oil/air filters - up to 90% off kmart B&M ymmv

[gently]

A heads-up for those who maintain their own vehicles:

My Kmart (Devon PA) has several shelves of clearance-marked oil and air filters .. some are about 25% off, but a significant number are 90% off (80cts for an $8 filter).

You may want to check your local store -- I didn't check their website, but it seems unlikely that this would be there, just clearing shelves in the B&M.

BTW, check your owner manual or other reference texts for correct filter sizes - I couldn't buy anything because the store had lost its reference manuals of filter code to vehicle -- pretty typical of Kmart's attention to automotive supplies in my experience. But that of course means that most of this stuff will STAY on the shelves until people come who know how to identify what they want -- could that be you ?

Good luck.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

you mean kmart is still in business? I thought they liquidated all thier stores 2 months ago, I know several in the Dallas/north Texas area shut down, as well as waco, corsicana, and temple in central texas.

 

[tm37]

What brand?

 

[Thump553]

A little tip. You should carry a small spiral notebook in your glovebox to keep records of your repairs and maintainence. On the last page of that notebook, make a list of the part numbers for commonly replaced items (oil filters, air filters, headlight bulbs, etc) for each car you own. Then bring the notepad in with you when you go to the store.

Most KMarts here folding too. I haven't even bothered to look-the oil filters, oil, etc. are some of the very first items to go when a clearance sale starts. This sounds different than a clearance, but I can't imagine why KMart would sell easily saleable goods such as oil filters at 90% off.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
you mean kmart is still in business? I thought they liquidated all thier stores 2 months ago, I know several in the Dallas/north Texas area shut down, as well as waco, corsicana, and temple in central texas.

Not all.

 

[keenan9]

Actually Kmart is coming out of bankruptcy (from 4/23 WSJ):

A judge on Tuesday approved Kmart Corp's (KMRTQ) reorganization plan, effectively ending the retailer's 15-month stay under Federal Bankruptcy Court supervision.

Kmart, of Troy, Mich., expects to officially emerge on or before May 5, months ahead of the forecast it issued at the time of its bankruptcy filing in January 2002, but slightly behind the more optimistic estimates its executives had given in recent months.

So good deal!
:beer:

 

[GnatGoSplat]

Don't buy the FRAM ones!

 

[Buzzman151]

I've never had problems w/ FRAM oil filters and I used them for 3 years on my old cars. I now use Amsoil and no one carries the filters that I need besides authorized dealers

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Buzzman151
I've never had problems w/ FRAM oil filters and I used them for 3 years on my old cars. I now use Amsoil and no one carries the filters that I need besides authorized dealers

Fram is the devil when it comes to oil filters.

Here are some reads for ya.,..

Oil filter 101

Oil Filter 202

NEVER USE FRAM!!!!


Penzoil oil filter
This filter is a Fram! It is the exact same design as the Fram Extra Guard filter and it is junk. On the up side, it costs $1 less than the Fram version.

Quaker State oil filter
This is another Fram Extra Guard that I have seen at K-mart. It used to be a Purolator, but Quaker State is now owned/controlled by Penzoil...

 

[GnatGoSplat]

Originally posted by: Buzzman151
I've never had problems w/ FRAM oil filters and I used them for 3 years on my old cars. I now use Amsoil and no one carries the filters that I need besides authorized dealers

FRAM is not bad enough to cause problems, but it's bad enough to be CRAP!

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: GnatGoSplat

Originally posted by: Buzzman151
I've never had problems w/ FRAM oil filters and I used them for 3 years on my old cars. I now use Amsoil and no one carries the filters that I need besides authorized dealers

FRAM is not bad enough to cause problems, but it's bad enough to be CRAP!

Read the links above, a Fram filter did cause damage to one guys engine. And Fram also had several recalls a couple of years ago.

But correct, stay away from FRAM!!!

 

[LilHen]

thanks for the linkies Marlin1975

 

[TTM77]

I use FRAM oil filter. Well, I wouldn't recommend using any Filter for a long period of time. I change mine almost every time I change oil. Oil change = free +$3 filter. (bought the plan to change oil for free at the dealer but those shitty guy mess up my oil pan once and cost me like $200 to replace.. if I replace with them it would cost $500).

 

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, but why waste $3 on a crappy FRAM when you can get a better filter for $2?
This is Hot Deals, you're supposed to be into saving money!!!

 

[phreakyzen]

Nevermind answered my own stupid question

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Fram oil filters are ok as long as you don't worry about killing your oil sending unit, they are very compacted filters that restrict oil flow through them, personally I use purolator and/or napa gold, valvoline 10/30 goes in clean comes out almost as clean, the only other oil I have seen that does this is castrol syntech and mobile1 full synthetic. I used to change oil for a living (paid for college ) at a kwik kar, for 4 years.

edit: glad to hear k-mart may be back in business, wally world and target need more competition to keep dem prices low.

 

[freebee]

Having used Fram filters, oil and air, on fleet cars and personal vehicles that travel hundreds of thousands of miles, never had any problems. The key is frequent changes rather than the brand of the filter. Currently using k&n/mobil 1 parts, but thats because i got lazy.

 

[GnatGoSplat]

You can use cheap commercial grade toilet paper and not have any problems either, but would you, if the price of the triple ply cushy stuff is less? That's what you're doing when you buy FRAM! It works, but's not as good!

 

[Thump553]

I've read the above links before about the quality of various oil filters before but let me say this:

1) I've used Fram filters almost exclusively for over 30 years in multiple cars without once there every being an oil-related failure. Between my wife and me (and now kids) we put at least 40-50k miles per year on the vehicles.

2) Fram carries all the necessary SAE and manufacturers approvals. With all due respect, these are a lot more significant than the testing procedure of some guy with a website.

3) By far the most important thing is regular oil and filter changes, and periodic preventative maintainence as a whole. Don't fall for the commercial oil changers reccommendation to change every 3,000 unless you have extreme driving conditions. Read your owner's manual-most say 7500 miles (or more)/3 months. Personally I change every 5,000-it gives a cushion and is easy to remember.

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I've read the above links before about the quality of various oil filters before but let me say this:

1) I've used Fram filters almost exclusively for over 30 years in multiple cars without once there every being an oil-related failure. Between my wife and me (and now kids) we put at least 40-50k miles per year on the vehicles.

2) Fram carries all the necessary SAE and manufacturers approvals. With all due respect, these are a lot more significant than the testing procedure of some guy with a website.

3) By far the most important thing is regular oil and filter changes, and periodic preventative maintainence as a whole. Don't fall for the commercial oil changers reccommendation to change every 3,000 unless you have extreme driving conditions. Read your owner's manual-most say 7500 miles (or more)/3 months. Personally I change every 5,000-it gives a cushion and is easy to remember.

Yes You haven't had any problems.

Fram filters USUSALLY WORK BUT when they fail they kill your engine.

You talk about not following the oil companys 3000 miles but yet Fram has pulled the the biggest marketing coup in the automotive repair industry. They do sell more filters than anyone else. However meeting minimum requirements and doing a good job are two different things.

Why should you buy fram when you can get a better filter at a lower cost. I use the Super tech filters from walmart less money and a better filter. I used to use Flag from Kragen but they did away with them and now they have pennzol (which is a fram). I don't buy the mopar filters for my chrysler vehicle because you never know what you are getting.

 

[vtqanh]

Originally posted by: tm37

Originally posted by: Thump553
I've read the above links before about the quality of various oil filters before but let me say this:

1) I've used Fram filters almost exclusively for over 30 years in multiple cars without once there every being an oil-related failure. Between my wife and me (and now kids) we put at least 40-50k miles per year on the vehicles.

2) Fram carries all the necessary SAE and manufacturers approvals. With all due respect, these are a lot more significant than the testing procedure of some guy with a website.

3) By far the most important thing is regular oil and filter changes, and periodic preventative maintainence as a whole. Don't fall for the commercial oil changers reccommendation to change every 3,000 unless you have extreme driving conditions. Read your owner's manual-most say 7500 miles (or more)/3 months. Personally I change every 5,000-it gives a cushion and is easy to remember.

Yes You haven't had any problems.

Fram filters USUSALLY WORK BUT when they fail they kill your engine.

You talk about not following the oil companys 3000 miles but yet Fram has pulled the the biggest marketing coup in the automotive repair industry. They do sell more filters than anyone else. However meeting minimum requirements and doing a good job are two different things.

Why should you buy fram when you can get a better filter at a lower cost. I use the Super tech filters from walmart less money and a better filter. I used to use Flag from Kragen but they did away with them and now they have pennzol (which is a fram). I don't buy the mopar filters for my chrysler vehicle because you never know what you are getting.

I believe that any filter that fails will kill your engine, not just FRAM. Because FRAM is selling an enormous number of oil filters, they are exposed to more and more testing by the consumers (which is a good thing). Thus, more ppl will have problems with FRAM than any other filters. But when you take the percentage of the ones that failed per the filters that were sold, it's a very small number

 

[RideFree]

lobadob,

personally I use purolator and/or napa gold, valvoline 10/30 goes in clean comes out almost as clean,

You are 100% correct!
This regimen at 3 or 4 thousand miles should give you a ½ million mile engine, especially with today's engines.
(The 500,000 mile figure will be much less if the cylinderwalls are aluminum.)

 

[alm4rr]

For those 2 websites, I'd be much more persuaded if it was done by Consumer Reports and not some car user group outta texas
=)

 

[GnatGoSplat]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I've read the above links before about the quality of various oil filters before but let me say this:

1) I've used Fram filters almost exclusively for over 30 years in multiple cars without once there every being an oil-related failure. Between my wife and me (and now kids) we put at least 40-50k miles per year on the vehicles.

Sure, the Frams will work, BUT they are 50-cents to $1.00 more expensive than other superior brands, such as SuperTech (Champion) for example. Considering filters are around $2-3, that's 40-50% more expensive!
Look inside a Fram, it is cheaply made with the cheapest materials. SuperTech is better constructed with much better materials and costs less.

It's quite simple.

Pay more for inferior product = silly.
Pay less for quality product = smart.

Maybe if Fram filters cost 50% LESS than other brands, it MIGHT be worthwhile to use, but that's just not the case, they are priced higher.

Would you pay more to buy the funny tasting generic cheese-flavored tortilla chips if you could get genuine Doritos for less? Or an analogy for the computer geeks: would you pay more for a PC Chips KT133 chipset mobo if you could get an Epox nForce2 for less?

BTW, Castrol Syntec has not been true Group IV Synthetic since 1997 or so! It is a Group III which is a very clean refined dino oil that the gov't has allowed them to call "synthetic" (even though complaints have been lodged against it in the past).

 

[dud]

Those reviews are fairly worthless. No information about how they actually perform was accomplished or provided. While filter contruction and materilas used are important, performance should be the deciding factor in choosing a filter.