Curse you BITOG! Oil Choices....

[MPosey]

So I bought my 2008 S2000 CR with 3800 miles on her. Apex blue, best car I have ever owned and I have owned some great cars (M3, S4, 420Sel, etc.). The car will be autocrossed and driven for fun on nice days.

So I got it home and switched to PYB as the original oil had been in there since 2007 most likely. My plan was to run a full OCI on PYB to make sure everything seats and also with the new PYB cleaning, etc. it would be a nice follow up to the original fill, before making the switch to synthetic.
So my plan was to switch to PU when the maintenance minder tells me to, but now I have been researching redline and amsoil... I have run Redline in other cars and Amsoil in other cars and I think they are perfectly fine. I want to keep the S2000 forever and could probably run canola oil in it and have a ton of miles with no problem but I really want the absolute best and don’t mind spending some money on quality products and am fanatical about keeping up my maintenance.

I was thinking PU would be the best off the shelf, readily available product I could get. I know I will have to pay shipping for Amsoil and Redline, but again I am ok with shelling out a few bucks for the best.
I will probably run redline in the tranny and diff. I have used redline transmission fluid and diff fluid with great results in the past and will probably stick with them, but as far as motor oil I am constantly changing my mind thanks to BITOG!

Just wanted to pick your brains and see if I can get some assistance in making up my mind…

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Go with the Pennzoil Ultra; in the rare event that you would have to top up the oil, the PU is readily available for purchase. In regard to the Redline or Amsoil, you would always have to order in extra because of its' unavailability in local stores. A friend of mine took me for a spin in his S2000 and I have to say it was a thrill! Those cars can take corners at an unbelievable speed. Can you post some pictures of that gem?

 

[MPosey]

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Sharp car...love that blue! It is amazing how much power Honda was able to extract out of a non-turboed 4 cylinder. Thanks for the pics!

 

[StevieC]

Go with Pennzoil Platinum it has Acura's turbo rating and its a darn fine oil and might be cheaper and easier to find in the coming months if Walmart drops Pennzoil Ultra as it looks like they are doing.

Ultra is a darn fine oil, just saying for ease of availability and because it is Acura rated.

Nice car those S2000's are...

 

[hate2work]

Here is some light reading for you. If the link isn't hot just copy and paste it.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=what+oil+for+my+s2000%3F&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=bobistheoilguy.com&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

If I owned an s2000 I would run Amsoil ATM in it.

 

[yaris0128]

+1 on Ultra. Cant think of a better Group III oil on store shelves right now. I just bought out all the 5qts at my local walmart for my del Sol. If you can find it, buy it.

 

[Audi Junkie]

High revving increases oxidization. Look for an oil that deals with it and fuel dilution as well, but there is no substitute for simply draining out contaminates and renewing the the friction modifiers.

Before even looking at a ton of premium oils, I'd stop and ask what oci you intend. If you are doing 3k or 5k, skip the premium oil for dino oil service. The only reason to go past 6k is to reduce the work involved, or an excuse to buy the premium synth, because that's all it's really good for, extending change intervals.

I believe more changes of dino oil works better for the same cost, be it 3 or 4 dino changes verses 2 synth changes. For some guys cost is no object, like I think the OP is, want to use the "best" oil available, but mistakenly applies an absurdly short interval too it because they don't really know how well it nor dino oils work.

That car would actually be equally well served by short changes of dino oil or longer synth intervals...no oil related issues either way. Perfectly clean engine either way, and maybe even cleaner on more changes of dino oil to physically remove contaminates, rather than fancy additives to combat them.

 

[Lethal1ty17]

IMO, purchasing a given amount of amsoil + top off oil is really going to add up to probably 2 oil changes worth of mobil 1, pennzoil platinum, ultra, etc etc. so basically if you want the best, you could still be using synthetic and changing it twice as often.

in no particular order, any of these walmart stocked oils would work great:
-m1, m1 extended performance
-syntec, edge
-platinum/ultra
-valvoline synthetic (not sure of the name)

if you want to do 3k oci's then just use a good dino oil. both are just as slippery. i recall reading a post from a member on here that worked in F1 engine development and said dino oil is just as slippery and good as synthetics until you go longer intervals, then the synthetic really comes into play. so i would run at least 6,000 miles on it, possibly do a UOA to see how things are wearing in and how much longer you can go. i also seem to remember hearing how oil gets more slippery after it has been run a while so i'd keep that in mind.

just pick one. spend less time fretting and more time enjoying that beautiful blue babe in the garage, you'll be satisfied with any of them. it is a honda and they are like cockroaches, you just cant kill 'em. i'd just go with something easily available instead of ordering for convenience.

 

[HK_Ace]

I used to primarily think of women and mountain biking all the time. After joining this forum, I also think about oil...pretty scary.

 

[ottotheclown]

Great suggestion. Love that thinking to pop up every so often. What work is involved changing oil???
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
High revving increases oxidization. Look for an oil that deals with it and fuel dilution as well, but there is no substitute for simply draining out contaminates and renewing the the friction modifiers.

Before even looking at a ton of premium oils, I'd stop and ask what oci you intend. If you are doing 3k or 5k, skip the premium oil for dino oil service. The only reason to go past 6k is to reduce the work involved, or an excuse to buy the premium synth, because that's all it's really good for, extending change intervals.

I believe more changes of dino oil works better for the same cost, be it 3 or 4 dino changes verses 2 synth changes. For some guys cost is no object, like I think the OP is, want to use the "best" oil available, but mistakenly applies an absurdly short interval too it because they don't really know how well it nor dino oils work.

That car would actually be equally well served by short changes of dino oil or longer synth intervals...no oil related issues either way. Perfectly clean engine either way, and maybe even cleaner on more changes of dino oil to physically remove contaminates, rather than fancy additives to combat them.

 

[INDYMAC]

Congratulations on your new CR. You will have a blast racing that car on weekends, as you intend to. A few words of advice:

-Get used to your car before you race it, especially the transmission. These engines are pretty bullet proof with almost any 10W-30 engine oil, but a mis shift leading to a mechanical over-rev can wreak havoc on the engine. You basically will have bought yourself a new motor if the mis shift was bad enough (well over redline).

-Rather than go through a litney of choices, I'll just say go with AMSOIL products to start. Engine oil 10W30 ATM, MTF 5W-30, and SVT 75W-110 gear oil for the diff. You will be changing brake and clutch fluid often if you are racing too. Most people go with the ATE Super Blue DOT 4. It also comes in an amber color version that makes it easy to tell when your done bleeding your brakes and clutch (alternating colors).

-Always check your engine oil level after every fill-up of fuel, and make sure your oil filter is not leaking or loose.

-Keep an eye on treadwear as the inner portion of the tire wears faster than the outer (aggressive negative camber). As a rule of thumb, the rear tires wear at twice the rate of the front tires. Don't mix brands/types/sizes of tires for front and rear.

Good luck and have some fun!