Does the oil brand actually matter? Is this all just hyperbole?

[Nesterenko]

someone else

Exactly, you're 3rd man in.

 

[oliver88]

Here is what I would like to see. A top 24 hour Le Mans team stop on the way to the track at a department type store like Walmart, (or whatever they have over there), on race day, and pick up a case of whatever oil they have on sale in a similar weight.

Fill the crankcase or tank of their race car with it, and go. And see if it's still running at the finish. Or else drain the oil out of every car at the Daytona 500, and fill it with whatever 10W-40 synthetic is the cheapest.

And run the race. And see if the same average number of cars finish. (Blown motors are becoming much more rare in NASCAR then they were 50 years ago). My guess is there wouldn't be much, if any difference.

I've seen many professional Porsche teams show up at races with cases of Mobil 1 0w40 from Wal-Mart,etc. and run it. Lot's of 911 factory race cars have never used anything else...I see others using Motul 5w40 and a few others....But those are the two primary off the shelf oils I've seen.

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

Use an oil that meets or beats the specs & weight required by the manufacturer.

Brand doesn’t matter……it’s about preference and how much YOU believe brand A, B or C is worth.

 

[edyvw]

You are assuming too much.
Your M54 engine in BMW used initial LL01. LL01 had like 7-8 updates. When Mobil1 0W40 “lost” LL01, it was bcs. oxidation in new M1 formula was bit too high for updated LL01. That Mobil1 would easily meet LL01 that was introduced in 2001.
The reason you didn’t have any issues is that M1 exceeded any requirements of LL01 that was current when M54 was produced, and still, that M1 was approved fir MB229.5, a gold standard of Full SAPS oils.
Oils you use in Acura are current API standards.

So, not sure where you going with this.

 

[NiwradND]

Honestly not trying to stir stuff up, just hear me out.

Regardless of the oil brand or duration, most of the 'I sent my oil in for analysis' posts result in the same conclusion: "I could have gone longer." So, I simply ask, why not?

My last car was a 2001 BMW 330xi and I had it for 14 years. I used to only buy dealer oil ("nothing but the best for my baby" type thinking) and Mann oil filters, when BMW switched their oil supplier I figured "if they can switch, so can I," and went to Mobil 1 0W-40 Euro because it was LL-01 approved. Some time ago that M1 oil lost the LL-01 certification, I didn't know what to do so I just kept using it.

My 330xi took SEVEN QUARTS of oil, so I was completely fine with longer OCI. The oil service minder reset at 15,525 miles. Since the car took so much oil I changed it every 10k. Later on I just drove it until the car told me the oil service was due.

Now I have an Acura TL (4.5 quarts). I've been using Mobil 1 Extended Performance 0W-20 and Fram Ultra Synthetic filter, replacing when the oil service minder goes off at 9,000 miles. Both the oil & filter say they're rated for 20k miles. Heck, even the user manual calls for changing the oil filter ever other oil change (I do it every time).

This has me wondering. I know a lot of you are changing at 5K, some are crazy enough to do it at 3k because it's still 1975 in your garage. What's really wrong with going 10k, 12k or 15k on the oil/filter if the manufacturer says so and so does the oil analysis places (I've seen some 15k high mileage OCI analysis has had Blackstone noting to try even longer...) say it's okay too?

What flared this up was some recent deals I've seen going on:

$24.29 5qt M1 0W-20 EP (Sold as 3 pack @ $72.88)
$22.29 5qt M1 0W-20 AFE (Sold as 3 pack @ $66.88)
$15.50 5qt Kirkland 0W-20 (Warren Full Synthetic sold as 2 pack @ $30.99)
$14.48 5qt Pennzoil 0W-20 Platinum (Not Ultra, after $25 rebate shenanigans buying 2 pack @ $26.98 each)

If I really drill down, the math is crazy:

For the cost per mile to be the same it'd be 14,100 miles on M1 EP vs 9,000 miles on Kirkland/Warren. I'd wager just about everyone here would rather use Kirkland/Warren and change at 9,000 miles, right? Even still, maybe going longer on M1 EP would have me changing the oil less often...

So I figured, all things considered, if I kept changing every 9000 miles, does it even matter what I use? Why not go longer?

Any thoughts other than "oil cheap, engines expensive, ooga booga!"

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Some people lease a vehicle for 3 years and never change the oil, now the cost of oil per mile really comes down, they just add a quart every 10,000 miles.

 

[billt460]

There are all sorts of problems and damage that are caused by too infrequent oil changes. But I have never heard anyone say changing their oil too often cost them anything, except for the cost of the oil.

 

[bbhero]

Nascar engines hold 16 quarts and the oil has a significant cooling component - not to mention it is only used for a few hours. Not saying it wouldn't be interesting, however I am not sure how informative it would be?

You are definitely right about the amount of oil in the motors and the cooling as well.

NASCAR motors have not been allowed to be pushed to their absolute limits because of…. Gear ratio being set by nascar.

So those motors aren’t running lower gears and therefore not turning 10,000 rpm like they were about doing by the mid 2000s.

No where nearly as hard on motors and oils like they were before that gear rule change.

 

[mr_boring]

Dreamliner,

There are several methods to choosing an oil brand, and the OCI:
- OEM recommendations
- recommendations from others who have similar equipment and experiences to yours
- simple wild guessing
- data driven decisions
Pick the one that best fits your comfort level.


I have over 35k UOAs in my database; probably more, but I've quit counting. I can tell you that oil brand/grade matter little, if at all, when the OCI durations are low to moderate in duration. As long as the oil meets/exceeds the OE specs, everything will be fine. And if there's a problem which develops, it's unlikely to be the fault of the lube; more likely a design or manufacturing flaw. Conversely, if you intend to greatly extend your OCIs, then I'm going to say the brand does matter greatly; premium products protect better at much longer OCI distances (out past 15k miles).

And this folks should be the bookmarked, stickied, award winning post of the century, if not the millennium. This is the answer to almost every post and reply on this forum about oil.

 

[Plawan]

Honestly not trying to stir stuff up, just hear me out.

Regardless of the oil brand or duration, most of the 'I sent my oil in for analysis' posts result in the same conclusion: "I could have gone longer." So, I simply ask, why not?

My last car was a 2001 BMW 330xi and I had it for 14 years. I used to only buy dealer oil ("nothing but the best for my baby" type thinking) and Mann oil filters, when BMW switched their oil supplier I figured "if they can switch, so can I," and went to Mobil 1 0W-40 Euro because it was LL-01 approved. Some time ago that M1 oil lost the LL-01 certification, I didn't know what to do so I just kept using it.

My 330xi took SEVEN QUARTS of oil, so I was completely fine with longer OCI. The oil service minder reset at 15,525 miles. Since the car took so much oil I changed it every 10k. Later on I just drove it until the car told me the oil service was due.

Now I have an Acura TL (4.5 quarts). I've been using Mobil 1 Extended Performance 0W-20 and Fram Ultra Synthetic filter, replacing when the oil service minder goes off at 9,000 miles. Both the oil & filter say they're rated for 20k miles. Heck, even the user manual calls for changing the oil filter ever other oil change (I do it every time).

This has me wondering. I know a lot of you are changing at 5K, some are crazy enough to do it at 3k because it's still 1975 in your garage. What's really wrong with going 10k, 12k or 15k on the oil/filter if the manufacturer says so and so does the oil analysis places (I've seen some 15k high mileage OCI analysis has had Blackstone noting to try even longer...) say it's okay too?

What flared this up was some recent deals I've seen going on:

$24.29 5qt M1 0W-20 EP (Sold as 3 pack @ $72.88)
$22.29 5qt M1 0W-20 AFE (Sold as 3 pack @ $66.88)
$15.50 5qt Kirkland 0W-20 (Warren Full Synthetic sold as 2 pack @ $30.99)
$14.48 5qt Pennzoil 0W-20 Platinum (Not Ultra, after $25 rebate shenanigans buying 2 pack @ $26.98 each)

If I really drill down, the math is crazy:

For the cost per mile to be the same it'd be 14,100 miles on M1 EP vs 9,000 miles on Kirkland/Warren. I'd wager just about everyone here would rather use Kirkland/Warren and change at 9,000 miles, right? Even still, maybe going longer on M1 EP would have me changing the oil less often...

So I figured, all things considered, if I kept changing every 9000 miles, does it even matter what I use? Why not go longer?

Any thoughts other than "oil cheap, engines expensive, ooga booga!"

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

It’s starts to matter when your extending ocis out a lot. Otherwise meets spec is all you need and saving $$ on lesser priced brands makes better sense.

 

[wareze]

In my opinion, regarding extending OCI’s and oil brand…it’s 70% engine design, 20% your driving commute/tendencies, and 10% the actual oil you use.

Something like that ^^^, give or take 10% between engine and commute. I just feel the oils are very similar right now with formulations/base stocks/additives/ISLAC GF6A. And they’re all pretty good.

Engine design plays a big role. Better build = longer OCI