Whats the deal with parts purchased and causing malfunction of car?

[geoffus]

I cannot see why people buy oil filters other than those supplied by MB. From MB, mine cost around 10€ each. The oil costs about 30€ for 7 litres of oil from MB. And my local guy does it for me for 30€.

So, if I could halve the price of the filter, I might reduce the overall cost by 7%. That's 7%. With the risk of using an oil filter of sub-standard quality. Why do it?

I can certainly understand installing an aftermarket cat for 300€ against 2500€ for MB. But that's unlike to wreck your engine. But a dodgy oil filter might wreck your engine and then you'd regret saving that 7%

Just my 2c worth.

RayH

That’s a very extreme case, I like thousands of other home mechanics have bought and replaced many many aftermarket filters without any issues at all. It’s one of the easiest jobs you can do and takes 5 mins. Always stick to a well known brand, I use Mann or Bosch, they are made to OE standards and readily available.
And if you are like me you lift the bonnet up every week, always looking and checking for the slightest reason.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

I am going to throw out a question two !!!???
How many car /engine manufactures produce their own filters?
(I refer not to proprietary filter brands with the OE brand approval on them .)
Of the millions of mass produced daily being a worldwide activity, production quality can vary from one batch to another ,material used in one country versus another & so on !
Of the filters you have purchased have any of you taken the time to see if the filter media composition is a certain type of paper , content of of fiberglass strands or even dimensionally correct ?.
(if a cartridge)

If a spin on style have any of you taken the time to cut one open, to observe the guts, and filtration ability and inspected the internal construction from brand to brand ?
Lastly what do you think happens to filters after production that don't quite meet OE spec for some tangible reason?
Are they destroyed or used elsewhere?
Tuercas viejas

 

[geoffus]

I am going to throw out a question two !!!???
How many car /engine manufactures produce their own filters?
(I refer not to proprietary filter brands with the OE brand approval on them .)
Of the millions of mass produced daily being a worldwide activity, production quality can vary from one batch to another ,material used in one country versus another & so on !
Of the filters you have purchased have any of you taken the time to see if the filter media composition is a certain type of paper , content of of fiberglass strands or even dimensionally correct ?.
(if a cartridge)

If a spin on style have any of you taken the time to cut one open, to observe the guts, and filtration ability and inspected the internal construction from brand to brand ?
Lastly what do you think happens to filters after production that don't quite meet OE spec for some tangible reason?
Are they destroyed or used elsewhere?
Tuercas viejas

Are you saying we shouldn’t trust aftermarket filters, especially oil filters that play such an important role. ?
if we did take one apart who would know if A filter is better than B filter. We have to take manufacturers word that they are equal or better than OEM.
is OEM so good ? Or is it just enough ? We have heard several times on here that owners use different brands of synthetic oils they regard better than Mercedes own brand.

 

[neilrr]

Youtube has loads of filter cutting open comparisons, most of which are American & feature US brands. Filter quality seems to vary considerably. Fram seems to come out really badly.

youtube oil filter comparison - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[grober]

Perhaps this ERA of global supply networks it's not the filter you should be looking at but the integrity of the chain of supply. Lots of counterfeit substandard product out there now-- may even come in the original packaging-- the contents however are a different matter.
Deception can be at individual, local or even national supply level. So go for brand names you trust from suppliers you trust would be my advice. Mann and Knecht used to be MB suppliers back in the good old days when MB parts were made in Germany!

 

[190]

It's something of a left field brand in the UK but WIX filters have a high reputation elsewhere in the world and they are an OE manufacturer to Aston Martin, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Landrover, Lotus, Mercedes, Peugeot, SEAT, Vauxhall, Volkswagn, Volvo. I've been using WIX air and oil for many years now.

I'd happily use any of the OEM quality filters and keep a list of equivalent part numbers in my service spreadsheet.

The cartridge type filter which is the subject of this thread may have added a little complexity in terms of replacing O rings but its so much cleaner and more convenient to change without spilling oil everywhere. I simply unscrew the housing and let it sit and drain down into the sump while the the oil is being pumped out. Piece of cake really compared to an overtighten screw on filter. And they always were overtightened.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Well for starters since MANN+ Hummel is with Wix a multi national supplier. (since they were mentioned)
For OM642 mostly made on Poland, I have had this filter tested for flow . Essentially comes within spec but is at the higher end when it comes to flow resistance.

Hengst is with Bosch & Rextroth, another multinational worldwide supplier. They sometimes give source of manufacture on the packaging.
Knect is part of the Mahle group another multi national .

How's about GUD ?
Made in South Africa used to be popular in the UK don't see these much in the US .
So these are all the big names in Euro OE makes.

Toyota & Subaru make their own. (at least they did when I last looked.)
Toyota /Lexus has unique feature when it comes to draining it spin on canister style so that you don't throw oil everywhere.
Cummins engines has a division called Fleetguard (so in house more or less)
Caterpillar has AFSI which makes filters exclusively for their products under the CAT brand. Now gone international but like Cummins engines for world wide supply of recommended filters.
Begs the question now! Why would Cummins, Caterpillar, Toyota, & Subaru have recommended filters made in house or under their control?
Tuercas viejas
'

 

[grober]

GUD seem to manufacture/ licence several brand name filters which may be market specific to certain countries?

Fram Filters - G.U.D. Holdings

FRAM Filters offer quality air, fuel, oil and cabin air filters with a range of over 1000 part numbers to the aftermarket and international export market.

www.gudholdings.co.za

 

[Tuercas viejas]

GUD seem to manufacture/ licence several brand name filters which may be market specific to certain countries?

Fram Filters - G.U.D. Holdings

FRAM Filters offer quality air, fuel, oil and cabin air filters with a range of over 1000 part numbers to the aftermarket and international export market.

www.gudholdings.co.za

Grober
I left Fram out of the list on purpose because it has changed hands so often as a brand its hard to keep up with what part of the global supply chain of auto parts it belongs to.
GUD used to be regarded in the UK as a primary filter manufacturer so did Fram in the US, back in the 60's.
Coining the slogan "Pay Me Now Or Pay Me Later", the filter earned a reputation in latter years for poor quality & shoddy construction of spin on filters resulting in low sales at auto parts stores on this side.
Having been gobbled up by the TRICO Group and now by Best Brands it emphasizes the global nature of auto parts manufacturing & supply chain companies these days .

First Brands Group (formerly TRICO Group) ACQUIRES Brake Parts Inc. (BPI) and Champion Laboratories Inc. (Champ Labs)

First Brands Group Acquires BPI and Champ Labs - Strengthening TRICO's portfolio with the acquisition of Brake Parts Inc. (BPI) and Champion Laboratories Inc. (Champ Labs).

www.tricoproducts.com

Which brings me to the subject of quality and shoddy construction .
The poster child for that has to be from my experience Wix of Venezuela that produced spin on filters that actually exploded under engine operating pressure and wrecked engines , notably the popular GM Buick Century 2,8 litre V6.

So name brand doesn't always guarantee quality, nor durability to adequately filter oil in your car .
I have "rogues gallery" of removed filters over the years that have caused major engine failures. The best being an OM642 in a Jeep that had a filter made in North Korea, & sold by a well know auto parts chain store here in the US! It neither conformed to dimensional norms nor actual flow. All made worse because it drastically deformed as the cap was snugged down.
End result a leg out of bed as a rod let go when it seized.
Now quality can also filter up (excise the pun) to authorized OE brands like Donit and installed by BMW .
How that filter passed the factory batch test tells me that even stuff arriving in OE packaging can be suspect including Made in Germany.
So again buyer beware.
Tuercas viejas