Amsoil Vs Mobil 1

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Hi, I just recently switched from Mobil 1 to Amsoil. I received there Action news magazine where they claim they have Mobil 1 beat. One thing that bothers me that has been posted before, is the accuracy and quality of there data. I can't seem to find any other independent labs that can compare the two. Amsoil is no doubt good oil, and maybe slightly better due to the additive package they use, but is it worth it? I'm thinking of going back to a 0w-30 Mobil 1 for the winter and being I can buy it off the shelf is great. I notice Amsoil doesnt put the shearing test on there websited bc Mobil 1 matched it, even before super sync came around. I always thought this was a really important test? I also like the fact that Mobil is factory filled in the best cars in the world. This could be due to Mobil's corporate strength and production capabilities or simply becasue it is the best oil......
 
So overall, based on information available, Amsoil is a better oil?
 
....I also purchaed an Amsoil air filter which turned out to be a joke. Paper filters from fram and puralator put out more air and my car ran better. Amsoil seems to think everything they make is better....i beg to differ. K&N's study had Amsoils foam filters behind even paper filters while Amsoil claims they put out as much air as a K&N and 30%more then paper. While this is not oil related, it makes you wonder the credability of there numbers
 
quote:

Originally posted by buster:
So overall, based on information available, Amsoil is a better oil?

No, based on Amsoil's marketing material, Amsoil is a better oil.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Amsoil is fine to use in your engine. I'm just not sure it's worth the price or the hassle you have to go through to use it.
 
It IS interesting which tests Amsoil chose to trumpet--
1) NOACK Volatility--The new API-SL spec is tough. Beyond that, who cares? Does Amsoil's better results, if true, make a significant difference that I'll see in my engines? I don't think so.

2) Four Ball--meaningless for the conditions inside an engine.

3) Flash & Fire Point--both are more than adequate and the difference is small and not meaningful.

4) Pour Point--So what? I've been in -50° weather, and nothing works right on a cold vehicle anyway...if you don't have heat on it, you ain't goin' nowhere. In any case, note the difference...three big degrees C on a misleading graph.

5) TBN--Both are more than ample, and higher TBN is not better.

So, in summary, more pointless claims from Amsoil. If they want to claim that their product is superior, lets see some that really relate to how an oil actually protects an engine.

Ken
 
I agree Ken. They make there bar graphs seem like it is light years ahead of the competition. They don't put the HT/HS test on there in which Mobil 1 (before, super sync) matched Ams. According to Mobil, Amsoil puts in more zinc and phosphorus in there oil. I don't think it is worth the cost at all. Especially come January when costs go up. I know one thing, there air filters are not good at all.
 
Mobil claims "Nothing Outperforms Mobil 1".
No one gripes too much about that.

Amsoil does some tests, makes some claims, people gripe. BTW I agree the scales on the charts are "marketingized". But again this is soley an Amsoil thing?

Buster => What exactly was wrong with your AirFilter? Seems this is the only place where I hear gripes about the AF's, yet folks post some good Si numbers, too....I need a vacation!!
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I don't know why everyone has such a hard time finding amsoil oil. The murrays stores around me all have it.

--Matt
 
I can't and won't say Amsoil isn't better, I just think it is not much better. Your right about the marketing claim. I ordered an air filter for my car and noticed a slight decrease in acceleration. At first I thought it was all in my head, but when I put back the OEM fram air filter, my car ran much better. I actually was so dissappointed with the Amsoil filter that I threw it out after 2 weeks of driving with it. I average 50,000 miles per year right now (only temperorary)and I am very in tune with my car. Amsoil claims there foam oiled filters allow 30% more aiflow so I was shocked. Then, a guy at work who has a Vette, said K&N claims Amsoils filters don't even put out as much air as paper filters! So with all of this, I concluded that Amsoils airfilters are fraudulant. They also show these ridiculous bar graphs claiming they allow just as much air as K&N. This I know is a joke. Just looking at there filters you can tell they don't allow as much air threw. Don't get me wrong, there oil may be very good, they have this tendency to think everything they make is superior and I just don't by into it. And it true that they leave out other tests on oil like the heat shear that is ver important.
 
I have to disagree with you about the NOACK volatility, Ken. I used to think that it was unimportant till I found myself owning an engine that will drink oils with poor NOACK numbers. I've been a Mobil 1 fan for many years but I think that volatility is a weak point for some of their 30-weights. Props to Amsoil for formulating an oil that seems to be very strong in this respect. I would have to give their new 5w-30 a hard look if I owned Honda's S2000 or Acura's RSX Type-S.
 
With there prices going up, I'm going back to Mobil. Amsoil's oil is not worht the price hike considering it MAY OR MAY NOT be that much better then Mobil 1. There are two way I look at this and they are, Mobil is a huge corporation with lots of R&D money and capabilities, but they also could use this as a manipulation. The other is simply that small private companies like Amsoil simply can make a better oil and don't have to cater to a mass market. Kind of micro macro thing.

[ November 17, 2002, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: buster ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by buster:
There are two way I look at this and they are, Mobil is a huge corporation with lots of R&D money and capabilities, but they also could use this as a manipulation. The other is simply that small private companies like Amsoil simply can make a better oil and don't have to cater to a mass market. Kind of micro macro thing.

That's pretty much what I was trying to get at with my original post. People will never agree which oil is better. They are both excellent oils and both companies certainly have their drawbacks.

With regards to automakers using Mobil 1 as the factory fill. I believe Exxon-Mobil has terrific brand recognition and the fiscal capability to make a sweetheart deal with the automakers. A small company like Amsoil is seriously underfunded in tbis regard. So no, I don't believe Mobil 1 is the better oil because Mercedes uses it. On that note, BMW uses Castrol as a factory fill. What's not really said is that the oils available at the BMW dealer, though made by Castrol, are not the same as Syntec. Yet a lot of BMW owners only hear "Castrol" and put that Syntec crap in their engine because they think it is the same thing and BMW endorses it. Now that's misleading.

[ November 17, 2002, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: mdv ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by mdv:
On that note, BMW uses Castrol as a factory fill. What's not really said is that the oils available at the BMW dealer, though made by Castrol, are not the same as Syntec. Yet a lot of BMW owners only hear "Castrol" and put that Syntec crap in their engine because they think it is the same thing and BMW endorses it. Now that's misleading.

Very good point. Castrol does indeed make the factory fill oil for BMW, but it's not the same oil available in the North American retail market. And the Castrol available at the BMW dealer is 5w40. Ever see that on the shelf at Wal-Mart?

Syntec is probably an okay oil, but I think it's very telling that the castrolusa.com web site doesn't list ANY of Syntec's specs
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, hence they prevent the consumer from directy comparing their product to other oils based on simple things like pour point, flash point, viscosity index, etc.
 
buster,

Why don't you run Amsoil and Mobil 1 for 12,000-15,000 miles in your engine and do an oil analysis on both of them. Let me know which oil holds up better and gives you lower wear rates
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Seriously though, one of the main benefit of Amsoil is the ability to safely run extended drain intervals - typically 3-5 times what you'd run a petro lube under the same conditions. If you are changing oil every 3k-5k miles, I recommend a potential customer use a cheaper oil like Mobil 1 or one of the other off the shelf synthetics. Since you drive 50k a year, I would think the extended drain aspect would work extremely well for you. The Amsoil oil filters are good for 12,500 miles/6 months, so in your case I'd recommend changing the oil/filter every 12,000 miles. That should work very well under these conditions.

TooSlick
 
From what I have seen Mobil 1 can handle extended drain intervals just as good as Amsoil, and is cheaper to boot. If anything, I've noticed that Mobil 1 has better TBN retention than Amsoil does.
 
Patman,

Most of the folks I see running Mobil 1 are changing it every 3000-7500 miles. If you can show me some analyses of mobil 1 with 15,000-20,000 miles on them, you will convince me
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You would be hard pressed to run Mobil 1 that long with the additive treat levels they are using ...especially the low level of ZDDP, which also prevents high temp oxidation and corrosion.

TS
 
I have yet to see concrete evidence on Amsoil being better than Mobil 1, lots of talk, but no evidence. Heck, I have yet to see evidence that an oil analysis is proven accurate to even make this determination, based on the several posts regarding the same sample testing differently at two or more labs. I personally would rather have dino oil with 5K miles than Amsoil with 20K miles let alone the 35K they advertise. Oil contamiates the same whether it is $8/qt Amsoil or .79 Walmart oil. That is why they recommend regular oil/filter changes regardless of oil type. I have a, '87 Grand National I bought new in 1987 and it now has 119K miles and driven hard! MANY regular 1/4 mile races during the summer. I have been using Castrol GTX with a Fram oil filter since. Every spring I do a major maintenace including a compression check, still in spec after 100K miles with 3-5K mile regular oil changes. When I dropped the oil pan a couple of years ago to replace the pump/screen as a precautionary maintenance, the pan and bottom end was perfectly clean like Mobil 1 used to brag about years back in their commercials. I can only recommend regular oil/changes before picking an expensive oil.
 
If the oil analysis results are both done by the same lab, I think that it could be a fair comparison. So is anyone here running either Amsoil or Mobil 1 right now, and care to switch to the other and do back to back results? Or better yet, do 2 intervals with one then 2 intervals with the other and see.
 
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