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Who makes the best synthetic oil?

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Howard said:
Is Mobil 1 synthetic sold in Canada still the old formulation or is it the same stuff as in the states?
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Don't know, but for the ripoff price it's sold here at, it's not worth running either way.

Pennzoil Platinum 4.4L jugs were being sold @ Wal-Mart for $21.88 for months. I bought probably 4 jugs of it over the last few months. That stuff is worth it, it's about half the price, and shows better wear numbers than any Mobil product.
 
Howard said:
A 4.7L jug of Pennzoil yellow is $12 at Canadian Tire. Wonder if that's worth it.
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Crappy Tire sells 4.4L of Pennzoil for $12 at the moment, and I put 5.9L of 5W-30 Camry when I changed my oil last night. I'll tell you how well the cheap Pennzoil perform in about 6~7 weeks (that is about 8,000 Kms commute).
 
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Mobil 1, Amsoil,or Royal Purple.
Castrol is probably the worst. It's the only oil I've ever had break down in my jet boat. And that was after only 10 hours.
 
DivideBYZero said:
Yep, my engine (S54) requires the same Castrol TWS Synthetic, and that's all it gets.
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Yeah, BMW builds these engines so loose that 60w really does make sense. Even with this weight, some folks are blowing through a quart in just over 1000 miles. LOL.

I've heard of some people switching to Redline or Lucas 10w60, but I'm not sure the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks.
 
Apex said:
Yeah, BMW builds these engines so loose that 60w really does make sense. Even with this weight, some folks are blowing through a quart in just over 1000 miles. LOL.

I've heard of some people switching to Redline or Lucas 10w60, but I'm not sure the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks.
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Redline I can see being good. There ain't much better oil out there. Lucas though, that's like taking a shit in your engine.
 
Guess I`d have to say each to his own...

But more than one time I`ve seen the real truth in synthetic oil and for me it just so happens it was Royal Purple...

Had a 454 LS7 roller motor in a 74 Nova SS running 10.30`s @132mph in the 1/4 mile... One night in Baytown crossed the line and when I let off I got a wiff of something like antifreeze and sure enough in the left mirror I saw smoke or something...? Just let it wind down to the last turn around and when I got back in the throttle it was sick for sure... Got my time ticket and made it back to the trailer in the pitts and shut it down... Had pretty green water out the left header pipe and the next day I pulled that head and found an exhaust valve head broke off and missing and a cylinder wall partialy blown out and hole in the top of the 12.25 to 1 piston in #3... When we pulled it down the rest of the way the oil in the pan looked like a very nasty milkshake but when we pulled the rod & main bearings they were still in perfect shape and no signs of wear so when we went back together with a sleeve in #3 and new weight matched piston... My machinest asked me what oil I was using and I simply said Royal Purple 15-40wt (Diesel oil) then he pointed out we built that engine a little over 2 seasons ago (approx 28 months of time on it) then he said we might as well re-use the rod & main bearings because they look like new so we did and re-clearanced the motor (only had .100 clearance on the exhaust side was the issue) and it ran almost 2 tenths quicker... 😀

The old 1989 ext cab 1/2 ton Chevy that pulled the Nova blew a head gasket one time around 30 miles from the house and had to nurse it home and could not run over 60mph or it would start to overheat... But made it home and pulled the intake & heads to find what looked like expansion foam in the whole engine, could`nt even see the lifter valley at all... I ran brake clean and every other kind of solvent through it and even ran a hose in the pan to break it up in there... Put fresh Royal Purple in after I put it all back together and ran it for about 100 miles and drained out what looked like a 30,000 mile oil change and put RP back in again... That was back in 2001 and that truck with that engine is still going strong (sold it in 2004) here local and the guy still uses RP in it too...

Cant say that conventional oil would have survived either of these situations in my opinion or my machinest either... Just to add we did do oil analysis on both engines before and after events and both had clean bills of the health as does my Dmax every time and it gets a 10K mile interval...

BTW the Duramax in my sig will never see anything but Royal Purple as with everything I own... Not all synthetics are made the same but my last thought is why use old tech (mineral oil) when you can use the newer tech (synthetic) or would prefer it this way (PII to I7)...? And for you guys in VA come on down here to Texas and see if it gets hot enough for ya... Guess you dont understand how high humidity and high temps affect even the best cooling systems, just ask the average MotherTrucker... 😵
 
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A test I was informed of done by the SAE, a 5-year study of oils, lubrication fluid and filters concluded that:

Valvoline was the ONLY oils/lubricants that tested (chemical and friction) to meet all standards and specs IN ALL GRADES. And as I understand it, this test tested EVERYTHING, not just a few car oils. Tractors, ships, trucks, etc.

This was done in 300,000 vehicles over 5 years.

They also tested all the usual snake oil additives, oils, etc, and none of them could hack it. (Duralube, STP, Lucas, Royal Purple, and all the rest)

In the particular forum I was reading when I found this info (posted by a person who I know to be VERY knowledgeable) the particular oil in question was 15w40. The test showed that the only oil that pulled even or maybe slightly ahead of Valvoline at that weight was Shell Rotella. And that was just by a slight amount on the friction tests.
 
I may start sending oil samples in for analysis...probably going to run Shell Rotell 5w40 in the Subaru, and I may switch to something else (from Mobil1) in the MR2..
 
^ Yep

You also cant tell whats the best just because your good friend said its the best or some study said it was the best.

Run an oil in your engine get it tested, how does it look? Good? ok keep using it, bad? try another oil.
 
Pacfanweb said:
A test I was informed of done by the SAE, a 5-year study of oils, lubrication fluid and filters concluded that:

Valvoline was the ONLY oils/lubricants that tested (chemical and friction) to meet all standards and specs IN ALL GRADES. And as I understand it, this test tested EVERYTHING, not just a few car oils. Tractors, ships, trucks, etc.

This was done in 300,000 vehicles over 5 years.

They also tested all the usual snake oil additives, oils, etc, and none of them could hack it. (Duralube, STP, Lucas, Royal Purple, and all the rest)

In the particular forum I was reading when I found this info (posted by a person who I know to be VERY knowledgeable) the particular oil in question was 15w40. The test showed that the only oil that pulled even or maybe slightly ahead of Valvoline at that weight was Shell Rotella. And that was just by a slight amount on the friction tests.
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I am personally, for right or wrong, a little hesitant about using "better" oils that have to be purchased by some local distributor who happens to run a shop out of the garage of his split level. That's where I buy royal purple locally, for example, if I wanted to.
 
thescreensavers said:
Yes, compared to other oils, its horrible across the board, there is a huge thread over at my350z about M1 being beaten out by cheaper oils. The new formulation does not do so well in the VQ. Sure you can run it and change it thats what really matters but if you are looking for the best of good oil, I would never point to M1 after seeing how bad it performs.

Edit: here is the thread I talked about http://my350z.com/forum/engine-and-...-1-oil-users-motor-oil-discussion-thread.html
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Boy, some of those results look pretty bad. Mine is wearing much better than those, and i track my baby!

http://g35driver.com/forums/v36-eng...4-used-oil-analysis-my-g-sharing-results.html
 
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SparkyJJO said:
I don't know about the best, but I've been using Mobil 1. It isn't that much more expensive than conventional oil, and for how much I drive I figure it can't hurt anything.
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its roughly the same amount as other synthetic oils, just keep an eye out for which one of your auto stores are having sales that week.
 
evident said:
its roughly the same amount as other synthetic oils, just keep an eye out for which one of your auto stores are having sales that week.
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I do. Each change usually costs me just under $30. Compared to roughly $25 for a dino oil change, I think that extra $5 every 2 months is worth it.
 
Apex said:
Yeah, BMW builds these engines so loose that 60w really does make sense. Even with this weight, some folks are blowing through a quart in just over 1000 miles. LOL.

I've heard of some people switching to Redline or Lucas 10w60, but I'm not sure the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks.
Click to expand...

I've spoken to many an S62 owner and they always mention how they're cars drink it like a fish. My car rarely needs any outside normal maintenance, on the other hand. I always have a few bottles of the stuff to hand should I need it, though.
 
Just to throw my $0.02:

I'm driving a 2007 Mazdaspeed6 (turbocharged). My last two changes I used Valvoline 10W/30 conventional, and the latest I sent in to Blackstone. Here's the results:


This is from 110+ degree daytime temps in the Phoenix metro area. I'm planning on taking the next change to 5k and see where that lands. If the #'s are still good, I'll probably keep 5k as my interval.
 
DivideBYZero said:
I've spoken to many an S62 owner and they always mention how they're cars drink it like a fish. My car rarely needs any outside normal maintenance, on the other hand. I always have a few bottles of the stuff to hand should I need it, though.
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I have an S85 and I have to add a quart (liter) every 2500 miles or so.
 
my friend who has a M6 adds oil when the light goes on and he just goes to a random gas station and adds the best stuff they got lol. Now he finally is reading the digital dipstick so he fills it up early, but still with M1 or something similar.
 
Pacfanweb said:
A test I was informed of done by the SAE, a 5-year study of oils, lubrication fluid and filters concluded that:

Valvoline was the ONLY oils/lubricants that tested (chemical and friction) to meet all standards and specs IN ALL GRADES. And as I understand it, this test tested EVERYTHING, not just a few car oils. Tractors, ships, trucks, etc.

This was done in 300,000 vehicles over 5 years.

They also tested all the usual snake oil additives, oils, etc, and none of them could hack it. (Duralube, STP, Lucas, Royal Purple, and all the rest)

In the particular forum I was reading when I found this info (posted by a person who I know to be VERY knowledgeable) the particular oil in question was 15w40. The test showed that the only oil that pulled even or maybe slightly ahead of Valvoline at that weight was Shell Rotella. And that was just by a slight amount on the friction tests.
Click to expand...

Link to this test?
 
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