Christien the best thing to do is buy 3 or 4 filters at a time (along with crush washers and other maint. items) and keep a stock in your garage.

Around here WIX are easy to find... Both parts stores in town keep them..... And I consider our parts places to be crap.....




I always keep a supply of OEM filters on hand for all the cars....

Jake did an extensive comparison (cut open... with photos) of Fram and Bosch on his blog: Jake's Garage: Oil filters... more than you EVER wanted to know

Like anything else ( as said prior ) it's probably the most heavily advertised brand. As in: They SAY it's the best filter, I see it time after time as so.....so it must be? - All about brand recognition.

A good example is Thompson's Water Seal for wood products. Their product is only so-so at best when compared to others on the market. However they advertise the most. I dare anyone here to walk down an isle at a home-improvement store where wood preservative products are sold and NOT recognize that name and think to buy soley on the advertising

Very true about the effect of advertising. I have a coworker who's not a car guy and always used Fram filters. He isn't about saving a buck or two on filters, but "always" used Fram and it's the brand he recognized.

I like the no-slip grip on them. They were good enough for my 'domestic' vehicle when I used dino oil and changed them frequently.

Now that I've gone to synthetic and 6,000 mile changes I buy Wix.

my tip of the day. i keep a 12"x12" square of that nonslip counter liner in my garage. no much i cant twist off with the extra grip.

I use a strip of used emery cloth.

I use a strap wrench... or on the Porsche I have a Lisle filter cap with a 3/8" drive slot in it... Just pop an extension in that and spin right off... :D

Years ago - back in the days when the porschephiles mailing list was just one list - there was a person on there that had a 944 that blew the engine. He had his mechanic disassemble the engine only to find remnants of the Fram filter element all through the engine.

The saga continued on for a long time, but in the end Fram paid for the engine rebuild.

I don't use Fram because they don't have near as much filter media as Wix. That means they stop up quicker.

Your FHE is more valuable than my anecdotal observations. But it seems like (by far) the most common oil filter I see on a vintage F-car (from the 50s and 60s) is made by Fram. Or at least it's orange and black with all the Fram logos.

I based my comment on what I've seen at vintage races (where the cars are maintained by professional vintage race shops that trailer your racecar from event to event and serve as your crew/paddock/hospitality tent for the arrive-and-drive guys), as well as the rare occasions where an older F-car will show up at a cars and coffee event and the owner pops the hood for everyone to admire. Universally there's a bright orange Fram filter. Some of these cars cost more than I'll make in my entire lifetime, combined, yet they still run Fram.

they are on a lot of the gentlemen racers around here too that use fram filters.

but they also probably change the oil after every weekend if not every race. so the filter probably doesnt get used long enough to really warrent something that has a better reputation for durability.

Christien

The Motomaster filters are made by Fram. I think they also make the Quaker State as well. They have white and green as well as Orange in the plant.

Reg

I would guess that the FL-1 or whatever racing filter they run on Ferraris has better internals?

I know FRAM is no good and I don't buy them anymore but I used to run Pennzoil (fram) filters on a Jeep I sold every oil change. It never had a problem and I honestly don't know a single person thats had a problem because of an oil filter (any filter).

Yes, the Quaker State filters are exactly the same. Pick up two filters for the same model of car and even the stamping numbers on the metal are the same. Green and white paint must cost more.

Fram looks to have done a great job in advertising and marketing. Most places you go to has 90% of the shelf filled with Fram filters, i.e. WalMart and AutoZone. I had read that motorcycle guy study many years ago and stay with OEM on all my cars. If I can't find OEM, I have used Purolator PureOne, Mobil1 and K&N oil filters. I go with extended oil change intervals on daily drivers (supported by oil analysis) and therefore need a good filter.

George

Fram is absolutely the cheapest filter you can buy. OEM, WIX and Purolator are good, and only about $1 more on the average.

rjp

I've run Fram Hp-1 on all my sandrails and the vintage racer. No problems, no blown motors, no cardboard remnants. Also run purolator or motorcraft on the truck.

most of the Ferrari's with Fram filters probably never see much mileage before its time for the yearly oil change to even have to worry about it clogging up :p