When I first began wrenchIng on my first cars, I learned to change the oil and oil filters. The only brand of oil filter I remember buying back in those days were Fram filters. I’m sure there were other brands available, but most of what my foggy memory can recall were store or “house brands”, Purolator, and Fram. I was likely drawn to the Fran brand because it was the only one in my area that was marketed heavily through advertising. I believe back in those days the brand was owned or a part of Bendix, which I associate with brakes for some reason.
Well, over the years, I drifted away to other brands and for a long time, I used either WIX, Bosch distance plus, Napa Gold, or my most recent use of Carquest premium. As long as the quality was good, I’ve always made a point to try to buy USA made products, including oil filters for my cars. Recently, I noticed at least some of the filter numbers that I purchase have been increasingly outsourced to Asia, and so I began looking at oil filter brands again, and wouldn’t you know, with the help of much of the discussion here on this forum, I “rediscovered“ Frams in their current iterations. I was in a Walmart recently and found the Ultras in stock and noticed something interesting. The filter for my Honda CRV does not show that it has any metal backing for the filter media, but the filter that I use for the Buick LeSabre actually does so. I am going to assume that this is older stock and that the demand for this particular filter is not as high as it once was. They are $14.88 each, but I’m OK with that as long as I’m getting the high efficiency rating that I prefer along with a filter that has good construction quality. I may go back to Walmart and pick up more of these since I’m learning that the Ultra line recently was redesigned without its wire backing. Although it’s true that I typically run 5000 mile OCI in replace the filter twice a year and so it could be, “much ado about nothing“, but then I think why not?
You know, I sometimes hear people say that they will “always” stay with a particular brand or that they will “never “use another brand. Well, ‘never’ and ‘ always ‘ are a very long time and after moving away from the “orange cans of death“ for so many years, I find it rather amusing that here I am today using Frams as they are now considered some of the best filters for efficiency and construction; at least for now anyways.
Well, over the years, I drifted away to other brands and for a long time, I used either WIX, Bosch distance plus, Napa Gold, or my most recent use of Carquest premium. As long as the quality was good, I’ve always made a point to try to buy USA made products, including oil filters for my cars. Recently, I noticed at least some of the filter numbers that I purchase have been increasingly outsourced to Asia, and so I began looking at oil filter brands again, and wouldn’t you know, with the help of much of the discussion here on this forum, I “rediscovered“ Frams in their current iterations. I was in a Walmart recently and found the Ultras in stock and noticed something interesting. The filter for my Honda CRV does not show that it has any metal backing for the filter media, but the filter that I use for the Buick LeSabre actually does so. I am going to assume that this is older stock and that the demand for this particular filter is not as high as it once was. They are $14.88 each, but I’m OK with that as long as I’m getting the high efficiency rating that I prefer along with a filter that has good construction quality. I may go back to Walmart and pick up more of these since I’m learning that the Ultra line recently was redesigned without its wire backing. Although it’s true that I typically run 5000 mile OCI in replace the filter twice a year and so it could be, “much ado about nothing“, but then I think why not?
You know, I sometimes hear people say that they will “always” stay with a particular brand or that they will “never “use another brand. Well, ‘never’ and ‘ always ‘ are a very long time and after moving away from the “orange cans of death“ for so many years, I find it rather amusing that here I am today using Frams as they are now considered some of the best filters for efficiency and construction; at least for now anyways.
