All I know is the research that others have done indicates that the "Wal-Mart" and cheapo filters aren't what we should be using.
Of course not! Who would build anything they had pride in and use junk to maintain it?
That includes Fram, and those made by Fram, and just generally those you pay $5 or less for.
The FL-1a (spec'd by the same guys that engineered the engines) sells for $4.29 retail hereabouts. Of course, the fact that they have been used since the 50's, cover millions of cars and can be ordered/sold in pallet quantities may have something to do with it.
(Knize) disassembled the various NAPA filters and found they were the same inside, but the prices weren't.
Somebody will certainly make a fortune off of this one....IF this is true, NAPA is guilty of fraud, and since they are a nationwide co., throw the feds in the mix. I would imagine that the filters may LOOK the same to the uneducated eye (like mine), but are very different in actuality. Different micron filtering maybe? Number of folds? Boils down to trusting NAPA or a guy in his basement with a well designed website and a thesaurus.
Here are his opinions based on disassembly and evaluation thereof:
http://www.knizefamily.net/minimopar.../opinions.html
EXACTLY: His
OPINIONS! What is his backround? Is he qualified to make his comparisons? I don't mean to sound the way this probably does, but
I take the web with a large dose of salt....including the various experts lurking about (like the '
oil guy'). I tried to make the point that I think most of us 'overkill' our cars, and than look for the justifications later.
I see full tilt competition cars using the FL-1a (including the Rotella standards of yore on Cobras, GT350's and GT40's) and somehow we talk ourselves into assuming that it isn't good enough for a suburban blaster? Makes me wonder, thats all....