What’s the oil for?
Which tests were you speaking of? Post a link if you could. Back 20 years ago, there was a significant difference. Now? The upper tier brands have caught up.
The reason for this is that API has added durability to their performance certifications. It used to be that an oil just had to meet specs when it was poured from the bottle to be certified. Now it has to meet specs after a specified number of hours in use. Amsoil has been way ahead of the curve for years.
The thing is that Amsoil has great marketing, and it's obviously a great product, however if your OCIs are ~5K or even 10K, then for me, I didn't see the stripper glitter, because just about any top tier oil can get you there no problem. However, 10K+ OCIs? Ok, Amsoil or something of the like. But as someone said....lots of preference out there. I dare anyone to say Amsoil or Redline in some of those Subaru boy's groups..... man they love their Rotella.
Lol. The fanboys gonna fanboy.
As to OCI's you've done your homework and educated yourself.
Some years ago Amsoil added their XL line which was just like Castrol Syntech. It was Group III base stock oil. After a few years they decided to revamp their line a bit more by adding their OE series and taking their existing XL series to a Group IV base stock with a smaller additive package than their Signature Series, but it was basically the same. Personally I think that was a marketing faux pas on their part because the new XL was completely different that the old XL and it was a lot better.
You are 100% correct that there's no reason to run the premium stuff if you aren't logging a lot of miles or running on the track or something like that. That's why I now run XL. If I go back on the road I'mm jump right back to Signature series. I'll keep running it because I can buy it in some cases cheaper than top tier from the auto parts places. If that changes I'll switch to Penn Ultra because it's very close to Amsoil's Signature Series. It's good stuff.
See above.
We used to race and ride 2 stroke ATV's, we had 5 or more at any given time. Needless to say we had the top ends off regularly for different reasons. Over time we eventually went to Amsoil 100:1 oil, but ran it around 50:1. More so as that was the range we were jetted to, I did do some testing at 100:1 and didn't have any issues. We found much less wear(visual and measured) when we went to Amsoil.
Years ago they published an article in their magazine about when they introduced it. In testing it was still passing the TCW? spec at 300:1 but they came down on saying 100:1 because they didn't think anyone would believe them.
There's a really irritating dealer out of Las Vegas that runs it at 400:1 in a Homelite weedeater while comparing it to some other oil. I forget how far up he had to go on the ratio to get it to kill the thing but the factory oil crapped the bed pretty quick in comparison. If you can stand him long enough to get through his video it's on YouTube somewhere.
I got banned from there years ago for pointing out an inconsistency in something related to Valvoline (they were a sponsor at the time) LOL. Later I learned that the mods/owners were very militant and routinely banned people for little things without any appeals or warnings. So then it just became a giant echo chamber like modern social media. They were woke before woke really existed
But I got my fill and became comfortable with my oil decisions before it happened so I agree that is the place to go if you want to talk about oil.
My GM truck's 5.3L really likes Schaeffer's so I have been using it for that application. For any of my built engines, I follow the builder's specs to the letter and get a UOA on every change through the break in process and depending on use, every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th oil change after that. For an engine built to do some heavy lifting, I cannot recommend UOA enough to catch things long before they turn catastrophic.
My wife's VW's get Castrol Edge Euro Spec.
I do make special considerations if an engine is turbo charged since the oil gets exposed to another coking potential there.
My wife's VW's get Castrol Edge Euro Spec.
I do make special considerations if an engine is turbo charged since the oil gets exposed to another coking potential there.
It is made by Warren? I think they do Supertech as well.
Before the pandemic I was getting full-syn house brand at Atwoods and Tractor Supply for like 12-13 bux for 5 gallon jug...I switched to that over the supertech syn because of the cost savings and it seems like the supertech was lacking friction modifiers that are found in some of the other synthetic formulations but I can't remember specifics.
If you change your oil every 3,000 miles, despite how long the manufacture says you can go, you can run most any brand of oil and it’ll be fine since most oil companies have to hit certain standards in order to sell their products. There’s always stand outs, but big name stores won’t carry the one off brands that don’t meet these requirements.
Where it really starts to matter is when you get into the 7500-15000 mile oil changes some manufactures have stated in the manual. The molecules don’t break down in some of the higher priced brands due to the “quality” of the oil additives in them. It’s debatable though when you think about contaminants, burn off, etc etc. but if you go by the book on those high mileage intervals, you better use the best oil you can find and check the level regularly.
There’s little objective info with engine oil, most of it is opinions. For me, I run Mobil 1 synthetic in my cars that require synthetic, and conventional in those that call for conventional, and I do it every 3500 miles or so regardless of what the book says I can do.
Mobil 1 is a mid to high tier oil, but doesn’t break the bank so I can change it more often than required. Oil is cheap compared to engine components.
Where it really starts to matter is when you get into the 7500-15000 mile oil changes some manufactures have stated in the manual. The molecules don’t break down in some of the higher priced brands due to the “quality” of the oil additives in them. It’s debatable though when you think about contaminants, burn off, etc etc. but if you go by the book on those high mileage intervals, you better use the best oil you can find and check the level regularly.
There’s little objective info with engine oil, most of it is opinions. For me, I run Mobil 1 synthetic in my cars that require synthetic, and conventional in those that call for conventional, and I do it every 3500 miles or so regardless of what the book says I can do.
Mobil 1 is a mid to high tier oil, but doesn’t break the bank so I can change it more often than required. Oil is cheap compared to engine components.
Go to an Amsoil site, Amsoil the best.
Go to Penzoil site, Penzoil the best.
Go to Quaker State site, Quaker the best.
Go to Rotella site, Rotella the best.
Go to…………..it will be the best. And on and on it goes!
Go to Penzoil site, Penzoil the best.
Go to Quaker State site, Quaker the best.
Go to Rotella site, Rotella the best.
Go to…………..it will be the best. And on and on it goes!
