Folks, looking at oil analysis is akin to the old barn door/stolen horse
theory. What matters in a filter is the size and capacity of what is
"taken" out of the oil. Usually, there is a micron spec, plus other
characteristics. Looking at the oil is a bit late!
I've had name brand (Fram) air filter many years ago that were advertised to
fit a certain application, but turned out that they did not filter out dust
and dirt like the OE brand. In this case, if Rusty has the confidence that
these el cheapo copies will function just as well as OE filters, then they
are probably OK.
That said, personally I think I'll keep using the OE filters until we get
more experience with brand "x". As we've heard many times, oil (and
filters) are much less expensive than metal (engines).
Werner
'83SD 210k
'90D 221k
----- Original Message -----
From: "R A Bennell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] More cool specials
I also do not know how he could "guarantee" these filters. What exactly
would that mean? For example, if you run into problems with your old motor
with 300K plus miles on it, how are you going to prove it was the fault of
the filter? You can talk oil analysis all you want but I would not think
it
fair to pursue the vendor of the oil filter that you chose and installed.
If
you don't like the idea, then do not use the "new" filter. However, we are
seeing more and more things come out of the far east that are a good or
better than many of the products that we used to produce in the west. It
was
not always like that but it is becoming more so on a daily basis.
Any engineers on here with the facilities to do some testing? It would be
interesting to know if there is any difference in the oil based upon the
brand of filter being used. I have not been around here long enough to
know
if y'all have been through this in depth but I know there has been
considerable discussion and some reasonable data on other forums relating
to
various oil filter manufacturors.
I am sort of a believer that if I change the oil often enough, it likely
is
not going to be a huge issue what brand of filter I use. I ran a 77 Ford
and
then an 86 Ford over a hundred thousand with minimal wear using basic
house
brand filters and oil. I changed both at 3000 mile intervals and never had
any issues (apart from headgaskets which is how I ended up having a look
at
the cylinders etc.). If you plan to run expensive synthetic lubricants and
want to extend your change interval then you should either pay for a
premium
filter (and hope you get what you pay for) or possibly, change the filter
mid cycle.
My 2 cents. Your mileage may vary etc.
Randy B
