Can you notice the difference in ST 2-cycle oils?

R

ruSSrt

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I was at Walmart the other day and this caught my eye. Synthetic is $10.98 and semi synthetic $5.48. I was just curious if synthetic really that much better? If I'm a penny pincher and run 40:1 or thicker does it really matter for me to spend extra on synthetic?
I know it's not JASO certified, and I didn't buy it. Just peaked my curiosity.
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Those oils are low quality, kerosene reduced, non-rated swill. For $11 - $22 per quart you can do better. Even if you're buying boat motor oil, you can get Pennzoil outboard oil for $8.xx per quart and sometimes an entire gallon for less than $20. Don't let the NMMA rating fool you, no harm will come to your weed wacker or leaf blower by using TC-W3 oils. I'd trust it before I trusted a non-rated, non-tested lubricant that's twice the price.
 
The base stock is different. Bright stock is the typical cheap 2 stroke oil base stock. It is a viscous, clear oil, diluted to a thinner consistency with kerosene or other thinner.

The base stock of EG-D synthetic 2 stroke oils is generally polyisobutylene, which is a low smoke, low deposit, high film strength product, that is superb at preventing scuffing.

From a practical point of view, just look for a TC or TD rated oil, or a EG-D rated oil. All will be PIB base stock oils, capable of keeping your engine alive as long as possible.
 
Skip and get VP racing from the OPE section.

Also curious why OP is calling them ST 2 cycle oils.

They actually have a supertech branded 2 cycle oil in the automotive section that costs more.

Echo redarmor and Husqvarna jaso FD oils are also top tier.

I'd use my 7 year old bottle of G-oil JASO FD 2 cycle oil before any of those unrated 2 cycle oils.
 
Rand said:
Skip and get VP racing from the OPE section.

Also curious why OP is calling them ST 2 cycle oils.

They actually have a supertech branded 2 cycle oil in the automotive section that costs more.

Echo redarmor and Husqvarna jaso FD oils are also top tier.

I'd use my 7 year old bottle of G-oil JASO FD 2 cycle oil before any of those unrated 2 cycle oils.
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I had a different title for the topic. It was changed by moderator because it was "click bait" I guess.
 
It won't cause any durability issues if run at the correct ratio, but for not much more money you can get much better oil. The cheap oils will work fine, but I always find they make the exhaust ports/mufflers nasty with gunk, and have more smoke/soot. I've been running Red Armor, VP racing, Amsoil Dominator, and Opti-2 and have never looked back. Very little to no smoke and the exhausts are all clean. Red Armor actually fixed some running issues on gunked up carbs also.
 
jeepman3071 said:
It won't cause any durability issues if run at the correct ratio, but for not much more money you can get much better oil. The cheap oils will work fine, but I always find they make the exhaust ports/mufflers nasty with gunk, and have more smoke/soot. I've been running Red Armor, VP racing, Amsoil Dominator, and Opti-2 and have never looked back. Very little to no smoke and the exhausts are all clean. Red Armor actually fixed some running issues on gunked up carbs also.
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I had bunch of Stihl small bottles that took me 2-3 years to go through, but now I'm using VP stuff. $11 at Walmart and has all the ratings.
 
jeepman3071 said:
It won't cause any durability issues if run at the correct ratio, but for not much more money you can get much better oil. The cheap oils will work fine, but I always find they make the exhaust ports/mufflers nasty with gunk, and have more smoke/soot. I've been running Red Armor, VP racing, Amsoil Dominator, and Opti-2 and have never looked back. Very little to no smoke and the exhausts are all clean. Red Armor actually fixed some running issues on gunked up carbs also.
Click to expand...

The Bright Stock based oils will sometimes stick piston rings. This results in excess blowby and a failed engine, often through piston and cylinder scoring due to the hot blowby. I avoid cheap oils for this reason. It's not that they can't lubricate, it is the carbon and deposit buildups.

As always, I use 32 to 1, with an EG-D oil. No smoke, no tuning issues, adequate wear protection for the average high performance two stroke.
 
Cujet said:
The Bright Stock based oils will sometimes stick piston rings. This results in excess blowby and a failed engine, often through piston and cylinder scoring due to the hot blowby. I avoid cheap oils for this reason. It's not that they can't lubricate, it is the carbon and deposit buildups.

As always, I use 32 to 1, with an EG-D oil. No smoke, no tuning issues, adequate wear protection for the average high performance two stroke.
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What I've been doing is I mix carb/injector cleaner, stabyl marine 360 and MMO for all my equipment. And then for two stroke I use that mox to add about 40:1 oil mix. I usually go a little more than 40:1 because MMO is good cleaner but not a good lubricant.
 
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