Historically, I was conditioned to believe that PAO base oils held a material advantage over Group III or GTL in terms of oxidative stability, cold flow performance and consistency of performance (due to the varying quality of Group III base oils). As a result, it was understood that certain OEM oil standards could not be met without significant usage of PAO.
However, some well-respected members have recently said that PAO’s only hold an advantage in cold temperature performance. Furthermore, they have stated that Group III blends can have better additive response and the finished product performance can be comparable to a PAO based synthetic.
So, have the fundamentals really changed, or is it simply the opinion of a few that PAO’s have very limited advantages?
However, some well-respected members have recently said that PAO’s only hold an advantage in cold temperature performance. Furthermore, they have stated that Group III blends can have better additive response and the finished product performance can be comparable to a PAO based synthetic.
So, have the fundamentals really changed, or is it simply the opinion of a few that PAO’s have very limited advantages?
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