3rd world problems - Counterfeit oil

[JawedBRZ]

Hello, good day!

First of all, I am very sorry for my bad English.

I have a little problem today. In my country, it is very common to see counterfeit oils (Mobil 1, Castrol, etc) in almost any automotive shop, like 95% of the shops. They used the old container and place a new sticker. It got to the point that they almost perfectly replicate the sticker and the cap secure lock.

Some price it the same as the original price even it is fake, some price it cheaper (but some avoid the cheaper one since people already know the counterfiet thingy)

Long story short. I dont want to special order an legit oil, since it will took 1-1.5 week to arrive (yeah our postal is garbage) I want an oil that is locally available incase problem happens

I found this at the one and only big mall in my city (that im sure they backed up their product as original) Which is 1hr drive from home

Royal Purple HPS 5w30
Shell Helix Ultra 5w30
Mitasu gold 5w30
Eneos Sustina 5w30
Pertua apex 5w30
Aisin 5w30
Top1 5w30

(Mitasu, Pertua, Aisin and Top1 is out of the list since this oil is not well known and I dont trust their brand)

So Im end up to the three big oil companies. The Royal Purple HPS, Shell Helix Ultra and Eneos Sustina.

Royal Purple is the cheapest
And Shell Helix Ultra is the most expensive of the three.

I have a question, why does RP have many hates? Is their oil bad? Is it because its expensive in your country? Since its purple? I cant find a solid answer even I search in this forum.

Shell Helix Ultra, is this good? Is this the same as the Pennzoil Ultra Platinum in the USA?

Eneos Sustina - Meh, I have mixed feelings about this, but it looks okay.

I want to choose the RP since it is cheap, but in my research in this forum, I think it is the most hated oil in BITOG.

But if you are in my situation, which one do you choose? Im doing 8km OCI. It is for Subaru BRZ and Ford Ranger Raptor.

Sorry for the long post and again, sorry for my Bad English.

Thanks in advance
and
God bless

 

[Kjmack]

Shell

 

[WyrTwister]

As you said Royal Purple is EXPENSIVE in the USA . I think they market it as a premium oil . I have no experience with it , so I do not know .

What is your oil change interval ? What about filters ?

Is it practical to order from Amazon ?

 

[ragtoplvr]

RP oil changed ownership.

In USA is common after ownership change to make product cheaper and profit from reputation.

I personally do not trust them enough to pay the premium.

Rod

 

[JawedBRZ]

Hello, thank you for your reply!

Amazon dont ship to my country. Oil change is 8,000KM. Im using the OEM Oil filter for my BRZ and Ranger. Only brand sold here locally is VIC oil filters and I dont trust the brand since it is dirt cheap like 3USD. So I go to OEM.

Thanks again, dont hesitate to ask questions.

God bless!

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Although rare there are similar stories like this in the US where someone will re-fill oil bottles with their old oil and then return them to the store in order to get a refund. The cashier just puts the bottles back on the shelf without inspecting the seals on the bottles.

Personally I would do mail order from a reputable seller regardless of the brand (ex Shell, Eneos). I wouldn't bother with Royal Purple. It's a boutique brand in the US that is primarily used in racing. Yes it's inconvenient but probably less of a headache then having to deal with used oil in "new" bottles.

You could always look for official/licensed distributors on the oil company website.

 

[KGMtech]

Royal Purple is not really hated, it is a brand that charges a very high price that causes lots of BITOG experts to explain, rant, clarify, preach, that there are lots of less expensive products that do just as good a job. This topic is not unlike brands of beer / blue jeans / cars / hot sauce / cell phone, at the end of the day, everyone has a price / quality / brand devotion point that satisfies their wallet and that is not something people on the internet will back down from. Everyone on the internet is an expert in their field, 2M tall, 100kg, MMA expert, lots of devoted friends, no enemies, and good looking. Right?

I have heard good things about Eneos. However, I am a Mechanical Engineering Technologist working in NA Automotive Industry and only 191cm, 108kg, not a fighter, handy and slightly handsome )
with a small collection of friends.

 

[Hall]

I just wanted to say that your English is actually excellent. It's better than many that have English as their native language, in fact !

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl

Personally I would do mail order from a reputable seller regardless of the brand (ex Shell, Eneos). I wouldn't bother with Royal Purple. It's a boutique brand in the US that is primarily used in racing. Yes it's inconvenient but probably less of a headache then having to deal with used oil in "new" bottles.



It sounds like the problem there might not be people packaging used oil into the bottles, but having a cheaper brand of new oil in a bottle with a different label from a better oil. That would be even worse, as the consumer would have no idea whether or not the clean oil inside that bottle is actually the brand they thought they were getting (perhaps this is one case where Royal Purple has a huge advantage, as you'll know for sure that's the oil you're getting by it's color)

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by Patman
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Personally I would do mail order from a reputable seller regardless of the brand (ex Shell, Eneos). I wouldn't bother with Royal Purple. It's a boutique brand in the US that is primarily used in racing. Yes it's inconvenient but probably less of a headache then having to deal with used oil in "new" bottles.

It sounds like the problem there might not be people packaging used oil into the bottles, but having a cheaper brand of new oil in a bottle with a different label from a better oil. That would be even worse, as the consumer would have no idea whether or not the clean oil inside that bottle is actually the brand they thought they were getting (perhaps this is one case where Royal Purple has a huge advantage, as you'll know for sure that's the oil you're getting by it's color)

This exactly. The problem of counterfeit products is that they look so identical nobody can tell the difference. The safest way is to purchase the oil from a reliable store but even that is not 100% guaranteed.

In this case the Shell and Eneos brands are likely safer.

 

[Bjornviken]

Originally Posted by PimTac
This exactly. The problem of counterfeit products is that they look so identical nobody can tell the difference. The safest way is to purchase the oil from a reliable store but even that is not 100% guaranteed.

In this case the Shell and Eneos brands are likely safer.

Can be really identical(RIP toyota carina E) hope they burn in (edit - mod)that counterfeit the products.

 

[Chris142]

Maybe you should buy oil from the car dealer?

 

[Ded Mazai]

I would choose the cheapest oil to reduce chances to get counterfeit. And preferably locally produced.

 

[anndel]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
I just wanted to say that your English is actually excellent. It's better than many that have English as their native language, in fact !


^^^ Ditto ^^^

Go with Shell Helix Ultra and take it to 10,000 KM OCIs. It's similar to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum.

 

[bullwinkle]

Royal Purple would be hard to counterfeit-the purple color would be tough to get exactly right. How are they able to get the factory seal back on the oil containers?

 

[dave1251]

Royal Purple is not liked because it is marked up 80% over others and it has less certfications and OEM recommendations than others. But if it is the cheapest oil you have on the shelf and all you need us a API certified oil you are good to go.

 

[nthach]

If it was me, Shell or Eneos would be my pick, the Aisin would be decent too if it's also made by Eneos/Idemitsu or the Japanese arms of Shell or ExxonMobil. I wouldn't knock the Aisin oil, but they are more known for transmissions, brakes and drivetrain parts as Toyota's supplier of choice.

I'd also look into Caltex, the Asian/Australian arm of Chevron as well, or Petronas.

What part of Asia are you in? I'm guessing Thailand/Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore/Philippines.

 

[k1xv]

Stay with Shell. They are a legitimate world wide company. They own Pennzoil in the USA, where Pennzoil was a famous and respected oil brand. In your country, whatever is good about Pennzoil is also in the best Shell lubricants.

 

[Donald]

In the US its the quick change oil places that are likely to have refilled Mobil 1 containers with bulk oil. Its probably OK oil, but unlikely synthetic.

In the US if you buy oil from Walmart you can be pretty sure its not counterfeit as they are too big and buy directly from a blender. I suppose once and awhile there is a container of quality oil on the shelf that is used or cheap oil refilled into the container, but that has got to be pretty rare. Few people will risk some legal issues trying to save $25.

 

[turnbowm]

Originally Posted by Donald
In the US its the quick change oil places that are likely to have refilled Mobil 1 containers with bulk oil. Its probably OK oil, but unlikely synthetic.

In the US if you buy oil from Walmart you can be pretty sure its not counterfeit as they are too big and buy directly from a blender. I suppose once and awhile there is a container of quality oil on the shelf that is used or cheap oil refilled into the container, but that has got to be pretty rare. Few people will risk some legal issues trying to save $25.

That's the reason why I check the cap seal.