"They" say that with the longer duration between oil changes, the fleece stands up better than paper to breakdown and clogging. With our Mercedes engine spec, fleece is not required. We are on the 229.3 spec. For 229.5, Fleece is required. We are "permitted" to use paper, according to the spec. We also can use 5 weight oil too, not sure if you know that. I plan on using 0w40 as it is available, but for my first oil change I did use mostly 0w40 and I also poured in the leftover 2 quarts of mobil1 5w30 I had leftover from my Acura TL. No big deal. In the future, I'll buy more 5 weight if 0 is out of stock.

I have looked around and I did find 2 Fram filters that should fit, but I'm puzzled. The Fram filter that seemed to be fleece, # CH8902, I cannot find anywhere except the Fram website, so I don't know if anyone actually sells it. They have a paper filter too, but it has a funny plastic top and bottom to it. I haven't crammed one into my assembly, do they even fit? They say they are compatible, but I know the fleece filters fit with no extra room for baggage. I'd avoid these paper filters for that reason.

I used Fram exclusively on my last car. After delving these boards, I found that Mann was the OEM filter, so I wanted to go that direction. Wix's fleece filter is a reboxed Mann, so take the cheaper of the two. Wix also has a paper version but I'm going to steer clear of that one, it has the same plastic baggage as the Fram model.

But I must admit, if the paper filters with their plastic plates damn well didn't work nobody would make them, so the paper ones probably work fine. I guess someone who has actually used one needs to chime in here.

Sorry for all the text- to answer your question with some brevity- the same folks that say "91 octane and Mobil 1" say that fleece is pretty nice, and it's a requirement on a higher standard, but not required for us.