Whats the best oil for 4cylinder cars? SAE or Synthetic?

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
I have heard that the Castrol Zyntec is really good, and I've been wondering about switching to synthetic for my 2000 Elantra (32K on it) Anyone know?
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
SAE is society of automotive engineers. they determine the grade of oil you buy, conventional or synthetic.
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
and it's Syntec, and your money is best spent elsewhere on true synthetics like Mobil 1, unless you buy the Syntec 0w-30 german stuff.
 

DougK62

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2001
8,035
6
81
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.

Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.

I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.

 

freebee

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 2000
4,043
0
0
The oil you put in will be worth more than your car...:)

Seriously that Hyundai can use any generic oil and be fine.
 

dartworth

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
15,200
10
81
Myself...I wouldn't switch to syn from dino with 32k miles.

As for my truck. I drove my Ram home and switched to Mobil One the same day.
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.

Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.

I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.

Pennzoil has an excellent additive package, and has moly. I would like to know why "Penzoil" as you put it, is the worst that money can buy. I doubt your credibility considering you said Mobil 1 was both a "dyno" (dino) and synthetic at the same time.
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
13
81
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.
Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.
I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.
Pennzoil has an excellent additive package, and has moly. I would like to know why "Penzoil" as you put it, is the worst that money can buy. I doubt your credibility considering you said Mobil 1 was both a "dyno" (dino) and synthetic at the same time.
I used it right before I switched over to amsoil synthetic to help clean the engine out. Other than that its not that great of oil.

 

radioouman

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2002
8,632
0
0
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.

Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.

I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.

Pennzoil has an excellent additive package, and has moly. I would like to know why "Penzoil" as you put it, is the worst that money can buy. I doubt your credibility considering you said Mobil 1 was both a "dyno" (dino) and synthetic at the same time.

Agreed... There is hardly any difference between brands of oil anymore. I usually buy the stuff that's on sale, except for the store generics or Valvoline. (Valvoline seemed to disappear faster than the others.)
 

Theslowone

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2000
1,779
0
0
Depends on a lot of factors: how often you change your oil, how you drive, and the condition you drive in. If you drive on highways most of the time, and drive (unlike me) with easing into the gas pedal instead of slamming it then the normal oil is fine. You or your car will not notice much of an improvement. Mobile 1 synthetic and others are great oils that improve the overall life of your car, but if you plan on changing your oil every 3000-5000 miles then I would stick with a synthetic blend such as castrol.

To answer your question synthetic is almost always best, but is over 4.50 a quart worth it?
 

DougK62

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2001
8,035
6
81
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.

Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.

I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.

Pennzoil has an excellent additive package, and has moly. I would like to know why "Penzoil" as you put it, is the worst that money can buy. I doubt your credibility considering you said Mobil 1 was both a "dyno" (dino) and synthetic at the same time.

How do you know that it's a good oil? All I have to go by is oil comparison tests, and they consistently put Penzoil down at the bottom of the pack. There is much better oil for the money.

Oh, and you need to polish up on your critical reading skills. I said that Mobil1 (the company) is what I buy for both my regular and synthetic needs. Mobile1 makes regular oil and synthetics. I use their synthetic in some of my cars and their regular in others.

 

BadgerFan

Member
Aug 4, 2003
132
0
0
The cheapest place to get Mobil 1 is Walmart believe it or not. Sometimes they sell it in huge jugs. If you see them and it is a decent price, stock up! If you are super duper anal about changing your oil, the you might want to go with dyno juice, because Mobil 1 will start to add up fast. But if you tend to linger and go "one more week" which turns into two months when you should be changing your oil, a synthetic can seriously help you because they tend to not break down nearly as fast as conventional oils. If you rev your engine a lot, Mobil 1 would also probably be a very good choice.
 

Pepsi90919

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,162
1
81
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: DougK62
Originally posted by: Regs
Penzoil is a good grade of oil.

Penzoil? Ack! That's about the worst oil that money can buy.

I go with Mobil1 for both my dyno and synthetic needs.

Pennzoil has an excellent additive package, and has moly. I would like to know why "Penzoil" as you put it, is the worst that money can buy. I doubt your credibility considering you said Mobil 1 was both a "dyno" (dino) and synthetic at the same time.

How do you know that it's a good oil? All I have to go by is oil comparison tests, and they consistently put Penzoil down at the bottom of the pack. There is much better oil for the money.

Oh, and you need to polish up on your critical reading skills. I said that Mobil1 (the company) is what I buy for both my regular and synthetic needs. Mobile1 makes regular oil and synthetics. I use their synthetic in some of my cars and their regular in others.

you need to learn to read the labels of what you're buying because the company is MOBIL (not Mobile1 or Mobil1) and they make products such as Mobil Drive Clean, Mobil 1, Delvac 1, Delvac 1300 Super and so on.

and no, i don't go by 'oil comparison tests' i go by used oil analysis done on bobistheoilguy.com which are real life examples. and no, pennzoil is not at the bottom of the pack. tell me what conventional oil you think is better for your money.
 

StephenM

Member
Feb 25, 2002
114
0
0
Synthetic isn't that expensive when you put it in perspective... an extra $3-4 bucks a quart for 4 quarts every 3000 miles. So you're paying an extra $16 per oil change every 3k. Even if you get 30 mpg, you're probably paying $150 or more for just the gas to get you 3000 miles. When you add up depreciation, insurance, all other maintenance, it may be costing you $0.30 per mile or more to drive your car. The additional cost of synthetic oil is $0.0053 per mile, which is nothing. Heck, you may even get it all back or more when you go to sell the car and can show receipts for synthetic oil changes every 3k.

-StephenM
 

crypticlogin

Diamond Member
Feb 6, 2001
4,047
0
0
The cheapest place to get Mobil 1 is Walmart believe it or not. Sometimes they sell it in huge jugs. If you see them and it is a decent price, stock up!
Walmart's everday low price on the 5qt jugs is $18.88 around here so it's just about $4/qt after tax -- that's pretty good compared to the $4.50-5.50 buying by the quart from the chain auto stores.
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
13
81
Originally posted by: tenchim
The cheapest place to get Mobil 1 is Walmart believe it or not. Sometimes they sell it in huge jugs. If you see them and it is a decent price, stock up!
Walmart's everday low price on the 5qt jugs is $18.88 around here so it's just about $4/qt after tax -- that's pretty good compared to the $4.50-5.50 buying by the quart from the chain auto stores.
Pretty much a nationwide price.

 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,514
36
91
Castrol GTX and WIX/DANA (aka NAPA Gold) filters in all my liquid-cooled engines. With a strict change interval of 3,000 miles there is no reason to use synthetic in a non-stressed, liquid-cooled street engine. My old Honda went 217,000 miles on GTX every 3,000 miles and it wasn't burning or losing any perceptible amount of oil between changes when I sold it last year. The benefits of synthetics are the, but they do not come into play with frequent drain intervals on street engines with liquid cooling. I run Mobil1 20W50 in my air-cooled engines because of the better thermal characteristics. I can get oil temps past 300 degrees and dino oil would be breaking down at that point. AMSOil is over-rated and I have strong issues with their advertising claims (Mobil developed the first synthetic lubricants, not AMSOil, it's just that Mobil's synthetics were initially only used by the government and were not publicly available) as well as their extended-drain claims. As for "bobistheoilguy", the less said about him, the better. I'm not going to trust a guy who can't design a half-decent website to tell me about oil.

ZV

EDIT: Both Pennzoil and QuakerState are wax-based oils and they have been known to cause sludge problems in some engines. There are three brands I stay away from when dealing with oil and filters: Pennzoil, QuakerState, and Fram.