My Favorite Oil Filter Is Now Made in China, but I Found a Better Replacement

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With nine different gas-engined machines on my property, I spend a lot of time changing fluids and filters. I’m not really brand loyal about consumables, but NAPA Gold has been my go-to oil filter. They’re solid, readily available, and up until recently, made in the USA. This month, when I went to supply up for my Montero’s next oil change, I was bummed to see “made in China” on my NAPA Gold 1334 filter box. This sent me down a little rabbit hole that ultimately led me to a new product I’m more excited about anyway.

NAPA offshoring filter production is actually not new news. The auto parts retailer pivoted suppliers from WIX to Premium Guard back in 2023, and people have been discussing the change on forums for years. I’m guessing I’ve been buying old stock in the 1334 size my Montero uses for the last couple of changes—or maybe I just didn’t look closely at the package last time.

But it inspired me to reevaluate my filter preferences, and I was reminded of a brand called Baldwin that I’d been meaning to check out.

Baldwin is a mainstay filter brand (air, oil, etc) in ag and industrial applications and has been for many years. In fact, when I first got my Montero around 2018, a fellow owner recommended them to me. But I kind of forgot about it because you never see them on the shelf at a parts store. (And for no really logical reason, I like picking up my oil, filter, and drain-plug kits in person at a brick-and-mortar shop.)

The Baldwin filter that goes on my 1998 Mitsubishi Montero’s 3.5-liter V6, B7243, was not nearly as easy to find as the standard oil brands you often see ads for—they’re mostly stocked at industrial supply sites rather than auto parts retailers. Walmart can get you one, too. They are very inexpensive, and to my pleasure, still made in the USA.

When my Baldwin filter arrived, I noticed it was more “tall and skinny,” whereas the NAPA Gold unit looked “short and fat,” relatively speaking, of course. They felt about the same weight, but comparing specs revealed the differences of actual significance.

Here are the three main takeaways from the information I could find about these filters.

1. The bypass valve gap is significant. 20 PSID vs. 8–11 PSID is not a rounding difference—it’s nearly double. The B7243 contains both an anti-drainback valve and a 20 PSID by-pass valve. A filter that bypasses at 8–11 psi will route unfiltered oil around the element at relatively modest differential pressures—for example, during a cold start in winter when oil is thick, or when the filter is moderately loaded. The Baldwin holds the line until 20 psi. For a hard-working V6 in a 4×4 that sees varied conditions, that’s a real advantage.

2. The Baldwin micron rating is finer. The B7243 is rated at 18 micron nominal, versus 21 micron nominal for the NAPA Gold. Baldwin also publishes an absolute rating of 40 microns, which is the more rigorous spec (nominal ratings allow a percentage of particles to pass; absolute means virtually none above that size get through). The NAPA doesn’t publish an absolute rating at all, which, I think, tells you something.

3. The Baldwin is an application-specific filter, not a generic one. The B7243 directly replaces Mitsubishi OEM part numbers MD352626 and MZ690116—those are the actual Mitsubishi factory filter numbers for your engine. The NAPA 1334 crosses to 559 different filters across cars, trucks, tractors, and industrial equipment. It fits the Montero, but it wasn’t engineered with it in mind. The B7243 was.

Am I going to notice any change in performance by running this Baldwin filter? On a day-to-day basis, surely, no. And for what it’s worth, the NAPA Gold unit, visually, looked fine. But my Mitsubishi has over 220,000 miles on it, and it gets used for off-road training. I want this bad boy to last as long as I can, and regardless, I try to buy American-made when prudent.

This Baldwin filter having great specs and domestic origin at a good price make it a no-brainer. Here’s hoping Baldwin doesn’t get bought and gutted by private equity any time soon (or ever). The brand doesn’t make filters for every passenger vehicle, but its coverage is pretty good for trucks and SUVs.

Many wrenchers have known about the quality of these red filters for years, but if you hadn’t, you’re welcome. You can use Baldwin’s filter finder to see what they make for your application.

Got a hot parts tip? Drop me a line at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.