Info On Synthetic Motor Oil

[SnakeEyeSS]

It's inevitable, sooner or later you'll see the "Valvoline SynPower is 4x better than mobil 1" ad. It's looking to be true I've been doing a LOT of searching on this, and have info on all the major oils:

 

I'll include a few links I got info from...

 

A while back Mobil 1 sued castrol over the fact it was using Group III(which is mostly mineral based) basetock in its "synthetic" and lost. Soon after, mobil 1 oil was noticed to get darker in color with a different oil., Well, reason suggest is since they lost, they figured they'd jump in on the more profit train and started using the cheaper group III.

 

Valvoline uses Group IV base stock oil in SynPower, what Mobil 1 supposedly used to use in the old "SuperSyn"(before the days of the extended performance line).

Mobil 1 Extended Performance is also believed and said to be Group III.

 

The tests that Valvoline are referring to was the Industry Standard Sequence IVA test, one of tests the industry uses to grade oils and certify them. It is a legitimate test(I read on a maxima board someone said something like "I'm not familiar with that test" he seemd to think it was bogus, yet a quick search will yield other results). Valvoline claim the test was done twice: one in their certified labs, and one in an independent lab.

 

So, which brand uses which basestock?

 

From what I've seen online:

Group V:

Redline Oils claims to use Group V basestocks, which is probably why it costs so much.

Group IV:

Valvoline SynPower

Amsoil

Royal Purple

Group III:

Mobil 1 uses

Mobil 1 Extended Performance(= a ton of extra anti wear additives)

Pennzoil Platinum uses Group III and is gaining a following,

Castrol Syntec

 

It seems that SynPower, at $20 for a 5 quart jug at Wal-Mart, vs 23 for Mobil 1 or 27.33 for Mobil 1 extended, is the best value. Although it would be most interesting to see the results from a full battery of tests. As you can see on Amsoil's website, in some tests, some conventional oils do better in some tests than some synthetic oils. BUT, 4x better is signifigant in the engine wear category.

 

But in the end, if you follow scheduled maintenance, most conventional oils will do just fine.

 

Hope this answers others questions

 

*disclaimer, won't claim 100% accuracy to this post(Although I think it probably is) considering it compares the products of several mutli-billion dollar companies, and that sure wouldn't be a comfortable situation to have them angry. If I read a lie, something is wrong and something can be proven wrong, whoops, point it out, give a link, and I'll fix the post.

[SnakeEyeSS]

and on a semi related note, I just switch my wifes car(malibu V6), from dino oil at 125K miles, to Mobil 1 EP(it was before this research). With over 3K miles since the switch, hasn't used a drop, and I'm fairly certain the car was not maintained well at all by previous owner(before you ask why I got it then, it was neglected but needed nothing, just a serious tune up).

I'm getting ready to move over to SynPower next, of course.

 

Hope you guys enjoyed my write up, haven't done one in a while

[svensk]

Amsoil has been treating me well.

[Black02Silverado]

Found this on another forum. Interesting to say the least.

 

Dominic:

The problem with this statement from Valvoline is this:

 

-It is isolated to ONE grade of oil.

-It is isolated to ONE test.

-The Valvoline oil fails to meet the GM and Honda spec.... But the M1 does.

 

So which oil is actually BETTER? I'm sure there are tests that the M1 scored far better at than the Valvoline.... Yet I do not see M1 trouncing around proudly displaying that information......

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

In the long run, I highly doubt that an engine ran on Redline or Synpower is going to last any longer then a vehicle run on Mobil-1, Amsoil, or Castrol Synthetic brands. Besides, you guys are going to sell your vehicles before they reach their end of Engine Life anyways.

[black00chev]

Amsoil has been treating me well.

 

 

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