STP oil filters
 

I have been using STP filters for the past few years without any problems at all.
These were readily available at the autozone down the street; and they didnt say FRAM on them so...
I used FRAM filters for years in my vehicles without any problems (that i was aware of), but i stopped using them based on what i'd read here.

I'm about to install my new 464. I work near a NAPA now so hopefully i will have easy access to those napa gold filters i've read so much about. lol.

Anyways...
I searched STP here on the forums for about an hour and learned alot about the additive.
I'd noticed that alot of members used STP oil filters at one time or another but nothing negative was mentioned.
I suppose it's a step up from fram?

STP filters are made by Champion Labs under private label. They make filters for most of the quick lube type places as well. From looking inside them, your biggest step up will be to the NAPA Gold or Platinum filters made by WIX. BTW, the STP filters are essentially the same as the cheap NAPA oil filters called Pro-Select. Both made by Champion Labs. Topic is always beat to death in this forum and elsewhere. As a NAPA master dealer, I can buy Pro-Select filters in most sizes in lots of 12 for under $2.00. That should tell you something. Anything Wix cost me around $6.00.

Bonjour! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufTna0WArc

Lots of reviews and cutaways of STP filters on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...stp+oil+filter

Walmart carries Mobil-1 XL filters for around $10
K&N around $12-13

get the goodiest ones

Those 2 filters are the same. You're paying $2-$3 more dollars for the nut they weld onto the bottom of the K&N.

Cut them open. Let’s see the insides.

No need to cut open any oil filters, You tube has dozens of filter cutaways and reviews on video, all makes models and brands.

Because, it's the internet. Like the days of the newspaper, never believe everything you see on the internet.

Food for thought..... If Fram was, as some here claim "junk", then where are all the class-action lawsuits against Fram for so called "damages"?

I'll wait for the documentation.

When the guy cuts the filter open and displays the guts as he disassembles the filter, I'm at a loss as to how someone can be deceived????

Then you have two or more videos with different people showing the exact same results of internal components, how is that possible you're being deceived???? I actually watched 3 different videos of the disassembly of the HP filters showing the same internal parts in all 3 videos, cardboard and glue.

BTW, if you check, I acknowledged in my previous posts that even though I don't like Fram filters, they sell tens of thousands of them everyday, and people have zero problems with them. I also have witnessed collapsed Fram filters that have harmed engines, however they aren't failing at a high enough rate under daily driver demands. I'm sure if someone tried to pursue that a defective/failed filter caused engine damage, they would run into a stonewall legal team, and give up. I doubt that there are enough filter failures to support a class action suit, but there are some failures, that I have seen personally

I ran into a similar scenario trying to take on the Pennzoil company when they tried to evict me from the service station that I leased from them. The ultimatum I got from the big wheels at Pennzoil, "We have more money than you do, and we'll win". they did, and I had to fold, even though they were wrong.

I have personally seen the insides of the bottom dollar Fram filters, and I wouldn't use them on my vehicles. However I have no faith in any full flow filters to actually clean oil to a point where it doesn't load up with particulate the longer it's in an engine causing oil to turn into a fine abrasive laden liquid. Then when the engine is switched off, the particulate that a full flow filter can't filter from the oil settles into the low spots and crevices in the engine starting deposits of sludge. Flushing the engine with fresh oil (oil changes) is the only way to negate the deficiencies of a full flow filter system, and it has to be done regularly or the oil becomes contaminated to the point it causes deposits and internal engine wear.

I want the best possible oil filter available, the reason I place my faith in by pass filters, rather than full flow filters. I have studied the science of oil filters more than the average person that thinks the OEM full flow filter is all that is required.

Compared to the media in a by pass filter, the media in any full flow filter is inferior, I don't care who makes it, or whose name is on the can. There are much better alternatives than full flow OEM style oil filters.

I broke in an engine/cam one time with an orange FRAM filter. Internally the filter literally crumbled in like a pop-can due to increased pressures with the break-in oil/lube, etc. Those filters are JUNK. I wouldnt put one in my lawn mower. I got lucky and had no damage with this one. After that I started using WIX filters (avail at NAPA) exclusively in all my vehicles. I believe all the NAPA gold filters are WIX. I dont have much experience with the STP filters.

Not quite with NAPA filters. NAPA Pro-Select, (their Cheapest filter and NAPA Silver, which they are discontinuing), are made by Champion Brands, (same as the STP filters). NAPA Gold and NAPA Platinum are made by WIX. ** some NAPA SILVER were made by WIX as well, which causes confusion** From NAPA the good filters are Gold and Platinum line every time. BTW, I have used the Pro-Select filters without issue but you get what you pay for.

I buy the Wix filters in bulk from fleetfilter.com

Quite a bit cheaper than what Napa up the street is selling them for. I grab one from them in a pinch but most of the time I try to plan ahead and buy a dozen at a time.

I cut filters open semi regularly. I just cut open a motorcraft filter FL1a from my sons mustang that I bought from Walmart and was very impressed to still see robust construction, a very strong media, spring loaded with the steel plate. Definitely not a cheaply constructed filter and looked much like a Wix inside.

I haven't cut open or even used an STP in 30 years.

Fram filter, first oil change on 1996 SS Impala, filter split at the seam. The scent of burnt oil on exhaust had me pull over before engine was damaged.
Never again a FRAM on my vehicles.

This topic always gets crazy, kind of like on political sites.

Fram is the largest selling filter in the country. Several reports I've read rate the higher end Fram filters as the best available of all brands. Some on this site still use AC Delco filters, spark plugs, and other replacement parts. Nearly all AC Delco and similar brand auto parts are made outside the US. Millions of cars/trucks/tractors/stationary engines use Fram filters, from the cheapest ones to the most expensive UltraGard filter. As someone said earlier, if there were a large percentage of problems with Fram filters, there would be class action suits against them.

I've seen the pictures, cut open my own filters, etc., and, as a result, use the UltraGard or whatever Fram's higher quality filters are named. In 60 years of driving, changing my own oil, I've never had a filter failure with any brand.