Questionhi..just writing to ask are napa oil filters really good? they oost more because of the internal structure, but I am having a prob finding out how well napa oil filters compare on the subject of actually doing a good job filtering the oil. any help you can let me have is greatly appreciated..thanks!
AnswerHi James,
I have used NAPA filters for many years and never had a problem with them. All I can tell you about filters in general is what I have learned while working as a Tech rep for BeckArnley / WorldParts company for about fifteen years. The company purchased their filters from many different companies over the years but mainly from a company named Champion.
One time Champion sent their plane down to Nashville and took several of us tech reps up to the Champion plant which was in the middle of a very large corn field with no town in sight. When we arived I noticed some very large open bins of corn cobs. This was a suprise and I had no idea what that was all about.
The plant was a good sized factory with modern looking assembly and machinery running fast. We received a tour of the plant showing us the starting of raw materials an to the finished product and also a testing lab.
I was roughly familure with machinery as I spent some time as an apprentice Tool and Die maker and made the dies for the machinery used by the big three auto manufactures.
The finished filters came down a wire cage path very fast and there were several different lines of different size filters and they each came to a junction where they were routed off into a dozen different machines which I couldn't identify so I asked what these machines did as it looked as thought the filters were alrady finished. So they took us around the other side of the large machines so we could see the filters coming out.
We were all shocked when we seen that the machines were silkscreen printing machines and out were coming almost avery major brand of filter you can name. I asked if they were the manufacture of all these brands of filters and they said "Yes and No". They then explained that they filled in for most of the filter manufactures when they needed more then their own palnt could produce. They were monitired by these different filter manufactures so that a standard was met.
They then took us to their test lab which looked like a hospital test lab where they sample tested filters off of each production line. The reason for the large corn cob bins outside was that the paper in a oil filter was made of ground up corn cobs and made into a paper. The testing of the paper for it's ability to withstand pressure and the quality of the paper to filter was impressive. They measure how well the paper can filter material out of oil (measured in microns).
I doubt that NAPA manufactures their own filters and I doubt that a company as large as NAPA is going to take any chances on the quality of their filters. I am sure NAPA keeps a close watch on the quality of the filters they sell.
Today I still use NAPA filters in my daily driver car (XJ-6 Jaguar) and even in my experimantal Olds V-8 in my MG project car.
I can't tell you want brand to use but what I can tell you, is that what ever brand you use may possibly be the same manufacture as NAPA uses.
Howard
