FlimFlam:
“For the 1st time, a non-Castrol dino product is poured into my sump. The new oil? Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 mineral. The car feels like it runs better already. Probably a superior base stock in the Chevron oil.”
Chevron uses a Group II+ base oil (“Isosyn”). I believe Castrol still uses a Group II base in GTX. I’ve never said Castrol was a
bad oil per se, it’s just that Pennzoil (“PureBase”) Chevron and probably others use a slightly better base stock and seem to hold their grade better. I’m also a little leery of Castrol’s detergent/dispersant package but the anecdotal info I have on that is quite dated. They could have fixed that two or three times over by now.
Anyway, to quote John McClain from
Diehard: “Welcome to the party, pal!”
joatmon:
“Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that Castrol GTX was one of this boards favorite dinos. No? Seems like Castrol GTX, Pennzoil, and Chevron are all on everyone’s ‘best dinos list’.”
I think with Castrol (especially GTX) people have brought their preferences with them to this board. This happens with every brand but it seems to be especially acute. Hey, I was a big believer that Castrol GTX was special once. But looking back 15+ years, I know that perception of mine was based 100% on marketing.
Pennzoil and (especially) Chevron have earned their respect on this board, mostly through exceptional OUAs.
How many people besides me
came here with a pro-Chevron bias?
Of course Schaeffer oil is serious stuff too, but most people are going to prefer to use oils they can source locally, easily & cheaply.
I also think that with some vehicles you can really feel/hear the differences between oils. Mostly though, I think that almost any fresh oil is better than almost any used oil and that accounts for people’s perceptions that one oil is better than another. Of course, there are exceptions where same weight, different brand seems to have a noticeable difference.
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Bror Jace