Does a large stock of oil make good sense?

[csp203]

Does having a large stockpile of oil at your house make any sense? I do not mean 5 or ten quarts of oil but gallons and gallons of the stuff. Are you the guy with 40 quarts of tri-syn in the garage. Or a bunch of dino SJ oil you bought before SL oils came out. The reason I ask is a lot of people on this board demand the best oil for their vehicles. And old oil MAY not be the best.


Example #1: You are sitting on a small fortune of german castrol. Then somebody finds out that XZY auto parts store/oil company in importing some other fancy synthetic oil. Now you are stuck, new fancy synthic oil is better but you have hundreds of dollars in GC. For most people they would contiunue to use the GC, but I know some members of this board would have to run out and at least try something new if they thought it would be better.


Example #2. You have a large number of 5 quart Mobil 1 jugs in your garage because they were 18.88 at walmart. Well 12 months from now GF4 is out and mobil has changed there formulation twice in that time (I understand they like to do that alot). What are you to do???

The point of all this is the oil seems to get better all the time, is easy to find/buy, does having more than a case on hand make any sense??

 

[buster]

I personally agree with you and don't like to stock up on oil. I usually buy the 5qt. M1 or case of Amsoil and that is it. You never know when a formulation change, or new oil might come out and you might want to switch. Plus, I have no desire to see gallons of oil stacked up in the garage. My two cents.

pscholte has a pile of GC thats almost as high as Mt. Everest from the locals in his town. A new mountain has appeared.

[ October 15, 2003, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[jsharp]

I keep a few assorted quarts around for top up, general lubrication etc. but mostly, I don't buy oil until I'm going to be using it within the next couple of weeks. If the stuff is so hard to find I need search it out and hoard it, I consider it too unavailable to use all the time and avoid it.

The exceptions are specialty lubricants I have to order for a specific purpose, or the case where they're almost giving the product away. Even I can't pass that up, even if it's something I don't nomally use...

[ October 15, 2003, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: jsharp ]

 

[Patman]

Believe me, I worry about having 40L of GC on hand, especially since I've not yet seen a UOA of this stuff in my own car (although I will this week)

But I have seen it in my sister's car, so I'm confident it will perform well. And if I did decide to switch to something else, I can always run this oil in my dad's car (he's currently running it anyways) and my wife's car (next fall when I'm done with Royal Purple-speaking of which, I'll have the 5k UOA on that this week too)

 

[Patman]

I forgot to mention that one guy on LS1.com picked up 40 five quart jugs of Mobil 1 10w30 TriSynthetic when he found his local store put the price wrong (it was under $10 each I believe)

I laughed at him though, because just a month or two later, SuperSyn came out, and we all know it's considerably better than TriSynthetic. So now this guy has to go through tons and tons of the inferior stuff first, plus he'll probably hit the 5 year point first (the end of it's shelf life)

 

[labman]

I tend to have what ever was left after my last oil change plus the emergency quart stashed in the trunk of my car. Of course this is part of the reason I went with Pennzoil dino, and continue to stick to it. I am fairly sure I can walk into Wally's anytime, 24 hours a day and find 5W-30. If they don't have it, and I can't wait, there are some other places in town that carry it, although at a higher price. As the price crept up $1.49 a quart, I considered checking on a drum. I am doing 4 oil changes a year, 6 qt. in my truck and 5 in my car. That is 44 quarts a year. I am not adding any between oil changes in either. Fifty five gallons would last 5 years if I don't forget to put the drain plug back in. It would insure 5 years of consistency, regardless of who buys who.

As far as oil filters go, I still have 2 of the 4 ST's I panicked and bought last spring plus a WIX element I picked up for the car when I was at the dealer's side of town one day. I certainly don't want to stock up on what I see as outrageously priced elements. Surely the competition is going to force the price down as Ecotech engines become more common. In 1977 I was paying $5 for an AC PF 9, and later was able to buy them for as low as $2. Even now, if I found the new number PF 1177, they would be less than $4.

 

[pscholte]

It is a scientific fact that, after a dog, engine oil is man's best friend (but you knew that, didn't you?). Therefore, I feel like I am surrounded by a large group of German friends

to supplement all my BITOG buddies (I mean, like I'm not online 24 hours a day...and we all need companionship)

...now off to Uwe's with my little pals for some Jägerschnitzel.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

No.....it doesn't make any sense, but then again.....I have a whole garage full of oil.

But then....who wants to make sense all the time?...Where is the fun in that?

 

[csp203]

My brother has about 50 quarts of valvoline. Every time his is in the local parts store and it is on sale he buys some. I don't have the heart to tell him it is not all its cracked up to be. He only had one filter so breaking the news about fram went OK.

 

[unDummy]

It depends on what is on sale.
Wish I grabbed a bunch of jugs of Mobil1 before the wallyworld price increase.

With the rotation of store bankruptcies, sometimes my stock increases. But, I do enough maintenance that I can unload many gallons/quarts quickly if I want to.

I also grabbed a carriage full of filters at the kmart closing. M1 filters for ~$.66 and wixclone for
I don't know what the fuss with the supply of German green castrol. The autozone manager told me that the SL 0w30 german is replacing the SJ 0w30 american. Until the SJ stock is sold out, don't expect the SL. Currently, half the AZs around here have unlimited supply of GC SL. Some have the SJ, others have neither since the weight didn't sell. Ask for it and it should come into stock. There is no need to horde this available oil.

 

[Ferrari]

I always buy oil in bulk, either 4x4quart jugs of Amsoil or 4x5L jugs of Motul. I now just have 4x5L jugs of Motul 8100 0W-40 for mine and my parents' car (it will last us the winter) and 3x4quart jugs of Amsoil S3K 5W-30 for my gf's TDI.

The most I ever had was 48 quarts of various Amsoil oils, which lasted about a year.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
Believe me, I worry about having 40L of GC on hand, especially since I've not yet seen a UOA of this stuff in my own car (although I will this week)

---

I'm no longer worried about having so much GC 0w30 on hand, I've posted the results of my first UOA in my Firebird with this stuff, and it performed excellent! See the UOA section folks, this stuff is the real deal.

 

[pscholte]

quote:

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Originally posted by unDummy:
I don't know what the fuss with the supply of German green castrol...There is no need to horde this available oil.

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Hoarding? Ah, no, unDummy, it is called building a strategic reserve.

 

[Quick_lude]

Since I live in a big city with many stores

I don't keep any extra oil stock.. just maybe a couple of litres since my engine likes to eat oil.

If I'm doing an oil change, I take a trip to Walmart/Crappy Tire and buy what I need. I just don't have a need to stockpile oil since I only change it maybe 3 times a year.

 

[Al]

I would never do it bc I still haven't found the Holy Grail of oils yet.

And neither has anyone on this board

 

[pscholte]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:
I would never do it bc I still haven't found the Holy Grail of oils yet.

And neither has anyone on this board

---

Al...Al...Al...Al,

You ARE a tough one to break, but trust me, Patman and I have seen the future and it is green!

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by pscholte:
You ARE a tough one to break, but trust me, Patman and I have seen the future and it is green!

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You are referring of course to Schaeffer's??

 

[pscholte]

Not a bad "guess"

at all, but no, that is not what I meant...guess I should have said, "grün" and then you would have been hard pressed to get that one in...come to think of it, Schaeffer's is a German name...German name, green oil, hey, we're all winners!

Now if Mobil is shmart...er...I mean, smart, they will change the name of THEIR synthetic to Möbil Eins and they might be able to compete!

[ October 15, 2003, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: pscholte ]

 

[TSoA]

quote:

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you have hundreds of dollars in GC

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Sad, but true. If Castrol was strait-forward about GCs future, although it looks good, I would have no problem buying as needed. 8 sixpacks on-hand, 2 will go for friends, leaving 3 years of oil if I use it twice a year. I will put 40 weight Rotella in for summers, making thrice yearly changes. Is it obsessive? A little bit, but I know I can use it in other cars if I want, so there is a buffer. Plus the Syntec 6 for 5 sale just ended, I have expensive taste, but am as much of an oil miser as... well maybe not, some of you guys buy the $.69c Citgo. I think GC is a blessing, I've been mixed-up in the past as to which oils are good, and grabbing the GC makes me feel good. Oddly, before Wal*Mart plays with the price again, I plan on stocking up on Rotella Syn too, at least for my friends' and family cars. At $3.25 quart, I feel that the price is good enough and the quality...well, it is usable.

I will not be buying Mobil no matter what or looking for obscure 5w-40s like Kendall, QS et al. A case of some Schaffer's blend might be worth having for guests. If you change oil ten times a year, I guess stocking up is a good idea too.

 

[Asmodeus]

Well I have 42L of GC stockpilled here. It's effectively enough for 2 oil changes this winter.

No way am I going to hunt like a mofo for 0W30 this winter.

Maybe I should buy more, and when there is no 0W30, sell it with a ridiculous markup