Pete,
I've never heard of this (but I'm just a user, not a dealer). What is flaking off of the filter? Is this a pleated filter? Are the fibers from the filter media comming off, or do you think it maybe an adhesive between the media and the filter end caps is failing?
Or could this be some chemical residue left on the filter that is drying and flacking off (like dry chlorine, or scale)? I've never heard of this, an you have my curiosity up. Do you have excesively hard water?