I cannot argue with you. I have used many a Fram Tough Guard filter on various vehicles and have never had an oil-related failure. Having said that, I do know that many a fleet vehicle uses either Wix or Hastings filters. Wix makes a great filter. It all depends on if they are available.

 

The only advantages, besides spending more money, to buying a K&N are; higher burst pressure, higher flow, and that nut welded on the end.
You can buy a Wix Racing filter, for less money than a K&N, with the same features listed above, minus the nut on the end. The standard Wix and the Wix Racing filter will out filter the K&N. The whole reason for having filters!

 

The nut on the end of the K&N filters can be a great bonus, especially on hard to reach filters. Using a socket is MUCH easier than trying to squeeze a filter wrench in there.

 

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I hate to hear this.
2007 Dodge regular cab 5.7 Hemi is the forth truck I’ve owned.
2000 Mazda 154,000 miles fram filters and Castrol oil
1994 Nissan 207,000 miles fram filters and Castrol oil
1986 Nissan 198,000 miles fram filters and Castrol oil
All the above trucks had no oil related problems when I traded them, basically traded them because I got new car fever. Except for the 86 Nissan with the nonreplicable U joints (shame on you Nissan).

 

k&n filters do keep your oil much cleaner over the oil change interval. the first couple of oil changes i made i used the standard paper filters on it. havnt seen the oil come out of my baby near as dirty since i started using the k&n filter. i get them for 10.99 at autozone. part number for hemi is 2004.

 

I used to work on heavy equipment before I started rail roading. All our service manager would order was Wix filters. After seeing some of the cheepies in the field fail, namely Fram, I will never put anything but Wix on my vehicles! all one has to do is cut open a Wix and do the same to a fram and you will see why. externally, the Wix has more return holes, Internally the wix media is twice as thick as the Fram, the Wix uses a coil spring, the Fram a flat spring. To me the fram is an accident waiting to happen! For the extra buck or two that the Wix costs, why take a chance?

 

That study is interesting but it's somewhat out of date. At the bottom of the page it shows the last update was in 2003. I don't know how many of the oil filter designs have changed since then, but I know that Amsoil no longer sells the SDF filter. They switched to the EA filter last year, which is supposed to be an improvement.