oil filter selection / thank you

[Island]

Good day, I just bought my girlfriend an E46, and now the learning curve begins…

My first question… I see on the parts site, there are two different brands of oil filters:

Brand: Hengst 11-42-7-512-300-M45 $5.00

Brand: Mann 11-42-7-512-300-M63 $6.50

Brand: Mahle 11-42-7-512-300-M67 $8.25

Is one brand better than another brand? Is the Mahle worth $3.25 more than the Hengst? And finally, what company manufactures the BMW factory filers? Than would probably be the best way to go, correct?

Have an excellent day,

Island

[KNS]

Island, I have an E46 and also do my own oil changes. All three of the brands are German OEM and supply filters to BMW. If you buy a filter from the dealer it will say "BMW" on it but will have been manufactured by any of those three. I think most people will say Mahle and Mann are best.

[Island]

Thank you Kurt. I think I will be going with the Mann filters.

Have an excellent day!

[Jeron]

I've been using Mann for a couple of years on my E46 and they are well built and it looked the same as the BMW filter, IIRC. I recently bought a Hengst and when I first saw it I thought it looked cheap. Now after comparing it to the Mann it is obvious the design of the Hengst is very different but not necessarily inferior.

The Hengst has a hard plastic top and bottom ring and a felt seal top and bottom. The Mann is a injected foam "ring" but no seal. Since I've had no problems with Mann I'll probably stick with them.

On my E36 I use Mahle. They are very well built. I think Mahle is what the dealer stocks.