I know that Mann, Hengst, and Mahle are all OEM filter manufacturers for the German marques. For many of the German motors you can get filters from 2 of the companies or maybe even 3.

The OEM in my motor is Hengst but you can get Mann as well. OEM Hengst can be had as cheap as $14 and the Manns are like $16ish.

This is the filter style:





Is there any real difference among these 3 companies? Maybe the number of pleats or something? I would assume they're equivalent.

I'd say they're all good. One thing I noticed in case of my 530i cartridge filters is that Mann version has cellulose ends while Mahle/Knecht has plastic ones. From a functional perspective, I doubt it matters though.

Never had any trouble using all 3 of those brands in my Mercedes vehicles. Use with confidence.

Does the cellulose absorb oil and particulate matter? Never bothered to look on mine at a change.

Hmm... good question. Judging by how hard it is and having an appearance of being slightly treated/coated with something, I would say no.

The cellulose might seal a little bit better than plastic. Might. Definitely splitting hairs but there was definitely a decision made on someone's part to not use plastic...possibly for cost.

Seal better? Those O-rings are there for a reason. And hopefully they get changed when the filter does.

The only O-ring is for the top of the cartridge housing. These sit inside of a cannister on the motor.

I don't know if there are any differences between the media in the different brands. However, with respect to price, don't read too much into the difference. My supplier varies from time to time. I tend to get Mahle, Mann, or German Bosch, whichever is cheapest. Sometimes that's Mahle, sometimes it's Mann, and sometimes it's Bosch. The price does fluctuate, from around $4.50 per filter to $5.50 per filter for my Audi. Whichever is cheaper wins the day.

Oh I don't. If the three are identical, I'll just get whichever is cheapest. Still, $13 for a filter sucks.

True...

Darn. I checked my supplier, and I can't get a better deal than that, either. I think Rock Auto sells a Beck Arnley for your application for around $9.

Only better deal I saw was some multi-packs sold by a dealer on eBay. GAP sells them for about $13.75 each. I typically buy one or two if I'm ordering something else to save on shipping.

Fram CH9690 is only $9 at Rockauto. The picture of Fram on Rockauto is wrong, the picture on Amazon is the correct one. If you buy 4-5 filters from Rockauto at once, the shipping cost is about $8 and that make the cost of each Fram CH9690 at about $11.

Another option: $12.60 for a Hengst at AutohausAZ. Free shipping if you order $50 worth (4 filters in this case).