Coopduc

I did an oil change yesterday and I’ll make a separate thread on it after my UOA comes back. I did have one unexpected observation regarding the Napa gold filter, specifically the country of origin. My last filter was labeled “made in USA”, my new one says “made in Venezuela”!
I’m not a guy that normally cares about COO, but this really surprised me because I’ve never heard anything positive about the economic conditions, business climate, or living conditions there. Also, I know the USA has at least a partial trade embargo in place. Apparently Mann and Hummel saw a positive business case for moving production there.
Hopefully they have maintained consistent production and quality controls in this location.
New filter:



Old filter:

Byprodriver

Good catch, I once worked for NAPA & they do not make oil filters. Wix used to make NAPA's oil filters & we were taught the superiority of Wix filters.

I wonder what has changed.

Porschetech3

I would trust Mann/Hummel to keep their quality control, even in Venezuela although their economy has tanked.They are an OEM supplier for Porsche and have a good reputation to defend.

Coopduc

Apparently Wix was purchased by M/H in 2016.
https://www.fleetowner.com/equipment...filters-parent

moburki

So anyone know if Wix and Napa are no longer affiliated? Wix has always been my go to version of this filter. I'll look at my oil filters when I get home to see if there are any notable markings.

996AE

LN still selling NAPA GOLD with spin on kit and IMSS.

I trust these guys to stay on top of stuff like this.

Scott at Team Harco

I just bought two Wix filters for a couple of our vehicles. Will have to look to see where they were manufactured.

Imo000

Why not just ask the spin on filter adapter vendor if they still recommend this filter?

Charles Navarro

Coopduc -- Where did you purchase your 1042 filter? All of the NAPA Gold 1042's on our shelves and our local NAPA dealer all still are made in the USA.

As long as we keep getting the USA NAPA filters - we will still sell and recommend them. If they did in fact switch production to Venezuela, then we will reassess our recommendations.

Coopduc

Amazon via Bennett Filtration

carlvs

Who did you send your motor oil to for analysis?

Coopduc

Carl- I did, but don’t have the results yet. I’ll start a new thread with the report.

Scott at Team Harco

Just checked the two new Wix filters I mentioned above.

Both are labeled as made in the USA. Will be interesting to see if things change.

SoCal911t

And it looks like Mann retained the CEO of Wix to keep running the show on the Wix end. Hopefully the quality will stay the same.

I ordered three from Amazon in 2017 and they are all U.S. made. One interesting thing is that I ordered them on 3/29/17 and the manufacturing date stamp on the filters is 3/12/17.
That short of a turnaround from factory to retailer might indicate high demand so maybe they started making them at the Venezuela plant to keep up.

Coopduc

Carl, sorry I mis-read your question. I sent the sample to Speed Diagnostix.