RA Clearance Oil Filters.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
16,139
Location
Indiana
Rock Auto always has the "Forest Gump chocolate" clearance filters. We've all seen them.. those various no name brands that look to have been made by one of the big 3. Sometimes, you don't even get what you ordered.

I am not really seeing the math add up. The more you buy, the less per filter you pay, but I really don't need 10+ oil filters that could be almost a decade old.

Unless I am missing something, we have plenty of local younger options to choose from that are under the $4 range. Many people here seem to run them with great results though.
21.gif
 
It can be pot luck. I picked up a large number of CarQuest Blue filters that were only a couple of years old and were Affinia (WIX) and Clarcor (Baldwin) for my PSD and I have been very happy with those--especially at the $4.50ish prices. However, I also bought some Ultra Power filters that had the WIX and CQ Blue part numbers, but they were Sure Filters.
 
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
It can be pot luck. I picked up a large number of CarQuest Blue filters that were only a couple of years old and were Affinia (WIX) and Clarcor (Baldwin) for my PSD and I have been very happy with those--especially at the $4.50ish prices. However, I also bought some Ultra Power filters that had the WIX and CQ Blue part numbers, but they were Sure Filters.


I remember you posting the deal about the CQ Blues. You sure came out ahead on that deal.

I bought 3 WIX 51334's for $1.50 each. The photo showed a genuine WIX, but they turned out to be Champ made CQ Red equivalents. It was a decent deal, but not what I was expecting for sure.
 
I got a Fram for 1.43 but it was dented too bad to use.
They replaced it with one made in 2005.
You really are just taking chances it turns out OK.
I won't be buying there again.
 
In 2015 I ordered some 'Wix' and Mobil 1 filters for my Zetec 2.0.
The Mobil 1's were OK but were made in 2008.
The so-called 'Wix' filters were K-Mart (yellow) Penske filters (probably made by Wix) that were made in the mid-1990s.....many had visible rust.
They gave me credit for several of the rusted filters but the experience soured me on Rock Auto oil filters.
Actually, the experience combined with their ridiculously high shipping rates has soured me on Rock Auto period.
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
In 2015 I ordered some 'Wix' and Mobil 1 filters for my Zetec 2.0.
The Mobil 1's were OK but were made in 2008.
The so-called 'Wix' filters were K-Mart (yellow) Penske filters (probably made by Wix) that were made in the mid-1990s.....many had visible rust.
They gave me credit for several of the rusted filters but the experience soured me on Rock Auto oil filters.
Actually, the experience combined with their ridiculously high shipping rates has soured me on Rock Auto period.


Most companies that have a large shipping volume have made deals for shipping with the various shipping companies. They pay a lot less than if you or I tried to mail the same package. However RockAuto and Northern seem to be the exceptions. I look stuff up in RockAuto and purchase it from Amazon if they have it.
 
All closeout RA stuff comes out of Sugar Land, TX. The shipping cost from that warehouse is the highest of any of their warehouses.

I frequently will put closeout parts in my cart, and shipping from there will be say $9.99.

Then I'll make another cart with a same non-closeout part, and it'll be $5.99 from another one of their locations.

The price difference will usually be within $5 or so, so it makes sense to get the non-closeouts sometimes since you get a "real" warranty instead of the 30 day...
 
I personally find their shipping quite reasonable. They have warehouses all over the nation. What you buy, how much it weighs, where it's shipping from and where it's shipping to all need to be taken into account. I do wish they'd have a feature that shows the cheapest shipping price for your zip code though.

You also save more by shipping to a commercial address.
 
I've bought lots of oil filters for my fleet from RockAuto, but you do have to think about the shipping costs. I use oil filters (and air and cabin air filters) as "box fillers" when I'm ordering other parts. Ordering from RockAuto when you only need one part, you can sometimes lose any savings on the part from the shipping charges. If you're going to order one part you need, that's the time to load up the shipping box with filters or other small or lightweight bits that you may not need now, but will need in the reasonably foreseeable future. The shipping costs of a box are somewhat fixed, and only rise in small increments as weight is added to it. Also, order parts from suppliers that will be shipping from the same warehouse, otherwise, you're going to pay extra to ship multiple boxes from multiple locations. All the stuff I've ever gotten from them has been in good shape, and has served well, but I don't usually gravitate to the absolute cheapest parts they offer. Sticking with names that are trustworthy, I've come out fine, and saved a bunch over years of buying from them.
 
Last edited:
I ordered some "wix" filters that were a private label that had apparently switched to purolator, judging by the baseplate. Whatever. Some might care, I guess. They were 91 cents!

I had them shipped to a business address and shipping was ~40 cents a filter.
 
The deal really does vary and can be hit and miss.

I bought 8 CARQUEST filters. I received 5 Wix made Blue for my car, 3 Red (2 Fram made, 1 Wix made) for my truck. I was happy with what I bought.
I knew that the ones for my truck would be reds (just not the maker), since it had the "R" in the part number.
The Blues, I did not know who would be the maker. I think Puro had just taken over the contract, which is why I think these were on clearance. Regardless, both the Wix and Fram made CQ Blue are great filters.
I think my cost ended up being around $2.50/filter.
An OK deal for the Reds at that price, cheaper than any name brand filter I could buy at the time (Supertech were not around at that time).
For the Blue, an equivalent Wix filter was around $7 at the time, so about 1/3 the price.
I have used all the reds, still have 4 of the blue. They are stored inside the house in a box, so I have no concerns for how long they will last (2 years at my current 6 month OCI).

For those doing a lot of changes, it can work out to be either just an OK deal or a really great deal.

For me, I am done with them. My truck gets Supertech filters from now on since they are < $3.
My car, I have ~3 years worth of filters (the CQ Blue and then 2 Bosch D Plus). After that, probably ST3600 every oil change.

Originally Posted By: copcarguy
All closeout RA stuff comes out of Sugar Land, TX. The shipping cost from that warehouse is the highest of any of their warehouses.
...

What is funny is I am 25 miles from that shipping facility (I used to work right by it). Even for me shipping kills the deal on less than ~8 filters. It would be nice if they had a Will Call window there, I could get some really decent deals that way, and just not accept the "bad" filters. But as said, I am done with them for just filters (if I am buying something else from them and can get a filter for no extra shipping and is on sale or clearance, I might).
 
The shipping costs usually sours the deal for me. It has to be something really expensive to save any money.
 
A couple of months ago, RA had some Hastings-made filters that crossed over to a Motorcraft FL820 for slightly under $1 each. I ordered more than a dozen. The manufacture date on these was 2014. After that order I also purchased over a dozen of Hastings-made filters for just a few cents over a $1 that crossed to the Fram 3600 and they also were only a few years old. I maintain a fairly large personal fleet and both of these filter numbers will be used up fast.
I will admit that closeouts on RA can be hit-and-miss, but if an oil filter can stand up to 10K miles of high heat, they can also stand up to a few years of just sitting on a shelf without deteriorating.
 
Originally Posted By: pbm
In 2015 I ordered some 'Wix' and Mobil 1 filters for my Zetec 2.0.
The Mobil 1's were OK but were made in 2008.
The so-called 'Wix' filters were K-Mart (yellow) Penske filters (probably made by Wix) that were made in the mid-1990s.....many had visible rust.
They gave me credit for several of the rusted filters but the experience soured me on Rock Auto oil filters.
Actually, the experience combined with their ridiculously high shipping rates has soured me on Rock Auto period.



They likely do what we used to with shipping rates at my last job. They'll quote you the full shipping rate from the shipper without the volume discount applied to pad the bottom line a little. It creates a little buffer for re-ships to cover damage or missing parts without eating into the possibly razor thin profit on the parts they're selling.
 
I view Rockauto just as another option when shopping around. Sometimes they win my business and other times they do not. Just have to be savvy sometime and know their shipping game and what a particular item is coming from. Then poke around and see if another branded part can be had that may have a higher base price but is closer and cheaper to ship.

Quite a few smaller independent shops around me using Rockauto almost exclusively for their filter and other consumables. So their economy of scale buying works out were a small DIY'er does not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top