Mini Cooper OEM Purflux 5153 miles [cut open]

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This is a Purflux L358A cartridge filter, sold in a Mini branded box at American Mini dealers. It was in use for 5153 miles and about two and a half months. I used Castrol Edge 0W-30 European Formula for this whole interval. I sampled the oil at this change but I don't have the results back yet. As you can see the filter looks really great. No collapsing, no holes, no metal or grit in the media. The media was very strong, in fact it was difficult to cut with my utility knife.

I was curious how much of a size difference the zig zag pleats made, so I did a bit of measuring. The entire filter height, including the plastic end caps, is 2.75 inches. When I cut the filter media out and stretched out the zig zags, the filter media measured 3.75 inches. So that's 1 inch more media than the entire size of the filter, and if you subtracted another half an inch or so to account for the thickness of the end caps, then it's probably on the order of 1.5 inches more media (in that direction) than a non zig zag filter. The length of the media was 37 inches, which gives us 138.75 square inches of media. The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.

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Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.


It's a unique filter, but on a filter the same size with straight pleats, there will probably be quite a few more pleats. The 'zig-zag' doesn't allow as many pleats around the circumference.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.


It's a unique filter, but on a filter the same size with straight pleats, there will probably be quite a few more pleats. The 'zig-zag' doesn't allow as many pleats around the circumference.


Surface area is what matters. Not number of pleats. Zig zag wins.
 
Would like to see something like that for import and domestic applications. Seems like the zigzags add robustness to the media since it's already "wavy".
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.


It's a unique filter, but on a filter the same size with straight pleats, there will probably be quite a few more pleats. The 'zig-zag' doesn't allow as many pleats around the circumference.


I know what you're saying ZeeO, but I think if you look a bit closer, you'll see that the zig zags in fact "interlock" with one another, they aren't separated by an unusually large valley, so no more pleats could be in there if they were straight. It's probably easiest to see if you look at the end caps where the media is glued in; there's definitely not extra room.
 
Purflux est une marque Française. Les plis en chevron permettent de mettre plus de papier dans un même volume. C'est des excellents filtres à huile.
 
Originally Posted By: KingCake
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.


It's a unique filter, but on a filter the same size with straight pleats, there will probably be quite a few more pleats. The 'zig-zag' doesn't allow as many pleats around the circumference.


Surface area is what matters. Not number of pleats. Zig zag wins.


Not really ... surface area is also determined by the depth of the pleats. The only way zig-zag wins is if you compare the same sized filter with straight pleats and do an accurate media surface area measurement to compare the two.
 
Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: nicrfe1370
The same size filter without zig zag pleats would have a media surface area of 83.25 square inches.


It's a unique filter, but on a filter the same size with straight pleats, there will probably be quite a few more pleats. The 'zig-zag' doesn't allow as many pleats around the circumference.


I know what you're saying ZeeO, but I think if you look a bit closer, you'll see that the zig zags in fact "interlock" with one another, they aren't separated by an unusually large valley, so no more pleats could be in there if they were straight. It's probably easiest to see if you look at the end caps where the media is glued in; there's definitely not extra room.


Looking at the photo, it looks like there are only about 28~30 zip-zag pleats total. Look at some of the typical non-synthetic filters with straight pleats and they will have nearly twice that many pleats.
 
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