I moved to Baldwin as well, i was a long time Wix/Nappa gold user. thankfully i still have a supply of 30 USA wix filters for my Turbo Buicks to go through
I still have some stock of the old WIX filters in my garage. I'll use those before i worry. I am using the Mobile 1 branded filter on my (toyota) driver.
As a dealer for K&P, I've thought about that situation. One of my projects (that I may never get to) was to make a "cover" out of old oil filter bodies that would fit over the K&P and appear as a OEM type filter. Also, I agree with Jim's statements......... that's all I use now is K&P filters on all my stuff. The initial expense becomes secondary when considering what it's job is and how well it does it.
UTG (Uncle Tony’s Garage) had a vid about oil filters. He stated that above 25 or so psi the oil gets bypassed. Any truth to that?
And if you guys are looking to buy one of these great filters, make sure you give Steve a call... I appreciate him turning me on to them with his posts on the board here. I only sell them with a complete engine- JW
And Gary.. for a car that is actually being driven/raced like the BSA class at the nats.. then the nod should be given to function over form.. the black ones are very low key looking, hiding down there by the lower radiator hose.. Smart money will run the best filter, and smart group think/class rules should allow it."I see your running that good filter on there and protecting your investment" should be heard in the tech area.. Now for a concours car show, that's different.. and a painted/stickered Baldwin filter would be best. JW
My problem with cleanable filters (including the K&N air filter on the Buchev) is... well...cleaning them. I don't have a Safety Clean setup and I end up with some kind of contaminated goop that I don't know what to do with. I can't put it down the drain, I can't get rid of it as waste oil because of the cleaning agent mixed in with it. I will continue to use spin-on oil filters, and the next time the K&N air filter needs cleaning, I will replace it with a paper-element filter. $70 for a new K&N element is just not acceptable to me..
Jim, I have to admit, that is a super looking and top of the line-built oil filter. But where's the red anodize that would go with my Buick? Lol
Scott, do you have some pictures of the China WIX 51258 by chance? I just bought some 51258's and 51040's for my GN from a local parts house and they were all US made with manufacturing date codes in 12/23. Seems like some new Napa Gold filters supplied by PGI are made in Vietnam now too, along with China and South Korea. I just send them back and change them over to WIX. If WIX/M+H are being made in China, then I'll just stock OEM at my shop like I do with 4 makes and counting. I realize we're in a global marketplace now, but paying more for Chinese oil filters than OEM is a no-go for me, quality control aside.
I can relate to this. I installed a Balwin filter on my little stocker '72 Skylark (stock, original 350 with 65k miles) at the last oil change and now it knocks when I start the engine and the oil light takes a second or two to go out. It never did this until I swapped the Balwin filter.
The WIX issue I had was that with the high cold pressures we see the anti drainback flapper doesn't come back into position then you have no anti drainback feature. Not sure if it started with the China ones or not but I went to KN and Fram HP5 and pressure comes up much faster. Was especially noticeable at the track after it sat a while. I could almost count to 5 before pressure came up. Now with HP5 jumps right up.
Nothing first hand. This was obtained from a Pontiac message board. One member called Wix customer service who confirmed this. Today someone else posted this: " My local NAPA store informed me a couple days ago that their NAPA Gold/Wix filters were on sale for about 1 more week. Deep discounts too, like 40%-60% off. So I ordered a bunch of filters for my cars, equipment and family members cars. The 1258 filters we are talking about for our Pontiacs, I ordered 4 of. Less than $6.00 each. They have a mat black paint finish instead of the gloss black you may be familiar with. The rubber seal is red/pink color. The business end has a clear plastic cover over it. Made in China. The other 12 part numbers I ordered were all made in Mexico or China. None in the US. FWIW."
Who would have thought you would have needed 2 cases of oil filters from the 80's this is really sick.
Just looked at the 51258's I have. Bought a case from Amazon July 2023 and stamped "made in America". I also use a dozen+ annually for my work vehicles and have no issues or complaints, and I love the application page on their site. I'm liking it to sports or politics, sometimes we need to pick a team and stick with it despite some negative reports...
