Spin-on filter - I think their effectiveness can be judged along three attributes - flow (or restriction), particle size trapped, bypass (or lack of).

[Comparisons against Porsche/Mann/Mahle parts.]

Certainly, we don't want to give up flow capacity and from what I read, I don't with the NAPA Gold 1042.

Particle size - the 1042 traps a smaller particle (without restricting flow too much). More trapped is better.

Bypass - it's my understanding that the stock housing can bypass a lot of oil at cold start. The LNE adapter bypasses none in similar conditions. All else being equal, it seems we'd want the oil filtered all the time.

I cannot claim these ideas as my own; I think it's fair that they represent expert's opinions like LNE and Flat6.

 

I had similar particles in my oil filter and was told all is fine. The photos are almost identical in my old thread asking about this. Answering a prior question as to why the filter didn't grab those globs it would be because they dropped into the pan and were never picked up by the pump intakes to be sent to the filter.

 

Any idea where those globs came from? sealant from somewhere? I'm 100% certain I was the first owner to track the car, perhaps the engine reaching the highest temp it ever has caused some excess sealant to melt off?

See circled in filter.

 

I'd guess that they are small fragments that broke off along the edges of the big pieces you saw that were small and light enough to be picked up by the pump and were carried to the filter. The general consensus in prior posts that they were chunks of sealant seems to make the most sense, but I don't really know. The good news is that the pan and filter seem to have done their job and caught the crap before it went any farther.