How to choose the best oil filter for your engine

Learn how to choose the best oil filter for your vehicle

Choosing the right oil filter for your car is crucial to ensure the longevity and efficiency of your engine. Oil filters play a vital role in trapping contaminants and ensuring clean oil circulates through the engine. With numerous options available on the market, chooseing the best oil filter can be a daunting task. This guide will provide you with the knowledge to make an informed decision.

Understanding Oil Filters

Oil filters are designed to remove contaminants like dirt, metal particles, and carbon from the engine oil. Over time, engine oil can collect debris, which, if left unfiltered, can cause significant wear and tear on the engine’s internal components. A high-quality oil filter ensures that only clean oil reaches the engine, maintaining its performance and extending its lifespan.

The key features to consider when choosing an oil filter

1) The Filter Media is the most important factor— Not the size of the filter, nor the design of the can

The material inside the filter that traps contaminants is called the filter media. Common materials include cellulose, synthetic, and microglass.

• Cellulose: Typically cheaper and has larger pores, capturing particles down to 20-40 microns.
• Synthetic: Made from polyester or fiberglass, offering better filtration efficiency, trapping particles as small as 10 microns.
• icroglass: The most advanced, providing superior filtration and longer lifespan.

Which specifications are most important?

Dirt holding capacity is a meaningless term

Some filter manufacturers post their filter’s particulate holding capacity in grams. That’s a meaningless specification in most cases. Sure, you want your oil filter to capture and hold metallic particles, but if your engine is giving off enough metallic particles that you need to see a particulate holding capacity, you’ve got much bigger problems. In the past, road dirt that got past the air filter was a big concern. But that isn’t an issue in late-model vehicles.

The filter’s nominal rating and efficiency are the critical specifications to look for

A filter that lists a NOMINAL rating must also have an EFFICIENCY rating for the rating to mean anything. For example, a filter can list a 30-micron nominal rating with a 20% efficiency. That means it filters out 20% of particles that are 30 microns or larger. In other words, it’s not a very efficient filter because it allows 80% of 30-micron particles to pass through.

However, a filter with a 30-micron ABSOLUTE rating will filter out 100% of all particles 30-microns and larger.

Does the filter’s overall can size matter?

Does a larger filter do a better job than a small-sized filter?

Not a bit. If you think a larger filter traps more contaminants, think again. If you really want to know how to buy an oil filter, know this: oil filter size has nothing to do with an oil filter’s efficiency. In fact, oil filter size, the number of pleats, and the construction of the filter end caps have absolutely nothing to do with filter efficiency. Neither does filter brand (more on that later). If you see an oil filter comparison study that compares filters by the overall size or number of pleats, it’s a bogus study.

Forty years ago, filter manufacturers had about three different types of filter papers to use in oil filters. Today they can choose from over 80 different types of filter media, from cellulose to synthetic glass to non-woven polypropylene fabrics. So, a filter made with these newer materials can be more efficient, smaller, and have fewer pleats than a conventional filter made with older filter media.

How to choose an oil filter—it’s all about mileage ratings

So, what information can you use to buy an oil filter? The filter company’s filter life rating. If you own a late-model vehicle, chances are you’re using an extended oil change interval schedule. If your owner’s manual recommends changing oil at 7,500 or 10,000 miles, you must install a filter that’s rated for that interval. If you install an economy filter that’s rated for 3,000 miles but go the full 10,000 miles, trust me, your filter will quit working way before you change your oil.

Premium quality oil filters are made with top-quality materials like silicone backflow valves instead of nitrile, multiple layers of different types of filter medial, backing screens to prevent pleat collapse, and reliable bypass valves.

Does the oil filter brand count?

Brand means very little. Each oil filter manufacturer makes economy, OEM and premium quality oil filters. They make them under their own brand name and also private label their oil filters for other companies and auto parts stores. Plus, oil filter manufacturers are bought and sold like a Monopoly game.

Here’s an example. If you search the Internet, you’ll find horrible reviews on Fram oil filters. If you check the sources of that information, you’ll discover that most of that information about Fram is unscientific, biased, and outright false.

Fram was owned by Allied Signal, which then bought Bendix and Honeywell. Honeywell’s consumer products division made Fram, Autolite spark plugs, Bendix brakes, and Prestone. In 2011, Honeywell sold Fram, Autolite, and Prestone to The Rank Group, a privately held company in New Zealand. The Rank Group subsequently bought Champion Labs, maker of air and oil filters, Airtex fuel pumps and Autolite spark plugs.

Today, Fram is owned by First Brands Group.

First Brands owns Anco, Trico wiper blades, Airtex fuel pumps, Carter fuel products, Cardone rebuilders, Centric brake products, Raybestos brake products, Hopkins trailer accessories, DrawTite, Carlson brake products, Autolite spark plugs, StrongArm lifts, Reese trailer accessories, Wesbar, Westfalia, Tekonsha, Fulton, and Bargman.

Now let’s look at some other oil filter brands like Purolator, Wix and Bosch.

• German company MANN+HUMMEL owns the Wix, Filtron, and Purolator brands
• The Hastings and Baldwin filter brands are owned by Carcor which was purchased by Parker Hannifin Corporation Filtration Group on Feb 28, 17.

So, the majority of all oil filters worldwide are made by just four companies:

First Brands, MANN+HUMMEL, Kuefner-filter and Parker Hannifin Corporation Filtration Group

Four major oil filter brands

©, 2017 Rick Muscoplat

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