The main purpose of oil filters is to screen the oil before it flows through the engine. It removes the impurities from the oil which can damage the engine by causing wear and tear.
Generally, we recommended replacing your oil filter after every two oil changes. A good quality engine oil alone cannot ensure the efficient working of the engine, we must have a good oil filter to back it as well.
There are a lot of brands in the market who sell their products with high promises and fake advertisements, that’s why we are here to point out all such brands which are to be avoided when planning to change your oil filter.
In this article, we have put together a list of all the oil filter brands you should avoid and laid a pathway through which you can understand and judge the effectiveness of any oil filter model.
You will also find brief data about what is wrong with each brand declared unreliable in the market space.
In the end, you will discover tips and hacks to identify any bad oil filters which might have got missed in this article.
We can guarantee if you follow our advice and avoids the bad oil filter brands, there is no doubt that you will be a happy buyer in the end.
Table of Contents
Importance of picking Good Oil Filters
A lot more than some performance trouble could occur in case you are using a non-recommended or bad oil filter brand. Some of them are:
- Oil filter purifies the metals particulates inside the oil which causes wear and tear of the engine if left unfiltered.
- You could end up changing your oil filter in less than half of the normal period causing budget loss.
- Maintenance issues occur frequently in faulty filters.
- A dry start could occur if the oil spills from the back of the filter.
- Oil leakages can cause lower oil change intervals.
- Oil not correctly passing from the filter can produce a burning smell and black exhaust from the engine.
- High oil pressure can result if your filters get clogged by dirt.
- Total Engine failure may also occur due to low oil pressure.
- Leakage of oil from the cheap quality gasket and rubber seal seeps into the engine, making it a fire hazard.
If you want to avoid all these conditions, then you must pay attention to the quality of the oil filter you are using in your vehicle.
Factors to consider in an oil filter selection
This section of the article depicts all the important checkpoints which must be cleared by a product to be deemed effective.
Let’s go through all of them one by one.
Filter Media
The most important component of the oil filter is its media as it is responsible for filtering the oil.
The thicker the layer of media, the better will be its filtering performance, and the longer it will run.
When the media gets full it will no longer filter the oil and this is when you should replace it.
A good oil filter will probably have twice as thick a layer of media as compared to that in a bad oil filter.
Anti-drain Back Valve
All good oil filters have this valve at the back to prevent the drainage of oil back into the motor to prevent a dry start. Whereas in old oil filters this valve is missing.
It’s a must requirement nowadays if you want to prevent damage from a dry start.
As a dry start causes detrimental damage to the engine during the initial 10 to 15 seconds phase.
Weight or Build Quality
We recommend a thicker steel outer body and good quality rubber gasket.
These along with thick media will increase the product’s weight.
Hence, we can assume that good oil filters are heavier while bad oil filters are lighter in weight.
Service Life
A good oil filter can last up to 10,000 miles while a bad oil filter can last up to 3000 miles.
The difference in mileage of each oil filter is another factor that separates both these types of filters.
Micron Rating
The average size of openings in the media is represented in micron ratings.
A higher micron-rated oil filter will have a wider opening in its media than the one with a smaller rating.
Therefore, always chose an oil filter with a lower micron rating.
Performance
Go for a product that ensures high performance rather than an average or lower one.
Least Noisy
Opt for the option that produces the least metallic sound as it could make your driving experience the least enjoyable.
Oil Capacity and Pressure limit
These could be checked by simply comparing the technical data of any oil filter.
A higher capacity and high-pressure endurance are recommended.
Temperature Capacity
It is one of the important factors, we should try to buy one with the highest temperature capacity.
Effective Membrane
If high-quality fibers are used in oil filters, they could increase the usable membrane surface area up to 50⸓ more than the initial area.
Microglass fibers are best in this regard as they not only are durable but also do not restrict the oil flow that much.
Any other fiber used in filters will decrease the microns of media and hence be called a bad filter.
Non-slip Coating
A non-slip coating on the external side of the filter greatly helps in changing or removing the filters.
As such delicate matters are catered for, such a filter must be of good quality.
Price
Another factor is the price, a bad oil filter could be brought for about 5 US dollars while the good oil filters lie within a range of 5 to 15 US dollars.
However, the premium ones are even costlier than 15 US dollars and will give the best performance and longest mileage.
List of Oil Filter Brands to Avoid
Here are all the brands we have gathered to warn you against buying them.
They were tested and rejected by a lot of customers worldwide due to a lack of any critical functional ability.
- ACDelco PF19
- Astrofilter
- Baldwin
- Borg & Beck
- Bosch
- Champ Labs
- Fram
- Frantz
- Klotz
- Pentius
- Premium Engine Protection Cartridge
- Premium Guard
- Purolator
- Supertech
- Manufacturing Brands
Be wary! this list is in alphabetical order and does not represent the trend from Worst to bad performance.
Reasons to avoid these Brands
As all the brands are already mentioned above, in this heading we will discuss the most pressing faults which existed in these brands represented in a tabular manner.
This portion doesn’t cover all the problems which exist within a brand but only those which make their products unbearably hard to use.
Such issues are often present in multiple of their products and are well reviewed and reported throughout the automotive community.
| Problems | Found in Brands |
| Poor Material Quality | Fram, Supertech, Pentius |
| Shorter Service Life | Fram, Frantz, Supertech, Premium Guard, Motorcraft, Premium Engine Protection Cartridge |
| Improper working of the back drain valve | Fram, Purolator |
| Improper Filter design | Frantz, Astrofilter, Purolator |
| Causes rusting to the engine | Supertech |
| Fails to match white threaded adaptor | Premium Guard |
| Worst for new models | Pentius, Premium Guard |
| Expensive | Manufacturer Brands, Premium Engine Protection Cartridge |
| Poor Performance | Manufacturer Brands, Motorcraft, Bosch |
| Maintenance Issues | Astrofilter |
| Copy of an Original Brand | Champ Labs, Baldwin |
| Does not fit properly | Borg and Beck, ACDelco PF19 |
| Oil spill and leakage | Astrofilter, Bosch |
| Filter Media defective | Purolator |
| Gets Polluted from within | Purolator |
| Hamper proper oil flow | Bosch, Klotz |
Here the most common problems are noted in the first column while the Brands whose products have the same issue are listed against the problem in the second column of this table.
How to recognize any bad oil filter
We have covered as many brands as possible in our article which are not recommended for your vehicles along with the reasons.
There are hundreds of oil filter brands in the market and since we cannot mention them all, there are a few things you could check before buying any oil filter.
Reviews
It is not humanly possible to try or compare every product in the market by yourself. This is when user reviews come as an aid, as we can take advantage of the experience of other users who have brought and tested the same product.
But be careful of the paid reviews as they often misguide the people.
Such reviews can be pointed out by the fact that they simply praise the product and don’t talk about its shortcomings or technical details. Other than that, reviews are considered the best source of evaluation of any product as they provide real-time feedback from users around the world, and we can simply relate to their struggles and difficulties in finding the product which best fits our needs.
Fitting
There is no use of a good oil filter if it doesn’t fit, as there are so many unique cars and engines, and the special requirements of each vehicle are so different from one another. It is recommended to ask the technical experts of Brands whether their products fit into your vehicle model or not. If any such services are not available, then simply measure the diameter of your oil filter or visually compare the real photo of the product with your old filter.
Durability
Another thing to look forward to is its durability which is directly dependent on the built quality of the products. The build of the product is depended upon the strength of the material that is used to manufacture it. Any product with a weak structure or cheap material will not last long and you will have to replace it even with every oil change. Therefore, keep in mind to check the quality for the longevity and better performance of the filters.
Alternative Oil Filter Brands Recommended
One might begin to think if all the brands are to avoid due to some performance disparities, then how are we supposed to find our new oil filter. Worry not! as we have assembled a list of a few brands that are well known for their quality and longevity.
- Ford HD Racing
- Hastings and Napa Gold
- K&N
- Mobil 1
- Royal Purple
- Ryco
- Wix
Again these brands are noted in alphabetic order and do not represent the product values from best to good.
Final Thoughts
After going through this article from top to bottom, you will have a discrete understanding of what is ok and what’s not ok in an oil filter.
You can now easily categorize oil filters as good or bad, meaning that it is now possible for you to protect yourself from the fraud and worthless products in the market.
This enlightenment will allow you not only to prevent harm to your engine but to also save money and enjoy the fruits of a well-informed decision.