Originally Posted by PimTac
It sounds like a lot of speculation and opinion rather than facts backed by references.
So true. I don't believe that the differences between grades are meaningless. But it amazes me to come back to the board after several years away, and find people still freaking out about using 20 wt oils in passenger car applications (even fairly stressed ones). Back in the very late 90s and early 00s, when the 20s were new on the American scene, there was one guy who insisted 20 wt was nothing more than a honing or machining oil, useless, even dangerous, as motor oil. He was not alone. Apparently, he still has plenty of company. He, and many others confidently declared (or clearly implied) that within a couple years, we'd start seeing large numbers of premature engine wear-outs as a result of this vile engine poison...
Well, here's a fact, no speculation required, nor is any consideration of the car makers' motives. Best of all, we can all back it up with our eyeballs: twenty years after Ford and Honda started specifying 20 wt oils, we are simply not seeing the roadsides and junkyards being filled with hulks of cars whose engines have been destroyed by 20 wt oil. Not two, not five, TWENTY years.
I was initially cautious about 20 wt oils, but didn't get too worked up, since at the time, I owned no 20 wt cars. Now I do. Today, I have a small number of things I occasionally lose sleep over. Using 0w-20 in my car is NOT one of them... ...Ž