I finally found a parts store that stocked the correct Purolator oil filter for the Escape Hybrids. They had five on the shelf at $6.58 so I planned on buying all they had. I opened all the boxes to make sure the o-rings were all in there. They were but I noticed that on a couple of the filters (which are made in Thailand) the felt ring on one or both ends of the filter was extremely thin - almost like it wasn't there. I put those back and ended up getting just three that looked like the OEM look.

Not sure if that felt ring has any real important purpose and if the fact that it was thin would hurt anything. Any thoughts?