Why do fram oil filters suck?
 

What sucks about them? I bought the Fram Xtreme guard (best filtering one?) for my fc3c and I dont see whats so bad about it??
and if anybody knows are the platinum ($5 each) worth it?

I've always used fram oil filters in my cars. Never had an oil-related problem with them.

It's basicly that pure he said she said bullshit.Ive never had a problem with the FRAM Tough Guard oil filters.Here guys read up.

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/oil_filter_study/

Overall the best filters to use on these cars is a Mazda OEM filter or Posulator oil filters.

Low filtering material and crappy bypass is what I remember being the main reason for their shittyness. I never had any problem with my Frams but I don't want to take a chance with something that will cost me 1-2k dollars to rebuild an engine if my oil filter explodes or fails. I normally use Bosch or MAZDA filter. MAZDA filters have about twice as much filter material in them as the fram ones. Thats one big ass difference. ;) The mazda filters are like 5 dollars. Its worth getting them so why be a cheap bastard?

cut one open and you will see the difference.. we have our oil filters made by the same company as mazda and they are only 3.00 each plus shipping..

just get some acdelco filters.

just read the write up

Fram filter...when get clogged up can let oil bypass the filter cause your oil to get dirty quick. some people have problems and some people dont. Its one of those thing were if it works for you...then its good to use for you. if it doesnt work for someone else then they go try something else

Justin

ive always used fram filters but i think i will start getting mazda filters. it seems the fram does a good job at cleaning the oil for about 2000 miles then the oil starts to get pretty dirty, i do notice a big difference between oil at 2000 miles and 3000+ miles. obviously im no mad scientist but ive concluded that its prolly best to get oem mazda ones.

Thx for all the replies, I dont leave my oil/filters in long enough to see them get significantly dirty.. usually change about every 1800mi.

I use Mobil filters there the most expensive, but i think im just gonna switch to mazda OEM.

i did, and acdelco was the best.

hahaha! I change my oil ever 1000 miles, I dont even give it a chance to get dirty.

On the cars that we race regularly, a couple of 1982 Tiga Sports 2000 cars, we use fram oil filters, but not the sure grip. Aparently, and don't ask why, because we don't know either, since the sure grip is an outer coating, through many race weekends and much cleaning up after it, the suregrip on the filter leaks. This dosen't make much sense, but that is just what we have found out. come to your own conclusion...

I've used nothing but Fram Toughguards on my RX7 for the past 8 years without an issue.

cut one open, not a lot of filter in there

The Toughgaurd has more media than the cheaper Extragaurd.
Pics: Oil Filter Comparison Study - GM Truck Central

There is lot of youtube videos on filters cut open. I usually use puralator on protege and mazda oem on my fc

of course you won't notice the difference until you need the better filtering..

I havent used Fram filters before, but I did oil changes on people's cars I ended up breaking the filters in half when pulling them off. These were 2 diferent type of cars, they may have been put on way to hard, not used a thin skim of oil on the seals.... no idea. But I always thought the Fram filters were good. Just my .02

Anyone else have an issue like that?

the basic fram filters are about the second worst out there, there was one company that made worse filter: "Mighty" brand filters.

+1

I remember we used them when using brand new parts since the oil needed to be changed really quickly on civics. I only use royal purple filters since I've seen really good data about them

At the school I teach I spend a lot of time in the shop. We have had 3 FRAM with catastrophic failures in them: you take it off the car and the filter medium has literally disintegrated.
If you consider that we do not do 10 oil changes a day, if anything maybe one a week at best, you can see that it's either that we've had a streak of very negative coincidences with FRAM filters, or they are simply shit.
My 2 cents, anyway.

Back in the mid/late 80's when I was still actively racing motorcycles, Fram filters were illegal- you couldn't roll tech if you had one installed.
WERA had seen a rash of Frams that blew the housings right off the screw base, must have been bad crimps.

I think Fram rectified the problem and were later reapproved but I've never considered using one of their filters again.

If you want the best for your car then you should be using the best, which is certainly not a cheap filter like fram.

Why put a cheap filter on your car when even a high quity one still isn't more than $20 dollars?

If you can't afford better than Fran you probably should be driving a hounds civic not an rx7.

Rotary >Pistons

Since this thread somehow got a chance like rebuilding a Fram filter....from towels and a tuna can.
Here is some info that was discussed on Filters in the Canadian section..Recently not 9 years ago.
https://www.rx7club.com/canadian-for...ilter-1003286/

Every one says they have never had an issue with these cheap pieces of shit oil filters and I use them also and just how do you know that when you have never had an issue with them maybe not issues that you are aware of . Most filters that have had surgery done to them are new never had oil through them I challenge all of you at your next oil change no matter what filter you use to take the old filter and grind the seam off open it up and check out what is going on inside you will find that half or more are delaminated , collapsed or have other issues ,bypass valves what ever .

Just because an oil filter is $20.00 dollars it doesn't mean that is any better than $3.50 filter . I'm reading here that most people likes a certain filter and hates another well there is a very good chance that both are made by the same company or an orbit company . there aren't many filter manufactures . In all honesty the only two brand name filters that I can remember having outside visual issues with in my service station were Fram and Purolator mostly seam leakage . When I would complain to the salesmen they didn't even want to see the dam things , they would most of the time replace a poor filter with a case of 12 . That tells me they are well aware of the shawdy workman ship that goes into them just like any other mass produced product . By the way Fram filters were made long before wall-mart was ever thought of.

I've always used mobil1 on my rx7s, may just go to OEM they're much lower price.

Rotary >Pistons

years ago i cut a fram filter open, and an OEM filter open, its pretty obvious which one is higher quality, and the OEM is the same money or less, its an easy choice.

The video that was in this thread showed alot of oil filters cut open and the fram was the weakest...built with cardboard....Fram=junk.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-non-...ilters-947101/

WIX/NAPA First choice for me.and Purolator/ Pure One.

Wix makes the NAPA Gold filters - these are the very best for the money. They use all the best materials and build/construction methods. Champ Labs make the Mobil 1 and the K&N - both excellent choices but they cost a lot more money. The media in the Mobil 1 is designed for better filtration while the media in the K&N is designed for better/higher flow rates.

It is also recommended that you use the largest filter size (much larger surface area) possible to reduce the flow restriction and pressure drop across the media. Just make sure you have the anti-drain back valve. I personally run the much larger than factory stock size NAPA Gold 1568 or the Wix 51568 on my car. You can buy them in bulk here and save even more money:

Wix Filters - Oil: FleetFilter Secure Online Store
Oil Filters

The only thing I will say about Fram filters is that they are referred to as "the orange wall of death" (the retail store stock plan-o-gram display) by the industry.

lol... I literally took a picture the other day for exactly this reason.
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1361751578
Don't buy crap, WIX is cheap.

The Spyder has personally seen multiple engines killed by Fram filters... $3 more is worth feeling good about the filter. :)

How do I get them for $3.00? Your website says $5.00.

been using fram 90% of the time for the last 10 years, never had a failure from one yet

Why FRAM is the worst:

Stamped steel springs
Smallest media surface area
Cardboard end caps

WIX is the best for your money

Real coil spring
metal end caps
larger media filter surface

It's all easy to see for yourself if you cut one open. In fact here in Phoenix all of the O-Reily stores have cut open filters to illustrate just how piss poor the FRAM is in comparison to the Wix which is only a few bucks more.

That is a great picture Derekcat.....It even goes with your color scheme...

Looks way better than a orange dildo that will fuck you.



Just in case someone missed it....Post #23 in this thread.>>>https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-non-...ilters-947101/

SPENT-IT >> hehe thanks!

I can't really understand why this is a discussion... Sure, many people run with FRAMs and have no measurable problems, but why not spend $3 or so to probably extend the life of the car?

Everyone seems to agree that GTX is the preferred dino oil, instead of whatever house-brand you run across.. So why not similarly spend a few dollars more on a measurably better made filter?

There are a lot of cut open photos and details out there on oil filter comparisons, here are just a few:

Oil Filter Comparison - Tundra OEM Filter vs Fram vs Wix
Oil filter cut away Fram & WIX - DSM Forums
The Anatomy of an Oil Filter: Part 1 ......... - Yellow Bullet Forums

you didn't think the price would be exactly the same 9 years later did you?

strange that they still sell frams with their oil/filter package deals. why advertise you sell junk.

Majority of people just want a good deal and don't know its junk.

My dad knew a guy who put mazola vegetable oil in his Mercedes and said it ran great "a smooth surge" , not long after the engine blew up.

Rotary >Pistons

plenty of people use veggie oil in diesels but off the counter vegetable oil is still quite dirty and needs to be filtered well. it was probably due to blow up anyways.

our mercedes ran on cooking oil for years before we ran it again on diesel. it had over 400k miles on it when we sold it, original and turbocharged. the old garrett was making some noise though. i got tired of putting a quart of transmission fluid in it every other day, a quart of power steering fluid in per month, a quart of oil in every 3-4 days or the HOA busting our balls about the oil puddles or the fines they sent us(which they eventually refunded because they knew they were full of shit for fining us for parking on a public street, not in our driveway).

I think he was running the oil in the crankcase, lol.

Rotary >Pistons

:lol:

Failure of the filter is not the only thing that makes it a bad filter. When my engine was disassembled the bearings were nearly wiped out, they had lots of copper showing. This indicates lubrication problems of some sort.

This is a car that was meticulously maintained, always had plenty of oil and pressure, oil was changed regularly, used a good qualty oil and fram filters. The engine had 78,000 miles on it.

Needless to say, it will never see another Fram filter again.

Lubrication problems do not make themselves readily apparent but do affect the life of the engine.

strange thing is, even out of a table of dozens of filter manufactures the Frams always stand out when dissected.

true. i'm not even sure how you would diagnose a bad oil filter.

lol, yes. but its the official oil filter of the Olympics so it must be good

in general people will always go out of their way to save a quarter. look at wal-mart for example.

i should look into having a chinese subsidiary for rebuilds, i may be a millionaire or broke very quickly.

With enough money you could sponsor a rocket ship.

same here, but i use valvoline oil and wix filters.