Wow-Originally Posted by matt5112
So much misinformation and misconception its really hard to decide where to begin.
I am the technical manager at Fram. I am also a shop owner and ASE certified master technician for over 30 yrs. My best friend, Dave Buckshaw is the former owner of DHP, tuners of some of the very fastest 3800's in the USA, in fact we met when he tuned a regal I had built the crap out of.
Fram product line up is this-
Extra guard, lowest price filter orange can. Has 94% single pass efficiency, hold around 7 grams of dirt till bypass, recommended for 3-4000 miles oil changes. Has a black nitrile rubber antidrainback valve. Has fiber end caps, same as Honda OE filters, Subaru OE filters, Bentley OE filters and even AC Delco now have felt end caps.
Tough Guard- 98% single pass efficiency, silver can,synthetic glass and cellulose media, silicone rubber antidrainback valve. Holds around 14 grams of dirt to bypass. recommeded for oil changes up to 7500 miles, has the same end caps as above. Mid grade filter.
Extended Guard- Top of the line filter. Gold can, Has two fully synthetic ply media wrapped around a stainless steel screen. Metal end caps. All silicone valves. Gaurenteed for 10,000 mile oil changes, holds up to 28 grams of dirt, recommended for use with synthetic oil. There is no better oil filter in the market for passenger cars. 98% efficiency.
High Mileage filter. This is a extra guard filter that has a basket inside. the basket contians a timed release gel chemical that maintians the acid balance and total base number of the oil in high mile, blow by challenged engines. IT does not CLOG your engine. This technology is being used as OE in big OTR trucks to extend oil life and drain intervals.
On a 3800, the filter is mounted near vertical. Unless the laws of gravity suddenly have changed, the oil does not drain out while the engine is off. The antidrainback valves ONLY function is to keep oil from draining out of the filter when the filter is mounted horizontally! It does not stop oil from flowing back from the engine into the filter, since it is fed from the oil pump and the ADB valve will not open unless you have oil pressure, what one poster is thinking is just not physically possible. All oil in the engine at any time except what is in the sump has already passed through the filter. When the engine is off or running, gravity drains this oil back to the pan where it is sucked up by the oil pump, pushed through the filter before it goes into the engine. Fram stands behind its products 100%. If you ever experienced a failure due to a defective oil filter, we would be buying you an engine period. Fram filters are made in the USA and Canada. WIX is very busy building filters in India, they filter in the 80% range, have only one filter for pass cars, do not have a filter for synthetic oil or extended drain intervals and are OE on Nothing. Use whatever filter you like, just change you oil when your supposed to and use good oil.
