Toyota Oil Filter (Made in Thailand) vs. the competition........

I've seen this topic on many different forums, and I don't think any of them have a concrete answer. I don't think the Toyota filters are even made by Toyota, just as the Wal-Mart brand ones are made by the Chinese, too. I don't put too much faith in any dealer stock at all.

For what it's worth, I use NAPA's Gold filters, since they're made by WIX. It's an American company, far as I can tell, and my old greybeard mechanic friends swear by WIX. I hear good things about Amsoil from my racer friends, too.

If you're worried about making your truck last longer, don't sweat it. 98.9 vs. 99.8 percent filtration just isn't enough to make a difference. The best advice I ever got was to make sure the oil/filter was changed according to manufacturer's schedule.

 

Wal Mart filters are made by Champion Labs on the same production line as AC Delco, STP, and a number of others.
And I agree they are junk filters. Champion Labs filters used to be top-notch, and they are still making a high quality filter branded at Mobil-1 and K&N, but the "new" eCore design is comparable to Fram... in some ways better, in some ways worse.

And nobody ever claimed that Toyota made their filters... they don't, they are made by Denso in Thailand, and it is one of the better filters made.

Wix and Purolator/Bosch are also top-notch filters, but at twice the price of a Toyota filter, why screw around? Toyota filters are $4/each. The only other filter you are going to get for $4 is going to be a Fram or relabeled Fram, or a Champion eCore.

 

So Bosch is better then the Toyota ones? I usually get the Bosch Filter with the 5 qt oil jug at a discount at my Autozone.

 

From a price perspective, I can agree. But my counter-point was that even the low-grade Fram is good enough, if all you're doing is commuting and the odd goofing-off weekend.

I picked the NAPA brand since I started looking for WIX, and I think I remember them being somewhere around $3 here in the Wash, DC area. And NAPA gives me a military discount, so....

If Toyota's filters work, then just use 'em. But still don't think any dealer cares anything above just minimum quality, just about cost to produce.

 

I wouldn't say that.

There's nothing wrong with them. They've always been good. They used to be Champion. When Bosch bought Purolator, they moved production from Champion to the Purolator lines. The basic Bosch is comparable to the standard Purolator. The higher end Bosch is comparable to the PureOne.

On non-Toyota vehicles, I'll run Bosch, Purolator, or Mobil-1 (but with M1 being twice the price of PureOne, and not a better filter, I haven't bought an M1 in 3 years).

For Toyota vehicles, I'm personally comfortable with any of the above.
The only filters that I would avoid are the Champion/Fram manufactured products (Pennzoil, STP, SuperTech, AC Delco, MicroGuard, Jiffy Lube, Champ, etc....)
I believe that the Toyota filter is better than the Purolator/Bosch/Wix offerings, but not enough better to be concerned about on a 5k change interval.

But at $88 for 20 filters.... why not stick with Toyota filters?

 

Go back to the original series of posts from Chris and you can see the difference in Quality between Toyota and the aftermarket replacements.

 

Sounds like I'll be sticking to Toyota. But I keep getting other filters to get the discount on the oil... Now I have a bunch of random filters sitting around...

 

Is the price on 6 quarts and the filter less than just buying 6 quarts?
There are normally some decent discounts, but it's not often that it's cheaper to get an extra item. Pep Boys sent me a card good for $5 off on oil change supplies, meaning 5 quarts and a filter, $10 off if I buy synthetic.
Unless I go with a Fram, their filters are more than $5. The $10 discount sounds good, but I can get M1 5w30 cheaper at WalMart or Costco, so it's really not saving me anything.

Wife showed me a coupon last night for $2 off a 12 pack of Bud... but we'd have to buy two bags of Tostitos or a 15oz jar of dip.
Not a bad deal if we were planning on buying Tostitos dip, but we usually don't.

 

Well I get the 5 quart and I have another 5 quart jug sitting at home to make up for the rest each time. If I remember correctly, it's a sale price on the 5 quart jug and the filter, but you don't get the sale price if you don't get the filter and the sale price is less then the price of one 5 quart jug.

 

That's unusual, but it's a good deal.
Personally, I'd go ahead and use the Bosch filters. There's nothing wrong with them, and like I said, either they or Purolator PureOne go on my non-Toyota engines (motorcycles). If they were including Fram, STP, MicroGuard, or one of the other junk filters, I'd say toss them.

I Bosch/PureOne on the Toyotas until I found the sub-$5 price on Toyota filters at Titus-Will. I actually think there's still a PureOne on my wife's Rav.

 

I think it depends on the brand of oil they have the deal on, sometimes with Valvoline it comes with STP or Fram, Pennzoil is STP or Fram, I can't remember, then Mobil 1 is Bosch, I always get the Mobil 1, but they don't always have the deal when I need an oil change.

 

Chris,

Have you cut up and measured a Mobil 1 M1-209 oversize? Would be interesting to include. Let me know if you want one for the comparison.

 

Great write up Chris! Thanks for all your efforts to educate all Tacoma owners. Thanks to your review I picked up some filters today on that ebay special (10 for $40).

 

I use Bosch as well. Wix and Purolator are ok too. These filters for the price are hard to beat. I used to use Baldwins on my diesel truck.

A great read......using a filter bypass system.

http://www.gulfcoastfilters.com/1,000,000%20MILES.htm

 

is the purolater filter that much better than the k&n filter? its half the price of the kn but is it worth it?

 

The Pure-One is a fantastic filter.
I don't know that I'd say that it's better than the K&N, but it is one of the top 4... Toyota OEM, Mobil-1/K&N, and Pure-One.

For the price, it's a great filter. I used to use only M1 and have used them since 2003. I used Bosch every now and then on my motorcycle, but eventually settled into the Pure-One because of availability and price after Mobil-1 jacked up their prices by two bucks a few years back.

I've recently gone back to OEM Toyota filters on the Tacoma, and will go back to them on my wife's Rav4 as soon as I run out of Purolators (I think I have 4 left).

 

Chris, a great comparison & write-up. Thank you.

In your research have you found any Mobil 1 filters other than the M1-102 that are a suitable fit for the 1GR-FE V6?

I was ready to use this PepBoys coupon: http://www.pepboys.com/sale_specials/coupons/2999_mobil1_diy_dynOilChnge_dec2012_cp/

for 5 quarts of Mobil 1 oil & a Mobil 1 filter for $29.99 (bargain for me, don't know if for others) and they did not have the M1-102 filter in stock. I'll go back another day. Would have been better if I knew there was a suitable alternative.

I also came across this AutoZone Coupon: http://www.autozone.com/images/MEDIA_ProductCatalog/m610015_mobil1Coupon-v4.pdf?intcmp

Thanks in advance.

snappa

 

yeah ill be using the Toyota filter from now on.