Joel Merrill
23rd April 2007, 02:18 PM (14:18)
My niece called me last week and had me come look at her car because it was shimmying. Her left front tire was out of alignment and the steel cords were sticking out all the way around the inner edge. It was about to blow. She just had her oil changed at a local discount store and they should have seen that. In fact, they missed a sale because they could have sold her a tire but they don't do alignments.
When I bought my van from my sister, it had a torn CV joint boot and the CV joint was dry. That boot had been torn for a long time. She also had her oil changed at a discount chain.
The kid doing the oil change isn't an experienced mechanic and probably doesn't even know what to look for. You can't put everything on an inspection list and if you did you surely don't think he is going to go down the list and actually check everything on it.
I did an experiment a few years ago. I bought a different brand of oil filter each time I changed oil. When I changed oil the next time, I would cut that filter open and compare them. I have no way to test the paper it's self but the auto industry sets the standard for that so I think it is about the same but there is a big difference in how filters are made.
First I looked at the amount of paper. The cheaper discount store brands like Fram had considerably less paper in them. I was surprised to find that AC filters don't have much paper in them. I have always been a GM man and I almost hate Fords but the Motorcraft filters had the most paper. The filter that most auto parts stores sell are made by the same company. WIX, NAPA and Carquest are all the same and there may be others made by that company. Those are also very good filters. They don't sell them at places like Walmart. Walmart does have Motorcraft but they only fit Fords.
Another big difference in filters is how the bypass valve is made. When you start your car on a cold winter morning, the oil is too thick to flow through the filter. So there is a spring in the filter that allows the oil to push the element out of the way so the oil can bypass it. The good filters have a regular coil spring. The cheap filters have a piece of tin and probably bypass most of the time.
Joel
When I bought my van from my sister, it had a torn CV joint boot and the CV joint was dry. That boot had been torn for a long time. She also had her oil changed at a discount chain.
The kid doing the oil change isn't an experienced mechanic and probably doesn't even know what to look for. You can't put everything on an inspection list and if you did you surely don't think he is going to go down the list and actually check everything on it.
I did an experiment a few years ago. I bought a different brand of oil filter each time I changed oil. When I changed oil the next time, I would cut that filter open and compare them. I have no way to test the paper it's self but the auto industry sets the standard for that so I think it is about the same but there is a big difference in how filters are made.
First I looked at the amount of paper. The cheaper discount store brands like Fram had considerably less paper in them. I was surprised to find that AC filters don't have much paper in them. I have always been a GM man and I almost hate Fords but the Motorcraft filters had the most paper. The filter that most auto parts stores sell are made by the same company. WIX, NAPA and Carquest are all the same and there may be others made by that company. Those are also very good filters. They don't sell them at places like Walmart. Walmart does have Motorcraft but they only fit Fords.
Another big difference in filters is how the bypass valve is made. When you start your car on a cold winter morning, the oil is too thick to flow through the filter. So there is a spring in the filter that allows the oil to push the element out of the way so the oil can bypass it. The good filters have a regular coil spring. The cheap filters have a piece of tin and probably bypass most of the time.
Joel