SuperTechs popped back up at my local WM

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Towncivilian

Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
918
Location
Florida, USA
I saw a couple ST3614s pop back up in the oil filter section at my local WalMart.

20120728_204817.jpg


I guess these were just found in the stockroom or at the TLC shop and were put back on the shelf to get rid of.

There was also a hang tag near the Purolator Classics with interchange part numbers of common ST and PC filters. I believe it had a heading of something like "Using SuperTech filters? Consider a Purolator Classic". I don't have a picture of it, though.
 
The warehouse found another box and dumped them onto the first truck out. From looking at the price tag I can tell they are not on the modular layout. They squeezed them in there.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes you will see a "plan-a-gram" page stuck in the isle. It lists how the shelves are to be arranged by corporate. But locally if they get some inventory, the stock people find a place.

So if ST filters are on the "plan-a-gram" then they might be coming back. Otherwise as others have said, it was returns or a leftover box that was delivered.
 
I've got a '99 Suzuki Swift (basically a Geo Metro clone) that uses the 3614-numbered oil filters. It has about 115K miles on it. About a week ago I changed oil in this car, took off a SuperTech ST3614, cut it open, and examined the media. Since I've owned it, my service internals on this car have been about every 3K miles. (Reason for that mentioned later)
Now a little history on this car: I bought it several years ago when I thought gas was going to hit $10 a gallon. I saw the service history on it and the previous owner did 15K service intervals performed at WM with them using SuperTech oil and SuperTech oil filters. I was really leery about buying the car, but gas was going up about $.20 a week at that time, so I rolled the dice....
My first oil change had me use a 5W-30 oil and all went well...for about 2K miles. Then the oil light started coming on at idle. It turns out that the oil pump pickup screen was plugged up. I dumped the oil and filter, cleaned the screen, and started using 15W-40 diesel oil with about 20% MMO for about 10K miles, changing the oil every 2500 miles. I have stopped using the MMO, went back to a 5W-30 and oil pressure is back to normal.
ANYWAY, I just took off probably the last SuperTech ST3614 oil filter that I owned, cut it open and looked at the media. I was surprised at how much media this filter actually had, with more pleats that what previous Wix or Purolator PureOne have had for this application. The media had a lot of hard material in it, so much so that I'm going to continue with the 3K service intervals, probably using classic Purolators or Wix from now on. As mentioned, MMO is no longer being used as I feel that the oil is doing it's job and there is not a need for MMO any longer.
For this application, one that is easy on an oil filter, the SuperTech E-core was a good filter.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Donald
Sometimes you will see a "plan-a-gram" page stuck in the isle. It lists how the shelves are to be arranged by corporate. But locally if they get some inventory, the stock people find a place.

So if ST filters are on the "plan-a-gram" then they might be coming back. Otherwise as others have said, it was returns or a leftover box that was delivered.


They are not. If you look to the right of the bar code, there is a number. On the Supertech its zero and on the Fram to the right it is one. That is the number of 'facing' on the shelf for that particular item. Supertech is zero because it isnt on the plan.
 
Originally Posted By: Towncivilian


There was also a hang tag near the Purolator Classics with interchange part numbers of common ST and PC filters. I believe it had a heading of something like "Using SuperTech filters? Consider a Purolator Classic". I don't have a picture of it, though.


I saw a tag like that at my local WM today. Interesting. I guess WM had gotten enough feedback from non-BITOG people wanting to know what happened to the STs.
 
Wal-Mart would never sit on that ST inventory.

Fram has had production problems and I'd say it's very likely that WM asked Champ to fill the holes until the Fram production is back to 100%. Obviously since Champ will be sitting on the ST product from earlier this year...they'll have enough to fill for a few runs.
 
Originally Posted By: Hannibal
Wal-Mart would never sit on that ST inventory.

Fram has had production problems and I'd say it's very likely that WM asked Champ to fill the holes until the Fram production is back to 100%. Obviously since Champ will be sitting on the ST product from earlier this year...they'll have enough to fill for a few runs.


I doubt that. Champion Labs is now owned by FRAM. So WM would have to be asking FRAM to do a special run and that does not make sense either.

My money is with the others that the particular store in question here just made an exception with some loose stock and fit it in for sale.
 
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: Hannibal
Wal-Mart would never sit on that ST inventory.

Fram has had production problems and I'd say it's very likely that WM asked Champ to fill the holes until the Fram production is back to 100%. Obviously since Champ will be sitting on the ST product from earlier this year...they'll have enough to fill for a few runs.


I doubt that. Champion Labs is now owned by FRAM. So WM would have to be asking FRAM to do a special run and that does not make sense either.

My money is with the others that the particular store in question here just made an exception with some loose stock and fit it in for sale.


You'd doubt wrong then. Fram and Champ are both owned by the Rank Group. The parent company of both is UCI which Rank oversees. Both Fram and Champ are being operated "separately" even though Fram product is being shipped out of Champ facilities. I understand it's the internet, but believe me...I know what I'm talking about.

Neither Champ nor Fram would be doing special runs...they wouldn't have to. WM sent back any stock to Champ that wasn't taken care of by Purolator in the original modular reset. Champ will be sitting on plenty of the inventory since it was a private label and won't be able to re-work it into different brands easily. Since Fram and Champ are under the same umbrella, Fram may have offered to replace what they couldn't make with ST product or the buyer called Champ to fill the holes.

Of course...no one has to believe any of this...
 
Originally Posted By: Hannibal
...............

Of course...no one has to believe any of this...


Rest assured, most will not.
 
Why would they go though the trouble of sending the filters back? Only reason to do that is if it the product is defective or on recall. Either someone returned a bunch of filters (someone speak up here! I know it was a BITOG person as no one else would buy that many filters.) or the warehouse dumped some inventory into the first truck they came across.
 
Last edited:
This may not be relevant to anything, but just FYI. Back in the day, parts suppliers would change over a parts store, a warehouse distributor, or even a whole chain. They would "stock lift" the old merchandise and replace it item for item with the new brand. Sometimes with updating the inventory, but nearly always with some kind of "sweetener", a discount, a credit, free stuff, etc. The old parts were often sold off to expeditors who got rid of it. Sometimes it would go overseas, but often wound up being sold directly to mom and pop parts stores for deep discounts. I bought a few of these deals. Gates belts at $2.00 each, stuff like that. Don't be surprised if you go into Billy Bob's repair shop some day and see a s**t load of Supertech filters.
 
Do SuperTech filters have manufacturing dates stamped on them? If so, that might clarify this entire thread. None of my local Walmarts have put STs back on the shelf, at least not yet.
 
Hmm...that was produced on October 20th...of 2011.

Like I said before...Champ will be sitting on the inventory and easily could send back a few runs of filters to fill the holes while Fram works on getting production up to 100%.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

eljefino
Traveller 85w140 found at Walmart
Replies
2
Views
811
JHZR2
K
Bosch 3334 doesn't thread onto my son's 2012 Silverado 5.3? Rock Auto refunds my money.
Replies
5
Views
1K
John105
T
Warning about SuperTech MP3614
2
Replies
27
Views
11K
MParr
Wrenchturner44
Recent Oil Filter Buying Experience
2
Replies
27
Views
5K
ARCOgraphite
A
High-end filters out at WM??
Replies
9
Views
2K
Snagglefoot
Back
Top