Originally Posted By: Geocon
I am curious if anyone out there has any opinions on the specific ingredients of synthetic oils, Mobil One, Edge, etc? I wonder if there is anything special about their additives, specifically the modifiers, oil protectors, and surface protectors? It’s hard to know what to base a purchase on, when I can’t tell if any of the specific ingredients truly matter. Also, is it important how the oil is made, beyond just the specific ingredients used? Do the so-called “proprietary formulations” really matter in any of these synthetic oils?
Yes, the additive packages are often what distinguishes two different motor oils, along with differences in the base oil (some are Group III synthetics, and some are mostly Group IV, although not very many appear to be all Group IV/V base stock).
The same is true of gas for your car, where there are only a couple of local refineries, and all the gas brands get their gas from the local refineries even if they belong to a different oil company and add their own additives to make them different.
Now whether there is a big difference, or even a noticeable difference between Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum, Valvoline SynPower, Castrol Edge, etc for a passenger car application is debatable given that they are all high quality synthetic oils that exceed the engine manufacturer specs that are required.
More important is picking the right oil (including viscosity) than picking the right brand of synthetic. If you are talking about conventional oil, then maybe the margin of safety is not quite so large, so pick a quality brand (but I don't recommend conventional oil to people with late model cars).