imported post
Hobie1 wrote:
Folks, e-mail me about what you actually use. I will not post anything you send me. Truth.
I did have my very trusted mechanic tell me that he recently opened a OEM Honda filter and it had F... stamped on the metal piece. I have no reason whatsoever to not believe him.
I'm just curious. I may very well use the F Word for my bike.
This isn't and shouldn't open up the damned oil/filter/plug/tire/battery/fuel debate.
Hobie, choosing an oil filter is like choosing a wife. Everybody has different ideas of what the ideal wife would be.
There is no way I would ever try to recommend an oil filter or oil. Personally, I do a lot of research before choosing either an oil filter or oil type. Usually the final decision is a trade off between availability, price, function, test results, & past history.
Remember you could remove the oil filter completely & still have an engine function for quite a while. It's the same with oil filters, some work better than others, does it make a difference? Not immediately, but over thousands of miles of use there is a difference. Good oil filters will stop the majority or the particles down to 10-15 microns, mediocre filters will stop particles in the 15-20 micron range, poor filters will only stop some of the junk. Problem is: not many (none that I know of anyhow) oil filters will stop particles down to the 5 micron range- Over time a lot of the engine oil related damage is caused by particles in the 5-10 micron range.
You could stuff a piece of door screen in that filter housing & it would stop some of the dirt & particles. Would it be efficient? NO, would you use it on your bike? (probably not). It's the same with oil filters, some just work better than others, in most cases you pretty well get what you pay for in both oil & filters.
Oil filters can suffer in two ways, one isdue to the size of the particles they can filter out & the percentage of those particles they filter out with each pass. The other is the amount of particles they can hold in the filter media.
I was in the auto testing business an an engineer for many years & have seen tests on most oils & filters over the years. I have also seen first hand the difference they can make on 1,000 hour tests & end of test engine teardown.
Is there one best filter? NO. Even the same filter brand can very in it's effectiveness due to the size of the container as some filters are sized differently for fitment on multi engines. Filter manufactures also can get greedy & cheapen them up to add to bottom line profits.
My best suggestion is to pick the filter you like, then track down the micron filtration of that filter& the percentage caught, & the amount it will retain. Then compare that data to others (it takes a lot of research & keep in mind things are always changing).
I won't tell you what filter I use as I don't want to start a war here but will tell you it isn't a cheap filter to buy.
I have researched a lot of filters & have data on many but one thing I don't have is the data on the stock Honda filter so I have no idea how it stacks up against the aftermarket filters (my guess due to MoCo profit margins is it is probably slightly below the middle of the filter pack).
A filter chart (it's a few years old though). When researching filter differences be sure you use the SAME SAE test to compare. Those SAE test methods change from time to time & there are different tests for different countries. High numbers on both charts are best. These are not GoldWing filters, just a comparison chart for reference.