0w20 vs 5w20 For Low Speed, Short Trip Driving

[Shel_B]

The car is a 2011 Camry, 4cyl. I drive about 3,500 miles per year, mostly short trips in town and 2-3 five mile freeway trips per month at 55mph. Rarely do I drive above 35mph in town. Most trips are under five miles long. Often there are a few stops and restarts along the way. I live in the San Francisco area, and temps are very mild.

Would one of these viscosities provide better protection for the type of driving I do, low speed,short trips, assuming the same oils with just different viscosities.

 

[RitcheyRch]

I would continue to run with whatever Toyota recommends.

 

[blufeb95]

You could probably run straight 20 in San Fransisco and never notice any real difference. Unless it's absolutely freezing and you need cold pumpability at sub arctic temps, the difference between a 5W20 and 0W20 are mostly negligible.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

0w20

 

[PimTac]

They are both 20 grades.

 

[Silverado12]

Yeah, I would run 0W-20. That's what I use in my 2018 Jeep Cherokee and it seems to do well. I change it every 5K+ miles with a Mopar filter (since it's under warranty).

 

[EMPIRE]

Me, use Group IV SN oil in a 5w20, change once per year.

Others --> https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...er-choice-for-2011-toyota-camry-4-cyl.147661/

 

[wemay]

Toss a coin.

 

[ripcord]

^^ This. Not going to make any measurable difference in your climate.

 

[92saturnsl2]

All else created equal, I try to use the narrowest spread that accommodates a given climate. That would be 5w-20 in your case.

That's really splitting hairs though, in the grand scheme of things it will make little difference.

 

[wpod]

What does the manual recommend? No need for a 0w in the bay area.

 

[Gene K]

Below Zero (Fahrenheit) I would prefee 0W-20. Other than that flip a coin. If you can get 5W-20 substantially cheaper.(as has been the case with PUP lately) I would go that route.

 

[wpod]

You could probably run straight 20 in San Fransisco and never notice any real difference. Unless it's absolutely freezing and you need cold pumpability at sub arctic temps, the difference between a 5W20 and 0W20 are mostly negligible.

The company I worked for in the SF Bay Area used Delo 400 straight 30 in all their vehicles.

 

[Zaedock]

I would run Supertech 5W20 from Walmart and sleep well at night.

What have you done for the last 9 years? Unless this is a new - old car? Either case, see above.

 

[Whammo]

Unless it gets below -20*F it won't make a difference.

 

[Gene K]

The car is a 2011 Camry, 4cyl. I drive about 3,500 miles per year, mostly short trips in town and 2-3 five mile freeway trips per month at 55mph. Rarely do I drive above 35mph in town. Most trips are under five miles long. Often there are a few stops and restarts along the way. I live in the San Francisco area, and temps are very mild.

Would one of these viscosities provide better protection for the type of driving I do, low speed,short trips, assuming the same oils with just different viscosities.

Honestly any API SP GF-6 rated 5W-20 will be perfectly fine for Annual Changes in SF under that scenario.

12 Months with whatever SP GF-6 5W-20 you can get the cheapest and cheapest store brand filter.

24 Months with the cheapest Synthetic SP GF-6 5W-20 with a better brand filter.

36 Months with Mobil 1 EP 5W-20 or 0W-20 and a Fram Ultra.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

My dad has a 2009 Tacoma since 2011. 2.7L, RWD. It had 23k miles on it in 2011. Now in 2020 it has just a little over 65K miles. Gets driven every day, but for less than 10 miles total. Ran many brands and grades in that time as oil is short tripped, so get's changed semi-annually. Best results so far (drivability, noise, and MPG) are with 0W20 oils, especially great results with 0W20 Castrol Magnatec.

 

[OppositeLocK]

Below Zero (Fahrenheit) I would prefee 0W-20. Other than that flip a coin. If you can get 5W-20 substantially cheaper.(as has been the case with PUP lately) I would go that route.

I thought 5w was designed for use down to -30c/-22F?

 

[Gene K]

I thought 5w was designed for use down to -30c/-22F?

I would prefer 0W below that.
That doesn't mean 5W can't be pumped at below 0F.

 

[OppositeLocK]

I would prefer 0W below that.
That doesn't mean 5W can't be pumped at below 0F.

But does it really make a difference? Shouldn't both perform the same at a certain temp?