Twin_diesels said:
Well, I've used Baldwins and Wix pretty religiously. Where I work they started using Fram filters. When winter came around and the trucks that were outside started, it collapsed the filters (as we found out at oil changes). I'll spend a couple extra bucks on the WIX, Baldwin or Napa (made by wix). I know Caterpillar used to have thier filters made by WIX, now by Baldwin. Cat's usually pretty particular about things.
Yep, the guts ball up like a big ball of newspaper. I am not sure if they have changed them (FRAM) but in the old days, a Wix rep would buy any filter you had in the parts store and cut it open. He would do likewise with any part number Wix filter and there were definite differences. The Fram filters element was supported by cardboard end pieces, Wix was metal - Fram had a bent flat plate that was collapsed in case of a filter clog situation, looked like a thin piece of sheetmetal while Wix used a coil spring and seal.
We also were one of three parts stores that sold a Wix Powerstroke filter with a manufacturing defect. It trashed the motor on the one we sold. Wix put the owner in a new Powerstroke rental while they repaired his truck. They installed a new crate motor from Ford and took care of the problem. The rep said the whole deal cost Wix over $20,000.00 yet they stood by their product. The threads inside the filter were not cut properly, allowing a drop in oil pressure. Anyway, they fixed all three trucks and the owner, a local farmer, still will not buy anything but a Wix filter. We had a Fram filter explode in the parking lot of the garage, they gave us a new filter...so as I said, a Fram won't go on my wheel barrow! Hopefully they have improved, but Fram has a bad habit of spending Big $$$ on advertising and not on R&D, Wix on the other hand was never even heard of by 90% of our DIY business.
Just my .02 worth.
),K&N air and napa trans.
