First of all, I would never put a fram filter in anything of mine (unless I just didn't care about the POS). ANYTHING but FRAM! Go to NAPA and ask for a PS7932. Almost all NAPA filters are a WIX,top of the quality chain.Although I'm not 100% sure who makes thier Powersport filters. I just know they wont sell cheap crap like fram with thier name on it.

 

I've never experienced any problem with Fram. Assume you have? Enlighten us.

 

Three pages on oil filters??

Walmart is the Devil ..... please avoid those Chinese buying F'ers at all cost.

A while back I bought one of those stainless filters for the klx and my ktm .... I luv em ..... easy to clean and just pop em back in. The lil klx is not a performance bike...11k miles in sugar, still thumping.

 

Well, lets see. Ever go onto a site that compares filters? Do yourself a favor and check them out. I have cut open several filters over the years taking care not to disturb anything and the only filter that fell apart as sonn as it was opened EVERY TIME was a Fram. Rest assured that every time you start your engine the filter medium lifts from the base and all that material thats been filtered just zipped through your engine until the oil pressure stabilized. The filter medium is supposed to be GLUED to the base, the spring is only a safety precaution incase the glue fails. As for the paper filter medium, every corner is cut in that manufacturing facility to keep the cost competitive. Remember, the CHEAPER the filter, the CHEAPER the filter! Two or three dollars more for a top line filter is CHEAP insurance for your engines. Oh,also keep in mind that Penzoil and Canadian tire filters are Fram also. NEVER buy Frams Tefguard filters either.Dupont themselves (the inventors of teflon) advises not to put teflon in an internal combustion engine.Teflon is a plastic and would you use plastic crank bearings?Thats whats in a Tefguard filter. Fram uses less filter medium,coarser medium, less glue (as in not enough),and a bent piece of tin to hold the filter medium down to the base. Don't just take my word for it,there's a few independent surveys out there you can check out.

 

I've read on more than one Jeep forum about the whole "which filter is the best for my engine" question. I used to use K&N in my Jeep for awhile but now I don't run anything but Baldwin's. They're a fair bit cheaper than the K&N's (paying for the name perhaps?) but so far they seem to be doing a good job. I know Baldwin makes filters for our bikes, just not sure where to get them. Wix is also pretty up there in terms of quality.

 

Hey Brendan.c is a real pal. I did do myself a favor and googled "oil filter comparisons". While he sounds a little off the deep end in his rant, there are MANY websites/forums where they have come to the same conclusion. I never knew, thanks bro.
Here's a link http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oil...ence.html#fram , these are all automotive filters, but it should give an idea of each companys quality.
I am going to get a WIX filter and try to compare the quality.

 

OK , got a Fram and a Wix for the KLX. Fram was ~$5 Wix was ~$7.

Fram filter is made in Korea, Wix filter is made in Poland.

Wix is a shorter filter and makes up for it with a thicker grommet

Wix has a 7/16 oil inlet, while Fram only has a 1/4 inlet.

After reading up on them I probably wont use Fram automotive filters anymore, but I don't see any of the same quality issues with the Fram filter for the KLX.
Wix has 44, 3/16 deep pleats x 1" = 16.4 sq in. The Wix media is aprox .015 thick,
Fram has 41, 5/16 deep pleats x 1.125 = 28.7 sq in. The Fram media is aprox .010 thick.

The Fram actually has more surface area, a smaller inlet (which I don't think is an issue), and thinner filter media. The Wix has the thicker filter media (which might make it the overall better filter), the larger inlet hole, but less overall suface area. The only thing I couldn't really compare was the quality of the two company's filter media. They do look identical under a small handheld microscope I have though. Sorry if all that is too much information.

 

Update , put the Wix filter in this oil change. The o-ring that came with it is a little bigger in diameter, (not the cross section dia, the overall dia of the ring). I had to tuck it into it's groove all around as I tightened the cover. Missed a spot under a bolt tab, and pinched the o-ring = oil leak when I fired up the bike. Put the old Fram o-ring in and all good. I think the Wix o-ring is fine, but you need to take more care when tightening the cover.
Ride on

 

One word of advise when we are out there getting oil filters...if you are at a store where you can get your own filter from the shelf...open the box and make sure that the correct one is in there. Me and my buddy were at walmart last week to get a filter for his gsxr-600 and for some reason we looked at it and someone had taken the fram filter out and replaced it with the walmart brand one. That way they got a fram filter for the price of a walmart one. So please check the filters everytime I know I will.