I like a good (good as in decent quality) bargain filter as much as anyone, so I have been curious about these "AutoExtra" filters that I've seen at RockAuto. I bought a few, and before I used one, I dissected it. Incidentally, I did the same with RockAuto's other bargain filter, "Pronto" (Korean manufacture) last year which you can see here.
Anyway, back to the AutoExtra. These seem to have been discussed surprisingly little here (that I can find anyway). The word did seem to have been that these were produced by Wix as primarily a jobber or economy brand, and that they were likely comparable to the Napa Pro Select filters.
Well, based on what I see here they do indeed look exactly like a Pro Select internally. This is the 51515 (FL1A) sized filter, and it has all of the characteristics of the Napa Pro Select...the unusual "chunky" ADBV, the same deep dimple in the closed end base plate for the coil spring, the same exact markings on the inside of the baseplate, and even the tiny little embossed "51515" on the base plate edge near the gasket.
I did not do a full media size comparison between the two, but this filter had 52 pleats, and the Napa Pro Select (same size filter) had a few more at 56.
There has been some comment about brittle media in the lower end Wix made filters, but this (unused) media felt fine...not at all brittle.
I have two more of these and I plan to use them with confidence.
The pics...
Anyway, back to the AutoExtra. These seem to have been discussed surprisingly little here (that I can find anyway). The word did seem to have been that these were produced by Wix as primarily a jobber or economy brand, and that they were likely comparable to the Napa Pro Select filters.
Well, based on what I see here they do indeed look exactly like a Pro Select internally. This is the 51515 (FL1A) sized filter, and it has all of the characteristics of the Napa Pro Select...the unusual "chunky" ADBV, the same deep dimple in the closed end base plate for the coil spring, the same exact markings on the inside of the baseplate, and even the tiny little embossed "51515" on the base plate edge near the gasket.
I did not do a full media size comparison between the two, but this filter had 52 pleats, and the Napa Pro Select (same size filter) had a few more at 56.
There has been some comment about brittle media in the lower end Wix made filters, but this (unused) media felt fine...not at all brittle.
I have two more of these and I plan to use them with confidence.
The pics...
