Which brand of synthetic oil?

[Triumph]

SnapIt: I don't agree with you either. I switched from dino to synthetic at 15,000 miles. There's no problem with doing that.

An explanation of synthetics is probably in order here. There are two types of synthetics, and it all starts with the "base stock", or basic ingredients. True synthetics use PAO and esther as a base stock, then add the additives. Synth blends and other "synthetics" use dino oil as a base stock, then add heavy amounts of additives. Mobil actually sued Castrol over the definition of "true" synthetic, because Castrol does not use a true synthetic base. Mobil ended up losing that court battle, though, which sucks for the consumer as far as I'm concerned.

Mobil 1 recently changed their formulation, which alot of people don't agree with, because it has been shown in some tests to perform worse than the previous formulation. Me, I don't care to much because I use Valvoline for several reasons. Valvoline Is a full synthetic with PAO and esther base stocks. It also just happens to meet the other requirements for my car, such as SAE, ACEA and API ratings.

Here's some quotes from the Valvoline website, which should answer two questions in this thread:

Is it okay to mix synthetics and conventional oils?
Some of the first synthetics offered were formulated with high levels of ester that were incompatible with conventional oils. Today's modern synthetics are designed to be compatible with these conventional mineral oils. So, if you have synthetic oil in your car and would like to top-off with conventional oil, that's okay. SynPower is fully compatible with all conventional motor oils, as well as other leading synthetic oils. No, a special oil filter is not required with Synpower.

Is SynPower a full synthetic? Is SynPower motor oil PAO or ester based? Does it require a special filter?
Yes, SynPower is 100% synthetic. Synpower uses a proprietary combination of various types of synthetic base oils to obtain optimum performance.

Once I switch to synthetics, can I ever switch back to conventional or synthetic blend oils?
Yes.

 

[Hammer]

castrol

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: Hammer
castrol

I guess you didn't do any research after coming to that conclusion?

 

[PatboyX]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Best filter STP (autozone) or Tech2000 (walmart)

Worst filter Fram (anywhere, and this includes Bikes)

Any reason? Myself and everyone I know who does their own work pretty much exclusively use Fram...

 

[SlowSS]

I use Mobil1, but there are lot of people that I know don't mind paying extra money for Royal Purple and Amsoil.

 

[CraigRT]

I've heard Amsoil is the best you can get.
Mobil1 is next best.

do not buy any other brands, IMHO.
I wouldn't touch quaker state or pennzoil with a 10 foot pole.

only ones would be Valvoline or Castrol (if other than Amsoil or Mobil)

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Hammer
castrol

yet they still have 0 votes on the poll... 😛

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: PatboyX

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Best filter STP (autozone) or Tech2000 (walmart)

Worst filter Fram (anywhere, and this includes Bikes)

Any reason? Myself and everyone I know who does their own work pretty much exclusively use Fram...

They are very poor quality and here are some links...



Bike filter, same as car filter for Fram 🙁

And here are the Car filters, Fram STILL sucks.


But read those and tell me you will still use Fram. I go to Autozone and use STP. Read about them and other Champion filters.

 

[Shockwave]

I guess no one remember the deal with Pennzoil selling something that wasnt "oil" in the....early 80's I believe. And yes, it destroyed engines.
Since then, I dont give a damn if Pennzoil markets some new hi tech no wear last forever oil. I will NOT use it.

 

[Ultima]

Originally posted by: Tominator

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I use shell Rotella every 20K.

The company I was working for used a synthetic blend and changed at 55,000 miles....:Q

This subject has been beat to death...The search function is very useful.

Yes, and opinions and brands change 🙂

 

[trmiv]

For my race car engine (406 small block chevy, 650 hp on alcohol) I would prefer Red Line or Amsoil, but I can get Mobil 1 at a much better price, so that's what we use. When you're changing oil as frequently as we do on this racing engine, the price is a huge concern.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: Ultima

Originally posted by: Tominator

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I use shell Rotella every 20K.

The company I was working for used a synthetic blend and changed at 55,000 miles....:Q

This subject has been beat to death...The search function is very useful.

Yes, and opinions and brands change 🙂

You have to remember the two purposes of motor oil:
1. Lubrication and heat exchange
2. Particle and sedimentation removal

I'm sure many of the oils in this thread can do #1 reasonably well, for a large number of miles. Maybe even 55,000 miles long. But you have to remove the junk in the oil, regardless. Can you imagine the sludge and dirt inside there after 55,000 miles? Who cares if the oil hasn't broken down yet, you're still running dirty oil.

 

[Ultima]

bump

 

[StageLeft]

Mobil 1 is not the best, though it is probably the most popular. I use it however because amsoil and royal purple (which I think are better based on what little I've read) are pricey as hell.

 

[Analog]

synthetic oil is really not necessary. Just change often with regular stuff.

 

synthetic oil is really not necessary. Just change often with regular stuff.

Where may I ask do you get your information from ?

Synthetic oil has many properties that are beneficial including but not limited to ;

Higher breakdown temperature...280F to 500F.

Synthetics lubricate more efficiently, especially on start up.

Synthetics flow more readily in cold weather.

On average, synthetics are 12% to 15% more slippery.

Synthetics require less additives for the viscosity spread than conventional petroleum oils.

Synthetics do not contain waxes or acids which deposit themselves inside your engine.


Synthetics do have one property that is detrimental to engines, they tend to leak past seals more readily than conventional petroleum motor oils.
(Their long string molecules tend to creep past moving seal surfaces)

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Roger

synthetic oil is really not necessary. Just change often with regular stuff.

Where may I ask do you get your information from ?

Synthetic oil has many properties that are beneficial including but not limited to ;

Higher breakdown temperature...280F to 500F.

Synthetics lubricate more efficiently, especially on start up.

Synthetics flow more readily in cold weather.

On average, synthetics are 12% to 15% more slippery.

Synthetics require less additives for the viscosity spread than conventional petroleum oils.

Synthetics do not contain waxes or acids which deposit themselves inside your engine.


Synthetics do have one property that is detrimental to engines, they tend to leak past seals more readily than conventional petroleum motor oils.
(Their long string molecules tend to creep past moving seal surfaces)

plus, synthetics might help the gas prices go down a tad.. 😛
thats one thing to look at. try to use as little fully natural oil as possible, make the stuff last longer.

 

[Walleye]

plus, synthetics might help the gas prices go down a tad..
thats one thing to look at. try to use as little fully natural oil as possible, make the stuff last longer.

that's not at all true.

when crude gets refined, a lot of byproducts that noone wants but cant be gotten rid of come out. and then there are some byproducts that there isnt much demand for, but you cant re-refine those to get gasoline out. Gasoline is only one product of the distillation of Crude oil.

in short: you dont get more gas if you use less oil.

but if you switch to lighter oil, it saves gas consumption. that is if you have a healthy engine. but you will end up using just a bit more oil. on the flipside, if you want better oil consumption rates, you fill it with super heavy weight oil.

if you arent watchful, when you take your car to dealers because of excess oil consumption, they will often fill it with super heavy oil instead of fixing the problem. then they will still charge you for fixing the problem. but you are gonna take it in the pocket big time with the gas consumption.

 

[Sundog]

Amsoil!

 

[m2kewl]

mobil1. change oil every 5k, filter every 3k.

 

[Ultima]

Originally posted by: Tominator

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I use shell Rotella every 20K.

The company I was working for used a synthetic blend and changed at 55,000 miles....:Q

This subject has been beat to death...The search function is very useful.

Actually, in my defense I just searched for topics containing "synthetic" and this is the only one that showed up.
Searching for oil displays a varied range of topics but none I see dealing with which is the best synthetic. So mlah 😉

 

[WoofyJr]

Strange, i always thought CASTROl GTX is good oil. Tell me more why you thought CASTROL is the worst of all... I just changed oil with castrol gtx on my new truck. Should I worry or just wait till next oil change to change the best brand oil?

 

[KokomoGST]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Mobil 1 is not the best, though it is probably the most popular. I use it however because amsoil and royal purple (which I think are better based on what little I've read) are pricey as hell.

yup... I have no doubt about amsoil's superiority. It's just that I can't justify that much of a price premium considering the frequency of my oil change (3000-4000miles). Mobil 1 is prolly the one of the better synths in it's price range.

Personally, I use Redline in my 5speed tranny... Mobil 1 in my engine. I don't feel comfortable with non-synth in my turbo... my turbo has a lot of miles on it already and I don't have a turbo timer... though I do let the engine cool till the end of whatever song I'm listening to at the time.

 

[Eli]

Yes, this subject has been beat to death. Here are some VERY important things to remember.

1) It does not matter what oil you use if your oil filter is a piece of garbage.
2) It does not matter what oil you use if your oil filter is a piece of garbage.
3) It does not matter what oil you use if your oil filter is a piece of garbage.

Can anybody guess what #4 and #5 are? 🙂

This has to be the single most overlooked thing. Think about it. Even the best oil is rendered useless if it is contaminated with solid particles! You are doing yourself a great disservice if you buy a 3$ oil filter for your 25,000$ car.

The same thing can be said about the air filter. You don't want to buy the cheapest air filter you can get for your expensive piece of machinery.. It's the only thing keeping your engine from a slow death.

That said, It isn't surprising that Mobil1 is ahead in the poll. It's simply because it's much more widely available, not to mention cheaper. You get what you pay for, I guess.

It seems very difficult to find oil specifications. Companies don't easily make the information available.. That's one reason why I like AMSOil. 🙂 They very happily publish specifications, right on their webpage in plain view. When I can't find specifications for an oil, it's the same thing as all zeros.

AMSOil is the best oil, by specifications, I've found.

For those of you who are thinking of putting AMSOil in your engine and waiting 20,000 miles to change it have to remember that it is your oil filter's job to keep your oil clean, it does not keep itself clean. Your normal oil filter will absolutely not last 20,000 miles, so therefor you cannot "just do it". You have to know what you're doing.

If you aren't willing to spend the extra bucks for a high quality synthetic, just buy Mobil1 and a normal oil filter and treat it just like normal oil, change it every 3000-4000 miles. You certainly aren't going to hurt anything.

By the way, whoever it was that had trouble with your bike.. the reason is because AMSOil uses powerful friction modifiers as apart of the additive package in most of their oils. You have to do some research and get the exact oil that is meant for the application.

 

[eplebnista]

Mobil 1