It’s interesting to me that WalMart sells Fram, Motorcraft, Mobil-1, K&N, and a few selections in MoPar, Purolator, and of course, their own SuperTech brand (which I consider as good as Purolator and is a LOT better than Fram)…. My main point is that when you pull into their oil-change-station and buy their generic oil change service….they use a “universal” Fram filter that doesn’t even meet any specific part-number, but is instead a wide-application filter with a number that cannot be cross-referenced at all. This is interesting to me because WalMart certainly has a liability to insure that they don’t harm a customers’ vehicle so their policy must be that the generic “one size fits all” Fram is satisfactory for the cheap oil change market.…. Oh well…. (and I have used the WM “Pit Stop” oil change service in my pickup, which costs $19.95 and is performed by evacuator, Quaker-State conventional oil, and that Fram universal filter …. and had no particular problems (other than the time they used Lock-Tite on my drain plug which required complete change-out of the oil pan. I submitted a complaint to them, and they paid the $600 repair bill for the local auto repair business to change that oil pan and perform another oil change.)
I’m just pointing out that oil filter cross-reference charts and specs reveal that there are basically only 3 main features oil filters must meet: Thread-size/type, by-pass valve, and filter-media. Fram has the cheapest construction of all filters I’ve ever seen…. and I’ve seen many filters…perhaps in the thousands-range over a 50 year career of auto/marine/aviation, both as a technician and an end-user. While in-a-pinch I’d not be afraid of Fram… I’d certainly not choose that brand if I have a choice….and I’d choose the WM SuperTech filter over a Fram.