Best Oil Filter for the Money?
 

I know this can change fairly quickly and I did some searches and couldn't find a 2018 or newer thread on this subject.

Anyone seen any fairly up-to-date recommendations/tests (given that most recommendations are paid advertisements disguised as recommendations today) on oil filters that do a great job filtering small particulates and that still have great flow, but don't break the bank?

I'd prefer a tall truck-style one as the extra surface area seems like it makes the good filtration and good flow goals easier to achieve.



Adam

Baldwin B6......

I've cut apart a few filters and from what I found I use Wix. Both Fram and AC-Delco use cardboard end caps and noticeably cheaper internals. The one that surprised me is the Walmart Supertech which actually looks really good inside. Anyway, Wix is readily available, good construction and is $5-$7 so that's where my search ended.

As far as using a tall truck filter, I guess do it if it makes you feel better but there's not benefit.

Watch some YouTube vids about the top six brands internal material quality. Most of those videos are non-bias. This forum will have 100s of bias favs.

I know nothing about a Baldwin filter so I will not comment, but will investigate. If you want a readily available quality filter the most popular choices are WIX or NAPA Gold, K&N, Mobil 1. I am pretty sure you can get the long WIX / NAPA filters. I don't know about the others. There are cheaper prices available but good and cheap don't always go hand in hand. I'm beginning to lean towards the K&N because of the 1" nut on the end that makes removal a breeze. I only change my C6 and C3 once a year so a couple extra $'s is not an issue to me.

Baldwin filters have been a long-time favorite, on the 'Bob Is The Oil Guy" website.....

NAPA Gold, which is made by Wix.

Lars

Tall truck filter, take your pick, I've never had a problem with any oil filter.

Fram PH373
Napa 1794
Wix 51794
STP 373
AC Delco PH932
Hastings LF226

Oil filter Cross Reference

I've been using NAPA gold forever so great to hear that. (We bought them by the truckload from the "Napa guy" on my family farm.)

I can get the NAPA Gold 1069 filters for $8 and I think they're the same as the WIX 51069.

The Baldwin B6s sound really nice and I like the 53 pleats vs. 47 in the NAPA Gold / WIX filters but I can't find them for under $11.26 with free shipping and the increase in price seems more than the increase in performance.



Adam

Bigger/Taller Truck filters don't make a difference? Seriously, there is no benefit? Let's think about that concept that more surface area for oil filtering has no engine protection benefit? Soooo..I guess GM put bigger filters on truck engines that might work harder for no additional benefit for the engine...OMG!

Would anyone's recommendation change for a "Break-in filter"?

Would I want more filtration capability in a filter that I use during engine break in or more flow or just use a NAPA gold filter there, too?



Adam

Yea. I was going to let it go quietly but I have to agree. Given the same filter MATERIAL, a larger surface area is obviously going to flow more and with more total particulate fouling up the filter.

Having said that looking at prices the NAPA Gold standard-sized 1069 filter is $7.99 and the NAPA Gold Truck Filter is $18.20 so over DOUBLE price. So I guess if you're going with long-life synthetic oil being able to go more miles before the filter fouls might eventually get you financially ahead as the oil cost during an oil change is going to be more significant than the filter costs either way...

On the other side: If you're going to change your oil every 3,000 miles or 12 months no matter what a cheaper standard-sized filter will do just fine.

Adam

Adam,

I have used a Mobil 1or AC Delco truck filter on my L-82 for the last 30 years. I broke in the rebuilt L-82 roller cammed 355 in 2014 with a Mobil 1 truck filter and changed the breakin oil and mobil 1 filter immediately after the 30 minute breakin and then quick on the road ring seating procedure. I put on another mobil 1 truck filter for the next 500 miles...and then again with a mobil 1 filter......zero oil consumption 5 years on now.......

Mobil 1 M1 302A $10 at Walmart......................Cant beat the price for a quality Mobil 1 Truck Filter

Fram HP4 or the Wix

Put me down for Napa Gold or Wix Gold.

Some of the Walmart "SuperTech" filters are now made by Wix and look like the Napa/Wix filters. I haven't torn into one yet to see if it's the "silver" version or cheaper.

For a C3 with flat tappet cam, I'd be far more worried about getting enough ZDDP in the oil than the oil filter. Run an oil analysis on what you're draining and look for at least 1200ppm Zinc. If it's lower than that, you're very likely to experience a cam failure. Don't ask me how I know this (or how many times I've seen it happen in the past 5 years).

I also always use Napa Gold or Wix.

Mike

Napa 1069 here. I just did my yearly oil change last weekend and have always used Napa gold filters with no problems. My last Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 was still going strong at 333000 miles when I sold it, and I had done almost 300000 miles of oil changes with Napa gold filter (I bought it with 50000 on it). I'm hoping my current Grand Cherokee 4.0 goes as far as trouble free as the last one.

DUB recommended the Wix 51069. I've been using that on both cars. As pointed out, that is almost certainly the same filter as the Napa Gold 1069.

I agree WIX or NAPA Gold. But then, if you look at the construction of the Fram Synthetic you'd find they're pretty good too, way better than the cheap line.

If you really want to know then look up some of the filter cutting threads on other forums. Lots of good pictures.

The standard car length filter for a small block is about 1.5X to 2X the diameter of most of the current car and some truck model GM filters and those smaller filters are on engines that GM is warrantying for 100,000 miles as well as specifying very long oil change intervals. Just saying, "accidentally" using a car filter is nothing to freak out about.

I wouldn't buy a Fram filter to put on MY engine, if YOU paid me! WIX or NAPA Gold (made by WIX). I have access to the NAPA filters; I can only buy the WIX filters via the internet....and the web can put anything in a WIX box. :toetap: