Royal purple oil filters have gone downhill?

S

Sprite

Joined
Feb 18, 2020
Messages
4
Location
California
Hello all, I've been using Royal Purple oil filters for the past 8ish years and it seems the quality has gone down hill. The latest filter I received from Amazon had rust and an epoxy resin on it (see pictures).

Anyway, I contacted RP and it turns out they no longer "make" oil filters and told me to contact Champion Labs. So this is a PSA, Royal Purple oil filters are still around but Champion Labs now owns the rights to it.

I contacted Champion Labs and I'm waiting on a response. At this point I think I'm going to stop spending 20 dollars on an oil filter and just buy a Fram Ultra.

[Linked Image]
 
Royal Purple went downhill fast after the original owner/founder passed away. The in-laws had zero interest in carrying the prestige. All they saw were dollar signs. They hyped the brand up and sold it to the highest bidder (Calumet). Calumet had no interest in carrying on RP's boutique add packs. Over 95% of RP's staff either resigned or were let go during that acquisition. The brand is a shadow of what it once was.

I would just go with Fram Ultra filters.
 
Royal Purple doesn't make oil filters. Champ Labs has been the maker for many years, That's adhesive they use to seal the base plate parts. Rust is another thing, blame Amazon for what they are sending you. Date code?
 
Originally Posted by Farnsworth
Royal Purple doesn't make oil filters. Champ Labs has been the maker for many years, That's adhesive they use to seal the base plate parts. Rust is another thing, blame Amazon for what they are sending you. Date code?


This. The filters were always made by Champion Labs, these are probably old stock at this juncture and may be nearing the end of the production run, which might also explain the appearance.
 
I don't see any rust in the pic. Appears to me to be a little excess resin/glue Champ uses to seal and/or hold two portions of base/tapping plate together. Imo, harmless. Seen similar excess resin on Champ made filters posted here before. Now for the price paid for the RP, whether that is acceptable to the purchaser, individual call.
 
Can't really see the rust because of the low resolution picture, but it's on the lip next to the resin. I know it's probably harmless but I expect more when paying 20 dollars for a filter. It's okay, this was the push I needed to switch

I'm at work and don't have the date code right now, I already initiated a return to Amazon and purchased a Fram Ultra.
 
Originally Posted by Sprite
Anyway, I contacted RP and it turns out they no longer "make" oil filters and told me to contact Champion Labs. So this is a PSA, Royal Purple oil filters are still around but Champion Labs now owns the rights to it.

From the consumer-facing standpoint, that's bull on RP's behalf. Their name is on it, they market it, they should support it. That's a joke for them to tell you to contact a 3rd party that you have no relationship with.
 
I had rust on several RP oil filters I purchased through work at the auto parts store. Once I ordered multiple to find one that didn't have any rust they worked perfectly. But I got sick of ordering filters over and over again which is why I no longer use them. I stick to Wix, Wix XP, or OEM filters now. Based on the date codes some of the filters with rust weren't that old. I'd blame our warehouse but I've never had this on any other brand of filter, even with really old ones, so it's not our fault, it's something about the RP filters.
 
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Doesn't look bad, but I would never pay that kind of money for a Champion filter, or any other oil filter for that matter. Nothing against Champion, but you're paying a lot of extra money for a name that I never really cared much about anyway, even before their brand equity went down.
 
Calumet owns RP, Champ makes the filters. The RP ones I've used have an element similar to an Ultra, Fleetguard Stratapore, or Donaldson Blue synthetic filter. The cans are (were?) stronger than the Ultra, but at ~50-100% more, they better be!! I've gotten damaged RP filters from Amazon before, I'd imagine they probably don't sell well due to the excess $.
 
Any WM $7 filter or above will do just as good as that RP of not better. M1, Fram Ultra, Puro Boss, etc.
 
Sorry to laugh at you.... but what made you think a $20 junk oil filter from RP was any good in the first place? There are so many better filters out there for less money than these "pretty" purple pieces of junk....
 
I'm more of a lurker when it comes to things like this so I'll research something and kind of forget about it. 8 years ago I probably did some research and landed on royal purple oil filters and just kept buying it. I change my oil every 9 months ish so 20 dollars every 9 months seemed reasonable.

Anyway, here I am back in research mode and I landed on Fram Ultra. Enjoy your morning laugh at my expense
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by Sprite
I'm more of a lurker when it comes to things like this so I'll research something and kind of forget about it. 8 years ago I probably did some research and landed on royal purple oil filters and just kept buying it. I change my oil every 9 months ish so 20 dollars every 9 months seemed reasonable.

Anyway, here I am back in research mode and I landed on Fram Ultra. Enjoy your morning laugh at my expense
smile.gif


No laughing here. Lot's to learn on this site. Keep in mind though, the majority of site dwellers are bang for buck focused and cheapskates. Fram Ultra for $9 is a fantastic filter. Probably the best for the $$
 
Originally Posted by jayjr1105

No laughing here. Lot's to learn on this site. Keep in mind though, the majority of site dwellers are bang for buck focused and cheapskates. Fram Ultra for $9 is a fantastic filter. Probably the best for the $$


And that totally makes sense, no sense in spending more money than you need to. Here I am again in research mode and learning that.
 
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Royal Purple went downhill fast after the original owner/founder passed away. The in-laws had zero interest in carrying the prestige. All they saw were dollar signs. They hyped the brand up and sold it to the highest bidder (Calumet). Calumet had no interest in carrying on RP's boutique add packs. Over 95% of RP's staff either resigned or were let go during that acquisition. The brand is a shadow of what it once was.

I would just go with Fram Ultra filters.


^^This

Back in the day,RP was a true American made boutique product. Even their bottles were made here in Texas. Every one of their oils had the Synerlec add pack.
 
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