Eigeraholic, your filter will probably look fine. They usually do, especially with your good oil changing habits (although I'm not a fan of Amsoil, that's a whole different topic). It's more on the borderline that faults begin to show up. Like infrequently changed oil, use in very cold weather, or very severe heavy load use. I don't mean to scare anybody into throwing away elements already purchased (although I would). The truth is, I have very rarely seen damage I could attribute to a faulty oil filter. For me, I only want the best for my equipment, especially on something as simple and basic as oil and filter. After spending thousands on a beautiful new piece of equipment, I don't understand why anybody would want to cut corners by buying a filter just because it's the cheapest thing they could find. When you install an OE filter, at least you know it's as good as the one the mfg. intended for it in the first place.

 

here's some reading


http://www.twocreeks.net/toby/oil_filters/fram.shtml