Best of the Best full synthetics...which one?.

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I did a search on "Best Synthetic Oil" and nothing really came up.
So...to all those much more "in the know" about full synthetic oils, which one would probably be king of the hill. From reading in the forum, it seems like Mobil1, Redline, Amsoil, Royal Purple, Neo (not mentioned too much), Schaeffers? (not mentioned too much), and ???? are the ones in question.

Driving style, vehicle, daily mileage, driving conditions, cost, etc. aside.

List the top three and why you chose each for that rank.

I know there will be all sorts of opinions. I just wanted to view what others thought on the subject. Maybe this question can't be answered due to driving style, vehicle, daily mileage, driving conditions, etc.
Give it a whirl!
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Dude, you are opening up a whole can of worm here because everyone will give you different answer. But when you think of real synthetics most people agree that there are only 3 popular brand in North America:

Mobil1: easy to find, relatively cheap, and very good detergency.

Amsoil: Last long, good additive package, and stable against oxidation.

Redline: Good engine performance.

You are going to run into all 3 supporter in this forum, as well as people telling you that schaeffler is just as good.
 
Its a 50 gallon drum of worms, I know. Just stirring the pot.
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Someone is bound to ask the question later. If they do a search, they'll find the info.
Makes for good reading and learning since I know I don't know enough about the topic myself.
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Toy,

Picking the right oil for a job isn't something best accomplished by popular vote, and by eliminating specific conditions you're eliminating reasoned responses. All that's left are generalizations and endorsements, neither of which should make your decision for a specific need.

Let's try not to stir a useful pot into a popularity contest.

David
 
Finding out which is the best synthetic oil is like finding the Holy Grail!
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Honestly, when you get to this level, you are splitting hairs between all of the top contenders.
 
And, if you change your oil and filter every 3000 miles any ole container off the shelf will work just fine and give you at least 100,000 + miles of engine life.
 
Maybe the question should have been phrased as " what Synthetic oils easily available in North America will NOT go 15k in the average motor,average driving habits of 50/50 hiway city WITHOUT a filter change when using a moderate VI grade in the product line" ?
 
I've spent quite a bit of time on this board now and I noticed two general trends that I've observed:

1. People tend not to like Group III synthetics and would prefer PAO synthetics.

2. People suggest doing an oil analysis to pinpoint the good oils.

My question is: If you observe a group III perform well on an analysis, is this still reason not to prefer it over a PAO that doesn't perform as well given similar costs? I know a group III is not a true synthetic, but the recent analysis on the Synpower in the Camry seems to indicate that a group III can perform pretty well, even in a reknowned sludge generating engine. It seems like this oil has done better than some of the old Try-syn analyses and some Amsoil analyses. Granted, it's only one sample point, but I've seen other analyses of Synpower on another board which suggests that it does pretty well.

So when selecting synthetics, what should be the dominant criteria? Good oil analysis performance or PAO over group III?
 
toy4x4,

I have followed the synlube industry for almost 25 years and also do some work with polymer based materials. I'd say Mobil 1 is easily the best of the commonly available synthetics and is probably the best oil at that "price point", ie: $4.00-$5.00/qt. They are somewhat constrained in their formulation approach as they are trying to make a licensed product and sell it in that price range. This limits the amount of zinc and phosphorus you can use in the formulation to provide wear protection. This is why they have to play around with moly in their new Supersyn oils to get acceptable wear performance over long drain intervals.

I do think that Amsoil and Redline make better extended drain synthetics, but they are up in the $7.00-$8.00/qt range, so this isn't a fair comparison. I've had excellent results with the Series 2000/3000 products, with change intervals of 15k-20k miles.

I haven't seen enough data on RP and Neo to made a determination, although both use the better PAO and/or Ester basestocks. The RP "synerlec" additive chemistry is pretty interesting stuff ....

TooSlick
 
Dyson Oil in Durant, Oklahoma has a interesting product line named Synergyn which are a blend of Group IV and V bases. Around 6 bucks a quart.

They offer a 0000 qualifing oil,a 5 wt,5/20,5/30,LT 3/30,5/50 and 15/50. None are API Certified which like Amsoil, does not not mean it not a good oil.

I would be interested to see a analysis of one of their oils in a good motor.
 
Ted,

The link is in your private message folder.

The site needs updated imo but some info is available from these very protective folks. Understanably so,they are but a small company.
 
a little bit of info on neosynthetic, just to add an extra worm to the pot.
I ran their 75w-90 HD oil in the differential of my 99 Camaro SS a couple years ago, up until I broke the rear end. What had happened was the pinion sheared in half on the shaft, right around where the pinion seal is. So the failure had nothing to do with the oil. But up until then for about 15k miles, the differential ran perfect and was quiet. And these cars are notorious for having problem rear ends.

When the shop pulled the rear apart, aside from the damage the pinion gear did when it fell into the pumpkin
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they said the gearset and bearings looked perfect, good wear pattern and there was no sludge buildup at all which they were suprised not to see.

I stumbled across neosynthetic a few years ago, and have only tried there gear oil. I have never found there name mentioned really anywhere. But when I called them and asked about their product, they said they supply their oils primarily to the formula-1 and indy guys. They also said they would be happy to sell me their racing heavy duty gear oil 75w-90RHD at $17/qt but recommended their plain old 75w-90 HD for my car, which I thought showed character on their part.
 
OneQuartLow---Maybe I should have worded the question an Dragboat pointed out. Wasn't intended to be a "My oil is better than yours" confrontation.
Or maybe someone could work out a chart giving the parameters I've mentioned (Driving style, vehicle, daily mileage, driving conditions, cost, etc) to show which oils might be suited for everyone (possible?).
A lot of info has been explained here already and I've learned some more. There are those of us who have just started to research these topics. I, myself, don't want an oil to be changed at the 3K mark and don't mind spending an extra $20-40 per year if it means my truck will benefit.
I guess I'll "open the doors" as to what are the top three syns.
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Hugh,

No worries about the topic
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When I hit the lottery there will be 10 Dynos running mule engines 24/7 in my shop.
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testing oils would be my life IF the lottery was hit by me,,not holding my breathe though
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so I test one oil at a time. By the time the forum as a whole gets some of these oils down pat,GF4 will come He He! Will give us more to talk about huh?
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Later,how will we ever stop our Flux Capacitors from going down at inoppurtune times will be the raving topic
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I've been interested in Neo synthetic oils also, particularly their 0w-5. I've heard that it's really a 20-weight oil with all diester basestocks. If that's the case, I'd be interested in trying it in my car since the manufacturer recommends 20-weight. But getting info from Neo is next to impossible. There's no such thing as a 5-weight oil and I wanted to know what the 0w-5's kinematic viscosity is at 100*C. I emailed them 3 times with no response and called twice. Apparantly no one knows or cares, and if you ask "hard" questions about their oil they don't want to know you.
 
The best full synth?

Jet engine oil for the above 20,000 lb. thrust class.

Seriously, my biases lean toward Redline and NEO as the best, because....
they contain the highest percentages of esters and excellent but conservative additve packages.
 
How about relatively obscure yet right under our nose oils
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Here is a Phillips Trop Artic SJ 5/50 full PAO oil. I wonder how it would do at $4.90 a quart?

Typical Properties: Values are representitive of current production SAE Number Grade ------------ 5W-50
Stock Number 42980
API Gravity 31.4
Flash Point, C (F) 220 (428)
Pour Point, C (F) -50 (-58)
cP @ -25 C (-13 F) 2,300
cSt @ 40 C (104 F) 98.4
cSt @ 100 C (212 F) 18.4
Viscosity Index 208
Sulfated Ash, % 0.70
 
Well, Toy4x4, you got an answer, sort of. You got the names of most of the REAL (Group IV & V) synthetics out there. Any of those should be able to go 5,000 miles and beyond between changes.

I didn't see it mentioned but Schaeffer Oil also makes a full-PAO-type 100% synthetic .... but sells it only in 40lb (about 5 gallon) pails.

Um, Molakule, what about Red Line's 600ppm of moly do you find "conservative?"
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--- Bror Jace
 
Based on other threads, I had Redline pegged before starting this particular topic. I was just curious, as I'm sure some others were, what the more knowledgeable people in this forum thought. Thanks to all.
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