Cheap Chinese Oil filters.

[Tony Smith]

I am sure that anyone who frequents eBay has seen the ads by a Chinese seller for "quality" oil filters to suit various airheads.
 
Usually he has a "buy it now" price that is just high enough to dissuade a casual purchase to have a look at his products, but a few months ago he had a box of 10 filters on a normal auction - with free post. When I saw that the bidding had not advanced past US$15, I slipped in a US$20 bid at the death-knock and won them.
 
The filters arrived a month later, but I was a bit too busy at the time to look at them, last night I found the box of filters still sitting on my desk and decided to pull on apart and have a look inside.

Firstly the overall construction, to my very great surprise,  is pretty good. There is an internal metal tube to prevent suction collapse, the end plates were well glued with an adhesive that seemed fairly indifferent to heat (i waved a blowlamp over them for a few seconds to bring the end plate up to "spit sizzle" temperature and they didn't fall off - a good sign. Likewise the rubber "O" rings were well retained and not likely to come adrift then requiring them to be fished off standpipe in the oil filter canister (which is more than I can say for the donit filter that did exactly that to me last weekend).
 
So at that stage I was pretty impressed.

Then I went around the filter gently pressing the pleats apart to get a feel for the strength/thickness & weight of the filter paper used. To be honest I thought the filter paper was a little light on, but the clincher was that when I stumbled on the join it was but a single "overhung" pleat and opened up, exposing the internal metal tube (and therefore offering no filtration at all).
 
Big disappointment and i did not bother testing further. The absence of overlap on the pleating means that they are simply junk, which is a shame because otherwise they are surprisingly well made.

Anyone want 8 really cheap oil filters?

[Barry]

That's a good test on the pleats. I must open up a filter at my next oil change and check the overlap at the join.  I assume the filter media would also be bonded at the join in some way.

[Tony Smith]

 I assume the filter media would also be bonded at the join in some way.

it's been a long time since I pulled a Mahle or Donit filter apart but my memory is that the pleat overlap is not bonded, it just extends for about 5 or 6 pleats. Given the longitudinal rigidity imparted by the pleating, that is more than enough.

[Mike V]

I did some "soft" research on oil filters a while back for a vendor, nothing in the manner of empirical performance or clinical filtering quality.  The Mahle and Mann filters were pretty similar.  All the pleating on the 3 filters I looked at were crimped quite well.  I use both the Mann and Mahle with no problems since I have them on the shelf in bulk.  I'm with you Tony ... I don't think I would ever experiment with Cheap filters, personally, they aren't a cost item I look to take shortcuts with.  Your decision, and YMMV.

I have a spreadsheet with a bit more information, if anyone is interested.  Not a lot of useful information in my opinion but I'm happy to forward PM.

I've added comments at the bottom of the photos attached.  Two of the filters manufacturer's were unknown and not disclosed to me from the vendor who sent them to me.  But I would be comfortable in using any of the 3 shown below.

http://s428.photobucket.com/user/gruntyman66/library/Oil%20Filters%20-%20Type%20570?sort=6&page=1

[Bob_Roller]

Mann and Mahle are OEM filter suppliers for BMW .

I did a little oil filter test a few years ago, a co-worker had an R1150RT-P, turned into a money pit, got rid of the bike and gave me 6 Bosch spin on filters .

I checked online and this filter number was commonly used, according to online comments on BMW bike sites .

I wasn't so sure, had a filter change coming up on my oilhead .

Bought an OEM filter, cut the used OEM filter apart and a Bosch filter .

The filtering area of both filters was the same, could not tell my visual inspection any difference in the quality of the filtering media .

The bypass valve on the OEM filter was a rubber coated curved metal disc, the Bosch a round piece of flat  plastic .

The bypass valve on the OEM filter opened at 10 pounds of force, a little over 4 kg, the Bosch, opened at 1 pound, or .4 kg .

I tossed the Bosch filters in the trash .

[Tony Smith]

 I'm with you Tony ... I don't think I would ever experiment with Cheap filters, personally, they aren't a cost item I look to take shortcuts with.  

I do take the view that I never compromise on things that might cost me later. however having said that, had the pleating been better, say an overlap of 4 or 5 pleats, or simply bonded at the join, I would have given them a go.

But, they weren't and they were clearly a disaster waiting to happen, so they are now in my local council's landfill.

The only time I've seen Mahle filters in recent years is emergency buys from the local dealer. Moto bins switched to Donit filters some years back, When they did i pulled the first one apart (admittedly after I'd used it) and was quite happy with the way it was put together.

[Barry]

I know most of you will have seen this but... my modest contribution to oil filter research.

This filter had very good spot welds as I successfully turned it back into a tube and used it as an exhaust baffle.

[wa1udg]

If you wish to read about oil filters 'till your eyes glaze over ... try BITOG  (Bob Is the Oil Guy) .com.  They even have a special section for motorcycle oil and filters with results of used  motorcycle oil tests posted.