Fram filters nightmare story.

When I was 16 (1985), and going to my local parts store for oil and filter to do my first oil change on my '57, the counterman (Jack, a great friend to this day) showed me a cutaway display of Fram, AC Delco, and Wix filters. AC wasn't bad, but even a 16 year old with little car experience and no engineering background could easily tell the Fram was crap, and the Wix was the best. I have never run one, and never will. I have used mostly Wix (or the Napa Gold, both for the most part made in my old hometown, Gastonia NC), or when I couldn't get one, AC Delco or Motorcraft, since then and I have never had an oil or oil filter related failure.

 

raced stockish cars for about 10 years, used to cut pen the filters on a regualar basis, and change the oil almost every race(free) using firebird recycled oil, and free fram filters, had quitea few that had defects, had real bad one one time that looked like the internal filter got ran over by a forklift and it was still put together like that, i`m guessing their quality went to crap in the late 80s early 90s, so, i quit using my free sponsor filter.....wix almost exclusivly now.....all you have to do to check out a filter is pick it up, i can tell the difference, pick up a fram and a wix, give a squeeze, you notice the difference, like a beer can versus a can food can....

 

Nappa gold is WIX, same thing. I think they did away with the silver filter, haven't seen it in a while

 

i did a search on fuel filters and found this, wow! spent an hour reading this thread! laughed a little bit and cried a little bit too. now im wondering about fuel filters??? hmmmmm? i want to have a filter right out of the fuel tank, and one after the pump. its for a small block chevy, carb, nothing special about it. who makes a good fuel filter?

i figured to just add on to this thread seeing how fram sucks at making oil filters, now i wonder about about the fuel filters they make?

 

According to the Federal Trade Commission;
What is the standard for a product to be called Made in USA without qualification?

For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be "all or virtually all" made in the U.S. The term "United States," as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions.
What does "all or virtually all" mean?

"All or virtually all" means that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content.

 

Napa gold is made by wix,it is not a wix and is slightly different.Cut one apart.

 

Mid sixties Fram oil filter (less than 10 miles old) split at bottom seam. this was a spin on SBC filter. Fram did offer to send me another new one for free! you gotta be shitting me. And that was the last fram anything I've ran to date.

 

I have, the one on my Lincoln now says Wix and Nappa gold on it, they are the same, the old silver filter was different.

 

ive allways used fram when i could.now im pissed off.will never use one again.can anyone give me some part nos for wix or mobil1# s to suit 70s sbc and 98 corvette thanx

 

We did a few months ago at a filter sale to show several different filters internal's and the Wix#51515 and NAPA#1515 looked the same?? The Fram was cardboard end caps instead of steel like the Wix/NAPA version.

 

I have seen more than one stockcar motor wasted from Fram filters. They need a warning on them. Not for high RPM motors.

 

I stopped buying Fram filters last year when they put a giant bill board in my downtown Phoenix neighborhood in spanish.I have never had a problem with they're product, but I don't have to worry about that now any way...

 

wow really cause its in spanish? not cause the filter itself sucks? some people never cease to amaze me.

 

i'm glad someone revived this thread, just tacked on 2 wix filters to my parts order

 

FRAM ='s junk even I know that !!!!

 

You guys just got me to stop buying Fram,. I saw questions about Badlwins so I will chime in on those here at work we have seen element collapse issues with there trans and fuel filters , the fuel filters seem to clog and collapse a lot as we have had multiple failures of these and injector pump issues as a result.

 

Their slogan SHOULD be ..."You can pay me now AND pay me later!".

 

interesting read. thanks for passing on the info. iv been using K&N but im not to happy with them as of late.. ill try the napa gold. rock on.

 

Funny I Will NOT buy a Purolator filter after one collapsed internally and destroyed a high dollar engine. I havent used anything but Fram since but I will heed your warnings Thank You for the heads up!

 

I'm a WIX fan for oil filters. Just cut open a Fram and keep a vomit bag handy. GARBAGE!! If they spent the money on product development that they spend in advertising they might have a product worth using. "I know, let's make a grippy surface! That'll get em to buy our junk!" I hear good reviews on RACOR fuel filters lately for those of you who have diesels. I'm trying one soon and I'll let you know in this post.

 

after reading this thread ive stopped using them got a wix back from canada more to follow for sbc and c5 vette

 

i usually dont talk alot but i wanted to say i really like the information i get from the hamb. flathead freak

 

I work at a motorcycle shop and while we use all OEM filters on the bikes I sometimes see used bikes come through with FRAM filters on them and more than one have been imploded or o rings have come off inside the motor. They are the biggest pieces of junk sold out there!

 

We use luber finer filters on our diesels. thay make all the filters oil fuel,water and air. the 475 hp cat in the pete i drive has a million and 90 thousand miles and never been touched. I woulnt use a fram if they paid me to.

 

I know this is an oldie, but I'm bumping it as per a conversation I've been having via private message with a fellow HAMB'er... Or to put it another way, I'm still waging war on Fram filters.

 

I can say I stopped using them as well. I get Napa now.

 

I only run NAPA Gold filters, Fram has had nothing but junk filters for many years. Wix would also be a good choice, they make NAPA filters

 

Yep thanks to the HAMB it's nothing but WIX/NAPA Gold filters for all of my vehicles. I don't even use FRAMs when doing side job oil changes, as I tell my customers to google "FRAM oil filter failure" and prepare to have your jaw drop.

 

You can also find Wix, Purolator, Mobil 1, Amzoil - failures of just about any brand.
Back in my auto parts days I sold literally thousands of Fram Oil Filters and we used them on our off road race cars. Never had one returned nor one failure. I'm not defining them or trying to change anyone's mind, just stating my experience. If they were half as bad as all this interweb jabber makes them out to be, there would class action lawsuits and they would have gone out of business.

 

It would be interesting to see all the name brand filters cut open for inspection every year. I suspect there are a LOT of changes to compare year to year.

I know back a couple of decades, I used to be a vendor for a company making about 12 different makes of filters and the only real difference at that time was the color of paint and the decal. I am sure it is quite different today!