Recent content by vitamin

Plans for a 5W-40 Mid-Saps?

Show me a scientific, real-world study (with a control and a statistically valid sample size) on actual road-going gasoline cars where the catalyst life was actually improved. The controversial lab studies where they rigged unrealistic oil consumption levels are not persuasive... and you can't...

That doesn't mean the best C3 oils exceed those requirements by the same degree as the best A3/B4 oils or that they do so without increasing the risk of LSPI or other side effects. It also doesn't mean they actually increase catalyst life in practical use to an extent that makes any other...

And the purpose of Formula 1's 2022 rule changes was to make races more competitive so it wasn't just the same guy winning almost every race. But purpose and effect are often at odds. That being said, if mid-SAPS makes a measurable impact on catalyst life in gas cars without a worse trade-off...

Why do they use C3 though? Can anyone provide a link to a study showing mid-SAPS is actually is good for the car in some way? So far it just seems like a gimmick that was only implemented to satisfy Euro 6 emissions rules motivated by climate change hysteria and a desire to simplify Europe's...

We should all band together and pass a bill in Congress, the Freedom of Oil Information Law, "FOIL", which requires any lubricant spec mentioned publicly in a car manual or product label (etc.) to have the spec publicly published and requires it to be verified by an independent lab. Heck throw...

When you make your engine to sub-nanometer tolerances from nearly indestructible materials and extremely efficient designs, it turns out, you don't care as much about oil having to save your engine from itself? My brother drove our 1985 Tercel some 1,000 miles with no oil before it finally...

Nice chart. Any chance you could include some mid-SAPS options in 5W-40, 0W-40? Or is mid-SAPS really not worth worrying about outside Europe? (Even OEMs don't seem to bother)

Perhaps this is a dumb question, but why compare 5W-50 to 0W-40? I mean wouldn't 5W-40 vs. 0W-40, or 5W-50 vs. 10W-50 be the better comparison? Thanks

Why are most C3 xW-40 oils, 5W or higher, as opposed to 0W-40? I'm curious if there is something about the chemistry of mid-SAPS that makes it harder to achieve the 0W winter rating? I'm not seeing a lot of C3 0W-40 oils outside of Mobil 1 ESP.

Not sure... but hoping to learn from the experts. My layman's understanding is that 0W is just a stricter requirement for cold-weather viscosity as compared to 5W. If that's all there is to it, then I would tend to think an 0W oil must also meet every standard that applies to 5W oils. Is that...

Mobil 1's website claims their ESP X3 0W-40 "meets or exceeds" the Fiat 9.55535-S2 requirements. Can a 0W-40 oil satisfy the same requirement as a 5W-40 oil?

No idea if it is, or not. All I know is that the OEM MOPAR oil for the car is Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W40, a full-SAPS oil. Why would the OEM oil not be C3 if the car ships from factory with C3? Maybe the Italians just can't be asked to vary the oil used on assembly line depending on the...

Reading some other threads, it seems not uncommon for Euro car OEMs to require C3 (mid/low SAPS) for a given petrol car in Europe, but for the US they want full-SAPS A3/B3/B4. Apparently this is because some states have gasoline that's higher in sulphur, which depletes the C3 oil's protection...

They were out of stock when I checked earlier today. I'm not against it, but just want to understand what the technical reason is why it's worth paying $100 extra. Like what is so special about this particular oil, and if it's so special then why does MOPAR have their dealers put full-SAPS...