I prefer to get Fleetguard filters, Baldwin filters are also acceptable.

Wix was bought out by Mann + Hummel a while ago, and i've noticed a big shift overseas since then, although i assume it started long before the merger. For the tractors/combine i primarily run Agco filters since they are usually a good bit cheaper than parts stores. Seems like they are all made in the U.S., i'm curious who is making them for Agco. Seems like at one point i got a hydraulic filter that was a regular Baldwin in an Agco box. 

I really need to start looking into Baldwin filters. Over the winter i was at a heavy duty parts store getting some stuff for our grain truck, and grabbed a set of Baldwin filters for the DT466. I don't think i paid over $60 total for 2 oil and 2 fuel filters. All made in the U.S. 

Other folks will rightly criticize me, but these days I put on whatever filter I can buy quickly and locally. Which for me is usually Napa economy ones, but sometimes Fram. I suspect they all have similar micron ratings, and I've never known any oil filter to fail (not in the last couple decades, anyway). Doesn't seem to bother my equipment. My Nissan Titan just rolled past 420,000 km a couple weeks ago, having used nothing but the Napa economy filters. And still runs like a top and pulls my 16' float around regularly. My old daily-driver Toyota Matrix beater had over 600k on it when I scrapped it. Engine still ran like a top, and it also saw nothing but economy filters (I'd still be driving it if I hadn't smashed the front end up on a deer).

In my opinion, regular filter/oil changes and using synthetic oil are more important to me than where the filter was made or if it's a supposed 'premium' brand. A couple decades ago I would have been concerned with where the filters were made, but not so much anymore. Not that I disagree with wanting a high-quality filter. I just doubt that any manufacturer has any wonderful secret or revolutionary QA methods that would make them so much better than others.

DanielW : Do you remember years ago when WIX remade the packed cotton type filters our Allis Chalmers engines with the Bypass filtration system requires with a pleated paper design? You must not. These filters caused very low oil pressure and ruined many engines. As the saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." And to that I have to add if I allow myself to be fool the second time, I'M an idiot.

It wasn't a catastrophic failure, just a very slow drip I noticed after checking my oil and seeing it was low (truck surprisingly burns no oil, so I was curious to find where it was going). Turned out one of the spot welds on the filter that holds the gasket flange to the outside of the can must have broke when I tightened the filter up - causing part of the gasket surface to recess slightly and not seal. I've never really bothered to to check that I'm doing exactly the 'contact plus half a turn' (or whatever they recommend when tightening). I just tighten as much as I can by hand - no tools or wrenches. But I can't believe the force from me just screwing it on by hand should have been enough to break the spot weld. Very unimpressed. The replacement filter I got was a generic, Canadian-Tire economy one that was made in Mexico, but it has twice as many spot welds around that rim as the Fram one did.

Came across this service bulletin. Thought I’d share. Hope can read it.