Please tell me this is not the way oil filters are made...

[beckelkamp]

I’m the mornings they made masks and after lunch break they made these filters.

 

[Fueler]

USA filters were made in much the same way in the beginning. Some of the equipment they use may have originated here.
In viewing 2 different videos it is revealed that this company private labels! The one video shows a lot more children involved.

 

[jiggseob]

This is the reality of a globalized economy where a North American manufacturer complies with OSHA and environmental regulation out the ying-yang, and workers are paid a wage they can (mostly) live on. And a boatload of sea-cans full of this product sails across the big-pond fueled by $20/bbl bunker oil.

And does the filter produced by many-hands perform worse than the robot-made filter? That performance is only as good as the "quality control", the human mechanisms that detect and stop malfunctions in manufacture before they get out the door in finished product. No "quality control" shown in the video.

Especially with filters, we have all seen the endless youtube videos that hack filters apart and proclaim one filter superior over another by quantifying pleated paper or thickness of steel or springiness of a spring or floppiness of a drainback valve flapper. But none of those videos actually test "filtration", add a known amount of contaminant to a flow-medium, and test the filter at its primary purpose, removal of contaminant from flowed medium. Or test an anti-drainback valve at preventing back-flow. Or test a filter to quantify resistance to flow balanced against contaminant removal - after all a filter that prevents flow is also 100% effective at preventing passage of contaminant.

This video certainly is illustrative of the breadth of process that is upstream of the "stuff" we use every day. And this is "just a filter". You don't want to see the upstream video of most of your food.

 

[DB3TX]

Not that it makes any difference to the OP's point, but these are fuel filters. It says so on the label, and the real tell is there is no rubber drain-back valve installed. I actually like these videos, and think they make some ingenious use of the things they have, and the product looks to be decent quality.

 

[Zmann.]

It may have been mentioned elsewhere, but "www.bobistheoilguy.com" used to test and rate engine oil, oil filters, etc. I don't know if that site still exists however.

just remember that is a forum full of a lot of opinions (like here) ,, all post are not from " BOB"
I see that site often referenced as gospel but when you read the linked thread it is often just a newbie posting bs

 

[jezreel]

I have no opinion one way or another. I buy my Kubota filters and Fram for the truck. But. . . This is the first time I’ve ever heard people poo-pooing a hand-made item. I know they were whipping those out, but if the workers are good, and they know a flawed piece on the item and discard that piece, they should be able to produce a good hand-made product.

I don’t know. I’m just Sayin’. . .

 

[HAR]

While I did not switch due to ''reviews", I did switch due to price and availability. I have found WIX filters have met my needs now for many years, and now I feel somewhat vindicated, after watching 3 videos where side by side comparisons were done.

As for "are they made that way"? I am sure that many knock off/black/gray market items are made that way. Anyone can spray paint and screen print convincing logos. The problem is your source. While AMAZON may have low prices, who is the "source supplier"? An OEM, a USA Mfg, or a foreign source such as the video?

I recently watched a video where 'high quality' truck wheels were being made in much the same fashion using steel plate taken from dismantled ship hulls!

 

[Lakebuster]

I have a large truck that uses an air desiccant filter to remove moisture. All of the filters are made by Wabsco. Was having a hard time locating on right after the Covid Shut down. Found one on Amazon and as soon as I received it, the weight did not feel right and it had no name but was the correct size. They usually last one to two years and the moisture ejector starts blowing off air too often.
Long story short I found a Wabsco air desiccant filter at a dental supply house and ordered a few. I removed the Amazon painted black filter and had droplets of water under filter.
I cut open filter and it did not have the desiccant beads to absorb moisture but a white membrane that was saturated with moisture.
So be careful ordering filters from Amazon and EBay they may say a replacement filter and fit, but not the real deal!

 

[RandR10]

The way they're constructed seems to be of better quality than the old infamous Frams from years back that had paper end caps that would delaminate. That is, if they were kept clean enough to keep metal shavings from being introduced into the oiling system of the engine.

To those talking about how crude it is, I bet there are factories today in the US with very similar working conditions. Something high volume like an oil filter is probably fully automated though. Only way to make them cheaply enough.

 

[Gord Baker]

Not that it makes any difference to the OP's point, but these are fuel filters. It says so on the label, and the real tell is there is no rubber drain-back valve installed. I actually like these videos, and think they make some ingenious use of the things they have, and the product looks to be decent quality.

These are NOT Fuel Filters unless Mazda has a Diesel. They are OIL Filters.