Hey all,

Well the panda now has a sump of fresh oil and a new filter. However when I picked up my new filter from the dealer yesterday, I was struck by the difference between the OEM filter 12 months ago and now. The construction seems more poor, lighter weight, more flexible and the quality doesn't appear to be there. Subjective I know.

I'm back in the lab at work on Monday and I am thinking of picking some filters for the panda and cracking them open, checking the construction, quality, filtration medium performance and so on.

I can then compare their quality and at least give a view of what I think from my standpoint as a engineer and if I could would use them on my vehicle.

During our engine testing at work we can only use certain filters, from specific suppliers which have been tested by us to fit the requirements, however I'm aware of garages and even dealers using many different brands and sometimes generic pattern parts during servicing, regardless of what vehicle it is and its warranty status. I want to sort the chaff from the wheat and know what I would personally recommend to yourselves and use my self

Is this something you guys would find useful? If so I'll happily update you all as I go along

Also if there is any filter brands or models you would like checked, pop the codes down and I'll see what I can do.

Off the top of my head I am likely to check:

Fiat OEM
Mann
Hengst
Bosch
Purflux
Fram
Crosland
Champion
Unipart

I will also look at air and well as oil filtration parts and see what conclusions I can make.

Cheers all

Brought all Mann filters this morning ready for my change- not that I'm using halfrauds again for parts, they buy from other parts suppliers in the area and charge extra, which I wouldn't have minded had they not ballsed my order up and made have to all the way back there again for a refund.

leroya500 said:

Brought all Mann filters this morning ready for my change- not that I'm using halfrauds again for parts, they buy from other parts suppliers in the area and charge extra, which I wouldn't have minded had they not ballsed my order up and made have to all the way back there again for a refund.

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Blessem

I bought a Halfords filter for my turbo,
filled with oil..then REALLY struggled to get it onto the car. pouring £3 of oil on the drive

gave-up crawled back into the light..to discover it had NO THREAD..

so tipped remaining oil in a pot ( fully synthetic = EXPENSIVE)

and proceeded to put filter back in it's Halfords carton for a return / complaint..

it's at this point I notice the OILY RING IN THE CARTON

it'd obviously been returned before - at least once

and then replaced on the shelf ready for the next mug / customer

I only go there to buy tools on a Sunday - when stuck for options.

Yep! Agreed on a that. Halfords is great when your desperate on a Sunday and needing something, or have a trade card etc.

For me it's Andrew page/my independent motor factor in the next town anyday if possible

Alexiloki said:

Is this something you guys would find useful? If so I'll happily update you all as I go along

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Yes please.

From personal experience, I've used aftermarket MANN filters in the past, without issues.

jrkitching said:

Yes please.

From personal experience, I've used aftermarket MANN filters in the past, without issues.

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I'm getting started on them on Monday, got a few spare filters ready to check and test.

Mann filters have a enviable reputation in the business. Also fitting OEM specs for most applications. That and the Bosch are the ones I'm most interested in checking the construction of and I doubt they will be any less quality than expected.

The other one I'm interested in but not in a positive manner is the crosland.

Once a market leader and now owned by Euro Car Parts, ECP makes a big thing of selling them as recommended for every possible fitment. However their technical department refuse to give specification information. Whereas it has to be said that Mann, Bosch automotive and unipart were more than forthcoming with.

They also take care to remind you that they are a aftermarket part and are not a matching OEM matching specification part. That does not fill me with confidence.

Alexiloki said:

Once a market leader and now owned by Euro Car Parts, ECP makes a big thing of selling them as recommended for every possible fitment. However their technical department refuse to give specification information. Whereas it has to be said that Mann, Bosch automotive and unipart were more than forthcoming with.

They also take care to remind you that they are a aftermarket part and are not a matching OEM matching specification part. That does not fill me with confidence.

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I've heard it said that the only thing that ECP retained from their buyout of Crosland was the name, which they now put on whatever products they can source from the cheapest suppliers.

What's the price difference between filters? I only ever have original parts fitted as I can't see any saving being worth it. Likewise with oil. Would be interested in Alexiloki's findings, though, as it might nudge me into going for OEM products if they're superior.

Be interesting to know the difference between the various brands of oil, I've opted for Carlube as that's what's available locally

babbo_umbro said:

What's the price difference between filters? I only ever have original parts fitted as I can't see any saving being worth it. Likewise with oil. Would be interested in Alexiloki's findings, though, as it might nudge me into going for OEM products if they're superior.

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This. The average new car in Britain costs nearly 16k, then when it comes to maintenance people want the cheapest possible, budget tyres, cheap servicing, cut price consumables and so on.

I use products based on performance. I use OEM filters because they work, I use Selenia oil as its a known quantity. If servicing is good but happens to also save me a few quid then brilliant, but price isn't the main consideration in my choosing [emoji3] a filter is one of the most important preventative measures in a car based on my professional experience, but when corners are cut or profit margins at tight, it's normally the first to suffer....

In part this little curiosity was based on two things, one that the OE filter from the dealer felt of lesser quality than it has before and second that I recently came across a £30k VW 4x4 which had been serviced at a main dealership.....and had blueprint/pattern filters attached. I want to see the nitty gritty of the effects and I'm lucky that I work in a place where can investigate and test

Well I've so far had 5 filters open today, some interesting findings so far, safe to say I've scratched 2 off the "would put them on my car" list.

Will update with a new thread when I've completed some more and got a write up sorted

I've now finished the write up, 10 filters tested. (More when I have more time) 6 passed testing, 2 were passable but I wouldn't use them personally and 2 were abstract failures of design and execution that I wouldn't put on a allegro!

Write up and pics will be up in the next few days