Originally Posted By: LubricatusObsess
Could be, but the ring area is of most concern to me. Most of these guys have a witches brew of base stocks, the major point being this only began after the 'Exxon & Castrol' incidents. So, per the BITOG posse, trying discern truths from marketing blather is a never-ending ordeal!
Well, the confusing factor is that the science of all those base stocks (and additives, and how they work together) has progressed since the days when the only base stocks that could possibly be considered "synthetic" were PAO and Ester. PAO doesn't carry anti-wear additives as well as a modern group III+ base stock like SOPUS' (now older) XVHI, their current GTL, or XOM's Visom. Ester has its own issues (low TBN, for example).
Mixing PAO, group III+, and ester base stocks to get an end product with the benefits of each one seems perfectly viable to me, and there's no way I would ever argue that a group III+ stock is not "synthetic." Doesn't matter if it starts out as crude oil feed or natural gas feed. In either case, there's no way to get it by simply cracking the feedstock the way you get conventional basestocks- you HAVE to start rearranging molecules to your liking, and as far as I'm concerned that's the very definition of 'synthetic.' It makes good advertising press to say "oooh, look- we start out with a GAS and it becomes a LIQUID- ohhh, that's super pure and advanced! Gas turning into liquid oil!" But its just marketing glam. Whether those carbon and hydrogen atoms were once in natural gas or once in heavy crude doesn't matter in the end, because atoms have no memory.
Originally Posted By: LubricatusObsess
tig1,
We are probably splitting hairs, and I'd be ashamed to say that SOPUS Marketing has some influence over me, but I will say I never bought Pennzoil prior to SOPUS's buyout!
Truth be told... me either.
But I'll claim that its not so much that SOPUS improved the product (though they probably did), its that technology marches on and SOPUS provided the resources to keep the Pennzoil and QS product lines at or near the front of the advancing technology.