No More Fram Oil Filters for Me!!

I have been using Fram filters for decades... and for the last 10 years on my car that has 200k miles on it now.

 

Used to be the industry standard.

Been using NAPA Gold for a long time now.

 

Why was the fram ripped apart and the others had the element neatly cut out?

 

Fram was always bottom barrel for filters. In the family shop, WIX was always the primary choice, but it is important to remember that there are only a couple of filter manufacturers out there so the same filter will have different names. Baldwin filters (right here in Nebraska) is one of the manufacturers and build filters for Napa, K and N, Amsoil, etc. If you can find a Baldwin model to fit your application, go with it or else a Wix filter, but avoiding Fram is a good idea.

Fram actually made a great marketing move decades ago by being the most common oil filter found on racing engines. People saw that and assumed they must be the highest quality standard out there, but racing motors don't require much of a filter (actually, many don't even run a filter) since the motors get rebuilt every season and sometimes more than once. As a result, racers buy the cheapest filter for the job....aka Fram.

 

I believe the fellow suggested that the Fram ripped/fell apart because of the cheap cardboard ends.

 

Well, Fram's website sucks. I've bought the wrong filter twice now.
I used to swear by them.

 

Brand establishment and bottom line management are the keystones of every large industry now.
Establish the brand, then gut the product to increase profits for shareholders.

 

either Wix or Hastings

 

Yup, somewhere along the timeline, Fram became the cheap alternative. Old time Fram fan converted to Wix believer for a long time now.

 

Oil related failures disappeared 30 years ago. Oil is the real filter, not the filter. As long as you change the oil (and the dirt it captures) It doesn't matter. At all.

 

I pretty much use what is on sale. Since I use synthetic oil, Valvoline Synthetic, the sale package five quarts plus a filter normally upgrades past the FRAM filter. So I don’t use them by accident.

 

I don't. If that's happening and it matters to engine life, warranty work will spike, law suits and contract cancellations will ensue, and Fram fixes it or defaults. Unless you think we are at the dawn of before/after functional breakdown with Fram products, I'd say its been pretty quiet in the oil-related repair world out there.

 

I remember my dad changing his oil back in the 1950s-60s. We'd watch him and learned about car maintenance that way.
You used to remove the canister, pull the filter out and just replace it, and then screw it back on. A little messy, but more environmentally friendly that the way they do it now. It was interesting to see the stuff stuck to the outside of the filter. Sandy looking metal particles, oily mud sediment, missing marbles and army men. Just kidding about the toys.

 

It's so funny , reading about car maintenance on US dominated forums. Many guys in the US haven't moved out of the 60's yet , ESP regarding oil and filters.
Fram filters suck , or " I will only use Mann filters in my Volvo "............guess what , people ?
The best filters for your vehicle are the ones from the manufacturer , and they aren't expensive.

 

Did an oil change and went to the dump yesterday.

I used to use Fram filters exclusively. Saw that YouTube video. Might be a shill to promote other brands...

Still. Bought a 5 quart jug of Mobil 1. Went with the Mobil 1 filter.

Engines simply do not wear when you use Mobil 1 although there are a few caveats.

My old air cooled VWs don't have a filter. Operative term there is "air cooled". Mobil 1 lasts as long as it does by rejecting heat. Probably not what I want in an air cooled motor...

What I want in my old VW is classic non- detergent lawn mower oil. Any grunge the oil picks up will get plastered on the inside walls of my engine case. Case gets cleaned when I rebuild my motor. Doesn't hurt it to tear it down, run a hone down the cylinders and re- seal it.

My clutch lives in my engine oil on my motorcycles. I want something like Lucas synthetic motorcycle oil.

You should see some of the crap I fish out of my old British bikes. They have a "sludge trap", a centrifugal trap inside the crank. Trap fills up, I lose oil pressure.

I picked a 3/8" long piece of piston ring off the magnet on my oil drain plug on one of my bikes. Got all paranoid and tore the top end down. Rings were fine.

Must be one of my buddies dropped a piece of piston ring into my engine just to mess with me.

 

The filter for my car is plastic with a paper filter element. Nowhere near as complex as the old school type. I suppose the paper may be different among brands, but I just use the OEM. I also use the syphon method for changing oil now. Much easier than getting underneath the car, and I actually know someone that was crushed to death while working underneath their car. Not good.

 

Fran HP1 used to be the standard filter for hot rod VWs. I now use an Oberg with the washable 20 micron screen to catch build debris and check for breakin metal. All my hipo engines and stocker use Valvoline racing straight weight oils. Think Zink for flat tappit cams.
Anything else that uses a roller cam gets Mobil1 at the manufactures recommended weight. Mobile1 filters for everything else. I’ll use Subie filters on my fleet if I can get a deal on a 6 pack of them.
My Hot Rod VWs get a Wix, Mobile1filters.