-- If we are talking about engine wear in general and not the accelerated wear caused by dirty intake air, I would suspect that rod bearings are as susceptible to wear as the piston rings are. The main difference is that worn piston rings will be much more obvious due to reduced performance, increased blow-by, increased oil consumption, increased carbon buildup, etc. Worn rod bearings don't show themselves much until the wear is excessive, and tell-tale rod knock starts. They were very likely to be wearing badly before the knock started.
-- Among all the various filters found on a vehicle, there is no question that the engine air filter has the largest affect on engine longevity.
-- I have read many times that engine oils do their job best when at normal operating temperature. This goes against your practice of redlining the engine while using thinner oil that has not yet reached full temperature.
-- Keeping regular service intervals with quality oil and quality oil filters will always keep a clean engine, unless the design is faulty. Many people running 10k-20k miles on an oil service interval will have clean engines because the appropriate interval depends so much on the way the vehicle is driven, the capacity of the sump, the design of the fuel system, and many other factors. So the engine cleanliness factor can easily be removed from your engine wear experiment and I don't see any discussion warranted here.
-- I won't comment on the topics of hot & dusty operating environments, cold start temperatures, oil sump temperatures, or running thinner vs thicker oils because I don't have the time or interest to fully elaborate my thoughts there. To post these topics regularly, you must be retired or at least independently wealthy. Not everyone is so fortunate, not yet anyway
-- Finally, your experiment includes a sample of one (1) and your conclusions are beneficial to you alone, or anyone who happens to have the exact same model, mileage, condition, environment, maintenance history, etc. In other words, it only benefits you although I understand you want to share your findings with anyone who may be interested.
-- Among all the various filters found on a vehicle, there is no question that the engine air filter has the largest affect on engine longevity.
-- I have read many times that engine oils do their job best when at normal operating temperature. This goes against your practice of redlining the engine while using thinner oil that has not yet reached full temperature.
-- Keeping regular service intervals with quality oil and quality oil filters will always keep a clean engine, unless the design is faulty. Many people running 10k-20k miles on an oil service interval will have clean engines because the appropriate interval depends so much on the way the vehicle is driven, the capacity of the sump, the design of the fuel system, and many other factors. So the engine cleanliness factor can easily be removed from your engine wear experiment and I don't see any discussion warranted here.
-- I won't comment on the topics of hot & dusty operating environments, cold start temperatures, oil sump temperatures, or running thinner vs thicker oils because I don't have the time or interest to fully elaborate my thoughts there. To post these topics regularly, you must be retired or at least independently wealthy. Not everyone is so fortunate, not yet anyway
-- Finally, your experiment includes a sample of one (1) and your conclusions are beneficial to you alone, or anyone who happens to have the exact same model, mileage, condition, environment, maintenance history, etc. In other words, it only benefits you although I understand you want to share your findings with anyone who may be interested.
Also many modern vehicles come rust proofed from the factory. Even my extremely basic econobox has some sort of rubberized plastic film all over the wheel wells, gas tank, and on the bottom of the runner where the pinch welds are. It's been through three New England winters so far and no rust on the underside, and that's without the FF, next winter it's getting coated. The only issues I've to deal with when it comes to rust is from paint chips on the body.
