Quote:
Originally Posted by civic_matic_00
A perfect oil filter media would stop all the particles down to 1-micron (about 1/70th the thickness of a human hair). Unfortunately, a filter with ports that small would also restrict the oil from returning to the engine fast enough, resulting in catastrophic equipment failure.
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You can get down that fine in filtration, if you go with a good "bypass filter" system. However, as already mentioned, bypass filter systems require extra oil path plumbing in the car (to be installed correctly). And they also have an initial cost (and ongoing costs for things like the filters used). So many people (reasonably) question if bypass filter systems are worth the initial cost/hassle of installing them.
As to the magnets (either a product like you mentioned, or even just your own magnets on the outside of the oil filter can), they are a great way to get small metal shavings that can be trapped by magnetic fields. This is very good, as those metal pieces are often extra sharp, and therefore a very good thing to trap (from a wear standpoint). And even if/when your filter(s) could do the same work without the magnets, using the magnets eases the stresses on the filters themselves (allowing the filters to last a little longer).
However, we need to keep in mind that magnets (while helpful for oil cleaning/filtering) only grab junk that is susceptible to magnetic fields. i.e. Magnets can help do things like trap steel metal shavings that get in the oil, but they won't help a bit with normal sand/dirt, or any other contaminant in the oil that is immune to magnetic fields. So it's still a good idea to get a better/finer filter when that is an option, even when you choose to add magnets to the oil (or transmission fluid) filtration you use.
Quote:
Originally Posted by civic_matic_00
Filter media developments over the years have certainly increased the life cycle for oil filtration cartridges, but fluid dynamics require the ports in the media to remain 25-micron or larger.
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That info is dated.
As far as I know its a true limit of traditional (paper) filter media, but no longer the true limit with the best nano-fiber synthetic filter media that is now on the market. For example, the Amsoil EaO oil filters (which I both personally use, and sell as an Amsoil dealer) use an excellent fully synthetic filter media. And those filters have no pores that are any bigger than 20 microns, and many of the pores go down to 10 microns. Yet, those filters not only trap 50% of dirt down to the 7 micron size (and over 98% of the stuff 15 microns or bigger), they actually have a better oil flow rate than many traditional car filters, that don't filter nearly as well. This is accomplished, by the fact that the synthetic media has many more "holes" in it than is possible with traditional paper filters, so this filter can make up for in volume (of holes for the oil to flow through), what traditional paper filters have to do with hole size (thereby maintaining the extra good oil flow rate, while still doing a much better job of filtering out contaminants)!
FWIW:
The reports I've heard around the net, suggest that the harm to the engine goes way down with junk that's 10 microns or less (i.e. most stuff that small, is too small to cause much harm). This doesn't mean that the ideal isn't still to get in the 2 micron or less range (i.e. things like bypass filters), but even if you only get the 10+ micron stuff (such as you can get with the EaO full flow filters I mentioned), you are still doing way better (in terms of engine wear) than you would be with a traditional paper oil filter.
Of course, while filtration is important and great, the true synergy comes when you use extra good filtration with quality synthetic oils, giving you the best of both worlds (i..e the extra good lubricating/flowing/cooling/cleaning/etc properties of the synthetic oils, combined with a system that constantly cleans/removes any harmful dirt/metal/etc that does make it into the oil). This is what I do with my cars, and I find it easily pays for itself over time. Because not only have I seen a real (if not huge) FE benefit from this approach, even the extra cost of the oil/filters is made up by the fact that I can go significantly longer between oil changes (thereby making the total cost/mile of doing oil changes LESS than I was paying when I was using more traditional oil and filters, simply because the quality oil/filters I use last so much longer).
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