I purchased a pipe cutter at Canadian Tire today so I can finally open those sub 3inch diameter subaru filters. There are two official filters below, the black Tokyo Roki and the Quaker State 14612, and 3 others that are a little longer and work on the subaru.

We'll start with the slightly longer options. First off a FRAM PH7317:










Next up the Pennzoil PZ09, aka Purolator Classic:













Next is a Napa Professional 1356, aka Napa Gold:

That fram looks great.

They all do.

can I wear gloves too?

Thx, WEBFORS, I can smell the clean, crisp Canadian air blowing right through those photos! The wix/napa cartridge looks tiny, and the 51356 is the larger one for ACURA, Nissan, Mitsu application IIRC? I'm stuck with the SOA OEM 12A blue fram cans till warranty is up; if the car wasnt knocking and I wasn't worried about throwing a moving part out of the engine, Id run something else

Here are the two 'officially' spec'd filters for the Forester:



First the QS 14612, aka Purolator Classic:








Next is the Tokyo Roki 15208AA100:













And all the filters lined up side by side. From left to right we have the P Classic 14612, Tokyo Roki, P Classic 14610, Fram PH7317, and finally the Napa Gold 1356:

I'll be honest, I was more impressed with the spec'd filters (the QS and Tokyo Roki). They were very well made, lots of solid even pleats and no sign of degradation.

By looking at the pics above, it's hard to make an argument in favor of a larger/longer filter when the smaller ones appear to have just as much, maybe even more, media. The small height of the Tokyo Roki and the QS (aka Purolator Classic) and tight even pleats makes for very sturdy filter media. I was expecting less from the Classic and was expecting the Tokyo Roki to be a much better filter. When in fact, they are very close and I would choose one or the other depending on price. Since the P Classic is the only available of the two (The roki is discontinued), and the fact that it's much less expensive, would win my vote of all the filters in the line up.

Only if you want to be super awesome like me!!

Nothing wrong with the Napa gold. It's a very well made filter with lots of tight pleats. The P Classic 14610 and PH7317 are definitely taller than the Napa gold, so if I had to choose one of the three it would be the P Classic. But in the Subaru application you get to use these smaller filters like the Roki and P Classic 14612 which appear to be very well made, and IMHO I would choose them over the taller "oversized" options.

Wow, that pipe cutter did a great job. Any trouble with it? I may need to pick one of those up.

All the filters look fine to me. I continue to use the Honeywell 15208AA12A on my Forester. They do great too.

Did you notice any different sounds or vibrations between all of them with cold start-ups or normal operation?

I like the Tokyo Roki the best out of these. Appears to be very well assembled.

I like your tool! Where can I get one?

Home Depot, plumbing dept.

What, no PureOne PL14610 or PL14459? I like the silicone ADBV and the better media.

The new pipe cutter is easier to use than the two 'oil filter cutters' I've purchased over the past year. Cost was $40 with a lifetime warranty from Canadian Tire since it's a Motomaster product.

I noticed no difference in engine operation with any of the filters, except the Fram and Napa, since neither of those have been used by me. The Fram came off the Honda Civic belonging to a friend.

The Subaru OEM filter made by Honeywell appears to be well made. However, I can buy the P Classic for $4 in Ogdensburg (upstate NY), so I'll most likely be buying a stash of those on my next trip over the bridge

Agreed. It is the filter that impressed me the most. The depth of media, number of pleats, bonding, etc. And it was the smallest filter of the bunch. So it's impressive that Tokyo Roki could fit that much filter in such a small can.