Chinese OIL filters any good?

[codgyoleracer]

Hard to beat OEM , the engineers of the bike do know a thing or two & there is a good chance that there are numerous compatibilty issues with a plethora of related parts within the engine that can / could be affected by "outside" parts.
Tis confusing to see the made in China logo on the OEM part though, but then again Harley Davidson supposedly cast engine cases there - so I suppose its a purely commercial decsion & not a bad one if you can plant a few of your own quality control employees into the production line area & product sourcing area.
There is a place for aftermarket stuff - particularily in performance enhancing related equipment that the original manufacturer may tend to be on the conservative side with in the interest of maintaining reliabilty for their product , - or they may not want to place into the product due to cost control (e.g high quality suspension.....)
Many aftermaket suppliers tend only to offer "weak" warranties in respect of their products relative compatibilty for the application - & vice-versa many vehicle manufacturers will not warranty their product if non standard parts are used (& rightly so, they dont spend millions on testing for nothing)
Its a pissy-arse-pc-friggen world we live in sometimes , & who can blame the manufacturers wanting to disclaim themselves from responsibilty if you add a part that they did not design (or that has not gone through their hands & therfore have not had the pleasure of making some dosh out of).......

Is this getting off topic a little bit ?, sorry if it is, - but I think there is a place for both OEM & aftermarket options, Including oil filters......But have YOU got the knowledge & are YOU able to answer all of the relative pro's & con's of using that particula aftermarket part in your bike ?

Personaly - when it comes to filters I would rather use stock , & if I had an issue with the price of them - I think i would rather leave the OEM filter in for one third longer than keep changing an aftermarket one. (This is based on experience & when pulling filters apart - they are generally pretty darn clean inside even after two or three oil changes.....)

My 650cents worth

[ManDownUnder]

Colemans + $20 = Oil Filter. I don't think it's worth dicking around with personally... OEM all the way for me.

[GSVR]

I thought we had covered this. Many of the oem Japanese parts are now indeed made in China but its important to know who is in charge of quality control. Scientific equipment is required for such testing parameters as filtration ability in microns and relief valve opening pressure etc. But it would be interesting in itself to purchase a selection of the filters on the market including oem and to pull them all carefully apart. The amount of total paper area can be a giveaway. When at Yamaha we did have independent tests done years ago there was one brand of filter ( with what we thought was a reasonably respectable name ) that had only 60% of the paper area of oem. That is seriously shonky.....

As Frosty and others have intimated it is not worth the risk for the sake of a few dollars. If I was buying a bike that I had known to be run on such filters and average oil I would be deamanding a lower price or walking away.

OK Robert so when is OHLINS going to move its manufactering to China and have shocks made under supervision of OLINS QC people. I'm really looking forward to some $200 TTX36 shocks soon.

Piss take of course but you get my point.

Filter manufacter could be done by monkeys its seems. I'm more worried about the monkeys making the paper or does that come from the aftermarket filter makers factory in Japan?

[Robert Taylor]

OK Robert so when is OHLINS going to move its manufactering to China and have shocks made under supervision of OLINS QC people. I'm really looking forward to some $200 TTX36 shocks soon.

Piss take of course but you get my point.

Filter manufacter could be done by monkeys its seems. I'm more worried about the monkeys making the paper or does that come from the aftermarket filter makers factory in Japan?

Would that then go hand in hand with untrained underequipped hairies looking after them in an attempt to save a few more bucks?

They are probably copying them right now.

[codgyoleracer]

Would that then go hand in hand with untrained underequipped hairies looking after them in an attempt to save a few more bucks?

They are probably copying them right now.

Remember though Robert, Quality control can be drasticly improved in that part of the world as it appears to be directly related to how many staff you are allowed to take out the back & shoot against the factory wall.
Maybe you might consider moving to Ghanzhou & overseeing the operation ?, you could become the esteem joint venture partner "Mr Lobert Waylor"

[FROSTY:Me]

Finally got your point garry---Scary thought that the OEM suzuki filters are made in china--Hope its ONLY for those GN thingees not real bikes

[Crisis management]

Man, I'm even slower than Frosty here......Good point Garry!

[Robert Taylor]

Remember though Robert, Quality control can be drasticly improved in that part of the world as it appears to be directly related to how many staff you are allowed to take out the back & shoot against the factory wall.
Maybe you might consider moving to Ghanzhou & overseeing the operation ?, you could become the esteem joint venture partner "Mr Lobert Waylor"

That statement has the makings of being a ''sirry plick'' !!! Garry, nice guy that he is one to one I fear is suffering from RMS, maybe its not too late for treatment? ( Please take this as being lighthearted, nothing more! )

[bimotabob]

errrr... wrong... the GN250 went down hill since the chiness started making them... the chrome is crap and the I hear many parts of the engine are not as good...

When my partner was buying her bike we saw a GN (2005) and it was rusted out... even the other half noticed it. and it was in for engine repair... Get an older Jap GN and it will still be going and minimal rust on the chrome

Your so right - They even snap chains within months etc.
Junk Junk Junk.
Side by side with the 80's Jap ones is a no brainer.

Recently a large new highway collapsed in China. they found steel had been substituted with rocks in the pillars.
I'm not surprised they can't safely make kids toys..

I have never heard of anyone blowing their motor from cheap oil filters -
even though I hear they are everywear.
However I know of heaps of people who have destroyed their engines due to lack of oil changes.
Happens all the time.


Cheers

[White trash]

If I was buying a bike ....

Bwahahahaha, good one! If you were so inclined, when would you get the time to actually ride the thing Mr Taylor? Hmmmm?

[White trash]

Finally got your point garry---Scary thought that the OEM suzuki filters are made in china--Hope its ONLY for those GN thingees not real bikes

"Suzuki" oil filters are manufactured in China under licence to Suzuki. Funnily enough, Suzuki are in the business of manufacturing motorcycles. Not oil filters. Or headlight bulbs for that matter.

[MSTRS:Me]

"Suzuki" oil filters are manufactured in China under licence to Suzuki. Funnily enough, Suzuki are in the business of manufacturing motorcycles. Not oil filters. Or headlight bulbs for that matter.

Pertinent point here is 'under license'....Suzuki has a vested interest in ensuring the product meets their standards. Who is overseeing the quality of the Chinese made/marketed parts?

[Robert Taylor]

Bwahahahaha, good one! If you were so inclined, when would you get the time to actually ride the thing Mr Taylor? Hmmmm?

I was young once, and silly. Now I am older and less silly. Id rather watch you young ones do skids. ( Thanks Jimmy for reminding me that I dont ride bikes )

[imdying]

China is quite capable of producing good quality goods, they just build things to a price. Thing is, everyone specs things out on price, not quality. Just because it's made in China doesn't always make it crap.

[jrandom]

"Suzuki" oil filters are manufactured in China under licence to Suzuki.

Good point.

The way it tends to work in most industries is that Chinese product knock-offs come from the same factory that builds the legitimate product, and are just a continuation of a production run beyond the official order.

The additional product gets rebranded and retailed cheaply, delivering a much higher per-unit profit than what the contract manufacturer gets for delivering parts to the company that owns the design.

Of course, the factories usually abandon the design owner's quality control procedures during 'unofficial' production runs, and will also tend to substitute materials without a full understanding of the engineering issues involved.

A lot of the time nothing particularly bad happens as a result, but the dice are always rolling.

I'd tend to go with either OEM parts, or aftermarket parts from a reputable non-Chinese (or any other flavour of untrustworthy untermenschen) brand.