Premium Oil Filter??

i have been reading the forum and don't ever here any mention of a good oil filter to use. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I use a NAPA German made VW TDI filter! I like them. I replace them every 2500 miles. You can replace the filter without ANY oil loss really. It's a way of really taking care of your motor. The filters cost 7 dollars. Cheap insurance.

TB

For A-4 TDI's, I recommend sticking with the OEM Filter Cartridge, which you can get from www.VWParts.com for $6.32 +/-.

As for other spin-on filters, many folks are using AMSOIL's Super Duty SDF-15 filter (made by Hastings at higher standards) for about $7.70 +/-.

Here are a couple of efficiency and capacity charts showing how a few popular OTC Oil Filters performed:

As you can tell, an A/C Filter is much better than a Fram.

But these filters don't fit my ALH engine. Is it reasonable to extrapolate performance of one type of filter to another? I have my doubts.

BTW, I noticed that Purolator filter L45308 is a repackaged Hengst filter (made in Germany). It is the proper Purolator filter for an ALH engine. But I have no idea how good it is.

"For A-4 TDI's, I recommend sticking with the OEM Filter Cartridge, which you can get from www.VWParts.com for $6.32 +/-."

I've compared all other filter cartridges (available for our TDI) with the OEM Cartridge and they all are a little different.

Perhaps the Purolator, Mann, or Hengst is OK, but for the $6.32 price for the OEM, why take the chance?

Again, "I recommend sticking with the OEM Filter Cartridge!"

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Turbo Steve ]

NAPA Gold and WIX filters are exactly the same, yet your chart shows great variances. Therefore, I seriously doubt the info on that graph. Also, the filters shown in that graph are very popular among american cars. I was unaware that any vw's use these filters. Although they will fit selected older diesels, the by-pass valves on all the listed filters are much lower than the vw standards.

It is true that Hastings manufactures the Amsoil filters, but I was told by hastings they arent made to any different standards than the products with the hastings name. They are both the same quality, but hastings makes several other brands that are lower quality. (Auto pride, NAPA Silver, ect). Maybe Ive recieved some incorrect info along the way, but I trust the folks at hastings. All my cars recieve hastings filters.

BTW, you found the Purolator was a repackaged Hengst. Hengst IS the OEM filters. You are getting a OEM filter. I also noticed autozones Deusch brand is Hengst. Seems all the aftermarkets dont want to make one to fit the TDI, so they buy filters from hengst and put them in their own box. I suggest buying wherever you can get the filter cheapest.

All major oil filter manufactures have several product lines they market and sell to other companies and/or to the public. These oil filters can vary in quality, capacity, and efficiency, but sometimes don't.

Since the popular parts stores in my area sell the Hengst and Purolator A-4 Oil Filter Cartridges (visibly different than OEM) for $3.00 - $5.00 more than what I pay for the OEM cartridge, it's prudent and safe to stay with something we all know works.

[ July 26, 2001: Message edited by: Turbo Steve ]

TS, I agree with you about getting OEM filters at the lowest cost is the best.

However, I thought it a bit misleading to suggest that tests of filters that are (1) constructed quite differently, and (2) are of different size, would be directly transferrable to the correct filter.

BTW, when I ordered filters from VWparts as suggested above, I got Mann filters. They don't look different in construction from the Purolator/Hengst. Factoring in the shipping charges, it was a wash on the cost vs. buying local. In the future, I guess I'll go to a VW dealer, or other place, and see what I'm getting first.

Where does Bosch fit in all this?

[ July 26, 2001: Message edited by: Smokescreen ]

Use an AMSOIL filter. They filter down to 5-10 microns. The AMSOIL filter is the reason I believe that my oil had a mere 1.2% soot at 15,560 miles.