Oil filter test on Finnish car magazine

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OpelFever

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I thought this might be of interest to the BITOG community as there are lots of people cutting their filters open etc.

The tested filter was the basic Toyota canister-type found on most gasoline-engined Toyotas. The grading follows the same principle as elementary school here (4-10) meaning:

10= Outstanding
9= Exellent
8= Good
7= Satisfactory
6= Fair
5= Pass
4= Fail

The overall grade comprises of filtration efficiency (60%), filter life (30%) and ease of use (10%).


Mann-Filter ***** 9,3
Toyota OEM ***** 9,1
M-Filter **** 8,7 (Domestic brand)
Teho filter **** 8,7 (Domestic brand)
Filtron **** 8,3
Fram *** 7,9
Purflux *** 7,8
AMC filter ** 7,7
Biltema ** 7,7
Hengst ** 7,5 (The first tested filter was defective)
Knecht ** 7,3

The same magazine tested Volvo filters some years ago with the OEM Volvo filter being the best and Bosch, Fiaam, Fram and Mann-filter tieing for second place. So the Mann-filter seems to be exellent and have consistant quality.

Questions and comments are welcome, I can write in more detail if there is interest.
 
The standard used was ISO 4548-12 and the filters where subjected to A3-test particles meeting ISO 12103-1 that where 1-100 microns in size. The amount of particles was measured before and after the filter in 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 micron sizes.
 
Filter life was measured by adding particles until the by-pass would open and no filtration would occur. This amount of particles was measured in grams, Knecht and Mann Filter where the best, both measuring 13,8 grams and AMC being the worst with only 2,3 grams.
 
With all the bashing that Fram gets on this forum, it's interesting that it tested above such well known brands as Hengst and Knecht/Mahle. I wonder which specific Fram model they tested. Were there pictures in the article? Was it the OCD one?
smile.gif
 
There is a pictre of each filter and its box but they are pretty small, the Fram is a PH4967, all-black with white print so luckily its not the OCD.
laugh.gif
I've only seen the orange can of death on American cars, not sure if they make/sell it for Euro/Asian cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
With all the bashing that Fram gets on this forum, it's interesting that it tested above such well known brands as Hengst and Knecht/Mahle. I wonder which specific Fram model they tested. Were there pictures in the article? Was it the OCD one?
smile.gif




No kidding! Funny thing is I had never heard one bad thing about fram until the internet came along. LOL>
 
Oh, OK. The PH4967 is the extra guard one... I'm guessing it received max points for "ease of use" due to the sure grip top.

1llx4.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Krazymatt
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
With all the bashing that Fram gets on this forum, it's interesting that it tested above such well known brands as Hengst and Knecht/Mahle. I wonder which specific Fram model they tested. Were there pictures in the article? Was it the OCD one?
smile.gif




No kidding! Funny thing is I had never heard one bad thing about fram until the internet came along. LOL>


Im actually quite shocked on how bad the Knech/Mahle and Hegnst did as In my mind they were quality filters like the Mann-filter.
 
Funny thing is that the Fram in the picture is different than the one tested despite the same number. The one in the test is black metal and has no end-cap. Wonder whats up with that?
 
Originally Posted By: OpelFever
Im actually quite shocked on how bad the Knech/Mahle and Hegnst did as In my mind they were quality filters like the Mann-filter.

Me too. I always thought of them as interchangeable. Another words, I was under the impression that they provide very comparable performance.

I know the test was for spin-on filters, but when it comes to cartridge inserts, the Knecht/Mahle one for my car actually looks better made than Mann. No idea about performance differences though...
 
@OpelFever:

Can you link to the magazine site if they have one?

If not could you scan a couple of pages?

Thanks.
 
The magazine just arrived today so they haven't yet written an article on their website. As for scanning, the paper allows only articles that are at least one year old to be scanned and distributed for non-commercial use. I'll wait for someone else to go public with it and take the heat
blush.gif
 
OpelFever,thank you for the interesting info!

Fram Europe filters are made and distributed by Sogefi Filtration,the same company that produces Purflux-that may explain the narrow results.

Filtron is a Wix company.
I'm surprised too by how Hengst and Knecht performed...but I prefer Mann oil filters anyway.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: OpelFever
Im actually quite shocked on how bad the Knech/Mahle and Hegnst did as In my mind they were quality filters like the Mann-filter.

I had been using Hegnst cartridge filter in my E430 many times. The condition of the media at the end of OCI of 12-13k miles was very good. Currently I'm having some Bosch and Hegnst filters in my stash.

I'm surprise that Knech/Mahle and Hegnst did poorly in this test.
 
Originally Posted By: Rollins
OpelFever,thank you for the interesting info!

Fram Europe filters are made and distributed by Sogefi Filtration,the same company that produces Purflux-that may explain the narrow results.

Filtron is a Wix company.
I'm surprised too by how Hengst and Knecht performed...but I prefer Mann oil filters anyway.


Thats good to know about Purflux and Fram, Im not as familiar with them as Wix/Filtron which we have at work.
Judgeing by filter construction and appearance, Opel/Saab/GM OEM filter are made by Wix/Filtron and they are very cheap. There has been problems with the filter media coming lose from the canister.
Because of this we use M-Filter in these applications allthough about 60% of the filters we use are Filtron.

The Opel OEM filter only costs 3,30€ compared to the Toyota OEM which is 11,20€
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: OpelFever
Funny thing is that the Fram in the picture is different than the one tested despite the same number. The one in the test is black metal and has no end-cap. Wonder whats up with that?
This is a "Finnish car magazine" - perhaps FRAM goes through different manufacturing over there....and thus a different filter color? Odd.....but could be.

Almost as if FRAM is going for the "highest bidder" to manufacture filters in Finland....? lol.....who knows.
 
The filter life part is interesting as the Toyota OEM filter could manage up to 11 grams of particles. The OCI is 15000km so theoretically the MANN-filter (13,8 grams) could go up to 18800km before clogging while the AMC one (2,3 grams) could barely manage 3100km.
I was cheap enough to put the AMC in my dads car, it's definately going to be changed out ASAP now that I've seen the test. I have the Filtron OP572 in my car and I'm glad it did much better.
Good excuse to pick up some Mann-Filters tomorrow
wink.gif
 
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