe to be the best and assembles their own filters so they may be the best over all... and their only $15 each!

No they don't. They have a company (Champion, Donaldson, WIX...etc) assemble the filters using Donaldson's media.

 

[DGXR]

You and ur engine will be just fine, wipe the threads or don't slap it on and call it a day

Yup, pretty much.

So what brand stacks up to be the best based on all this stuff?

The best oil filter depends on your application and service interval. There is no best brand because each brand usually has more than one product to fit your model. There are a few brands that only have one level of oil filter (Baldwin, Hengst and Mahle IIRC). For engine longevity, the air filter is more important than the oil filter. IMO a premium oil filter really matters during extended OCIs, while nearly any standard filter will be fine for normal service intervals -- so many vehicles out there with 200k + miles on cheap bulk oil & shop filters. If you are running normal OCIs using oil that meets the required spec, I wouldn't agonize over this too much.

 

[Rockrz]

They have a company (Champion, Donaldson, WIX...etc) assemble the filters using Donaldson's media.

Well, feel free to call up the fine American at Amsoil can call them a liar.

Let us know how that works out for ya

 

[ZeeOSix]

Someone is in love with Amsoil.

 

[OVERKILL]

Well, feel free to call up the fine American at Amsoil can call them a liar.

Let us know how that works out for ya

I have a dealer account...

AMSOIL does not have a filter manufacturing facility (nor would it make financial sense for them to build one). The majority of their filters are manufactured by Champ, using Donaldson media. Some of their filters are manufactured by other companies, for part #'s that Champ doesn't make, or are more cost effective to be produced by someone else (like Donaldson or WIX for example).

This is why the AMSOIL filters look physically identical to the Royal Purple ones, they are manufactured by the same company.

 

[bullwinkle]

I have a dealer account...

AMSOIL does not have a filter manufacturing facility (nor would it make financial sense for them to build one). The majority of their filters are manufactured by Champ, using Donaldson media. Some of their filters are manufactured by other companies, for part #'s that Champ doesn't make, or are more cost effective to be produced by someone else (like Donaldson or WIX for example).

This is why the AMSOIL filters look physically identical to the Royal Purple ones, they are manufactured by the same company.

I've often wondered how similar the media is between the RP & Amsoil filters, the media looks identical. There's an opportunity for increased sales in the extended life media, for sure.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've often wondered how similar the media is between the RP & Amsoil filters, the media looks identical. There's an opportunity for increased sales in the extended life media, for sure.

The RP filters are rated 99% @ 25 microns:

And they state the media is synthetic micro-glass:

AMSOIL claims 99% @ 20 microns:

They also claim resin-free (which means it isn't micro-glass):

Which aligns with Donaldson's Synteq XP media:

These medias would look the same to the naked eye, but clearly they are different.

 

[NashNative]

It is a good distinction to make. Not all synthetic medias are the same...it's common for a filter company to say synthetic and the media is micro-glass, because technically that's a synthetic material. It's not as big of a deal on the lube side, but on the fuel side of things, micro-glass media can degrade and migrate downstream through the fuel injection system causing premature wear on high pressure injection components. Micro-glass can be highly efficient, but that's one of the downsides to it. No worries about migration with melt-blown synthetic media grades though, so those are the types of filters you want to use.