Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Quote:
Any innovation, invention, adaptation, whatever ..has to "carry itself" and then some to make sense.
I agree, but I think there are some benefits to synthetics and better filters that you get whatever your OCI usage. For example, cold flow characteristics. In the middle of winter I notice a big difference when the car has soaked overnight in 20-below weather. OK, sure it will eventually crank over with dino in there, but I wonder how much wear and tear that puts on the starter motor? I have routinely found that starter motors last about 120,000 miles and then kaput. Avoiding one middle of the winter non start with a tow would pay for a lot of synthetic oil. Same with silicone ADBVs on filters. More flexible in the cold means less noise and wear and tear on start up. Maybe there is no quantifiable gain in engine longevity, but it sure takes time off my life to hear the engine making noises on start up.
This goes to intrinsic qualities and attempts to put a price tag on them; which usually fails. Value judgments are very personal and very subjective, as such, they are hard to play a numbers game with. Example:
I avoid the direct route to work and take the longer highway route instead. I do this after having a couple close calls in the stop and go, and sometimes congested, direct route that didn't really lend well to beginning my shift with the right frame of mind.
So instead I go the longer route and wind up going in much more relaxed, having had to deal with no lights, no congestion, and no close calls (and I prefer highway over stop and go city).
Even though I get better mileage on the highway, it still costs an extra 5 to 10 minutes of time and likely a bit more fuel for the distance involved. Though highway miles being easier on the car (brakes, etc), a total economic view would cut the added expense some. But it still costs a bit more. I gladly spend it as the extra fuel cost is a paltry sum weighed against the earnings from the shift and the more relaxed it begins when I haven't had to battle traffic to get there.
Perhaps a cheaper filter would perform satisfactorily to the 10k interval its used for. But the difference in price isn't worth it when there is no 'perhaps' with my filter choice, and I simply put it on and forget about it. That is something that is hard to quantify, but the difference in price makes this added value negligible.
If only other issues were as easily resolved as spending an extra few bucks, over perhaps a 1 year interval, to resolve. Life would be much less stressful.
-Spyder