Stoutman
08-20-2006, 01:52 AM
I've seen some posts dissing the Supertech oil filter, so I decided to tear a new one apart for my own peace of mind. What I found was a surprisingly good filter for the $2.29 you pay at Walmart. This filter has all of the right parts in a well made package. See the pictures below for details.
What you get for you money:
A good anti-drain back valve. This is important in our bikes for two reasons: one, the filter is mounted horizontally. If the anti-drain back valve fails then dirty oil can leak back into the crankcase. Second, if the oil drains out of the filter then the engine oil pump has to fill the filter before it starts pumping oil to the engine at startup. The anti-drain back valve in the ST7317 was well made of a flexible nitrile material.
The paper filter element had 43 pleats that were evenly distributed, except where the seam was. This gives about 86 square inches of filter material. For a comparison to other filters check out this link http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Filters.html#OilFilters
The top and bottom of the filter element are metal. The filter element was sealed and glued at both ends. I've heard some manufacturers use a paper end on the filter element. I guess this is OK if you have a good bypass valve arrangement. This filter needs the metal end for the bypass valve to seal to.
The filter I opened had a very normal coil spring bypass valve on the top of the filter element. This is more than adequate to protect your engine from lack of lubrication in the event of a clogged filter. By the way, if this feature gets used frequently in your oil filter you need to either let your bike warm up longer before you redline it, or change your oil more often.
The filter gasket was smooth with no defects.So here is my challenge: if you have a different filter you like, tear it up and post some pictures. Lets see how they stack up.
What you get for you money:
A good anti-drain back valve. This is important in our bikes for two reasons: one, the filter is mounted horizontally. If the anti-drain back valve fails then dirty oil can leak back into the crankcase. Second, if the oil drains out of the filter then the engine oil pump has to fill the filter before it starts pumping oil to the engine at startup. The anti-drain back valve in the ST7317 was well made of a flexible nitrile material.
The paper filter element had 43 pleats that were evenly distributed, except where the seam was. This gives about 86 square inches of filter material. For a comparison to other filters check out this link http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Filters.html#OilFilters
The top and bottom of the filter element are metal. The filter element was sealed and glued at both ends. I've heard some manufacturers use a paper end on the filter element. I guess this is OK if you have a good bypass valve arrangement. This filter needs the metal end for the bypass valve to seal to.
The filter I opened had a very normal coil spring bypass valve on the top of the filter element. This is more than adequate to protect your engine from lack of lubrication in the event of a clogged filter. By the way, if this feature gets used frequently in your oil filter you need to either let your bike warm up longer before you redline it, or change your oil more often.
The filter gasket was smooth with no defects.So here is my challenge: if you have a different filter you like, tear it up and post some pictures. Lets see how they stack up.