@Sacto Mitch the NAPA Gold is made by WIX, but it can certainly be possible that they have a different material for the O-ring. Certainly easy to ask for a WIX instead of a NAPA Gold, so I'll try that, too. At least it sounds like I'm not alone in this.
My filter is easily accessible and I can fit an end-cap filter socket and a 24" breaker bar on it. That's how I destroyed the aluminum mount last Spring. Once that was replaced with a steel mount I got the filter off with a bit of grunting. Just trying to make the whole process a bit closer to "easier".
So I now have a short list of things to try. Gotta love the spring wake-up tasks. At least when I checked for mice I didn't find anything (this year)!