OIL FILTERS

Whats the difference between vauxhall oil filters and other makes,eg unipart holfords own brand filters.Is the extra you pay in dealer price worth it over the other filters,thank you

Depends who you ask but i always pay that little bit extra in case one day you are taking your engine out thinking i've saved £10 on oil filters the last 2 years

On the frontera i've just brought i've got a vx and a Fram for it - going to change oil in the morning and fit fram run for a few weeks then change again to vx one (not sure when it was changed last)

VX still have many fronty filters on 'trade club' often the club price is better than spurious price or not much more :wink:

Hmmmm... thats an interesting one.

Yes there is a difference between filters. Mainly to do with the construction of the internal components. An oil filter isnt just a filter, it contains a one way valve to stop oil draining from the oil filter so when you start the engine the filter remains primed and a relief valve so when the oil pressure is high it bypasses the filter not to mention the size of the filter cartridge inside, bigger being better of course as a larger filtration area means a higher oil pressure can be achieved before the bypass valve comes into play.

There was a website I came across some time back where a guy had tested various filters and cut them open to see what the internal construction was like. Apparently Vauxhall (GM) filters are very good construction, Halfords came in at 3rd place, champion was reasonably low down on the list at no 6 (out of about 10 tested).

Some filters bypass and one way valves were just metal on metal allowing oil to slowly drain out or leak past whereas others had Nitrile gaskets creating a leakproof seal.

Anyway, to answer your question they do vary in quality and I think the general idea was that for a couple of quid extra it wasworth buying genuine filters.

I have noticed a difference in some aftermarket filters in the time it takes for the oil pressure to build up after starting the engine, this would indicate varying quality in the one way valves at the very least.

I've always used Crossland filters on my cars n never had any problem

Best stick to VX then just for sake of few quid,htank you.