Originally Posted By: elwaylite
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I understand your point, but don't you think that the higher end engine manufacturers like Porsche, Mercedes etc. would all be breathing down XOM throat if the formula had been weakend in the name of profitability?
Also I don't think that XOM would weaken the formula if they knew they had a winning combination that was driving consumers to use their products.
It's pretty impressive to have a long list of manufacturers that use your product as a factory fill and to have people driving a million miles on your product with the original engine.
Sure oils were different 10 years ago, but since then they have tweaked the formula and picked up more manufacturers that are using them as factory fill.
True, but I dont necessarily chalk up quality to factory fill, and that applies to the Toyo branded Mobil oil.
If you look at the current market, the UOA results, and prices of oils, Mobil is just not the value it used to be.
Lets face it, you could run any brand name oil, with an OEM filter and 5k OCI's and NEVER have a problem. If that's all we were worried about, then we would not be here
Im gonna give Amsoil 5w-20 a shot for awhile.
Have you read Doug Hillary's article on UOA's that is linked to from the BITOG front-page? It was an article of the month a while back.
It is a very good read and will give you an idea of the "value" of UOA's and what they should and should not be used for.
One of the things they should not be used for is comparing the "protection" of one brand of oil against another.
They are also not a good indicator of how much "wear" is going on in an engine, which can only TRULY be gauge via tear-down testing (which Doug has done plenty of).
He is in a unique position here, as he has done fleet testing FOR various oil companies over the years, doing tear-down testing AND UOA's, covering 10's of millions of Km.
A UOA can provide an indication of a potential issue that one can track, and then investigate. They are excellent for detecting coolant leaks and monitoring oil life, fuel contamination.....etc. But comparing single-digit differences in PPM based on UOA's, which could have the same variance just by running the same sample at the same lab twice is truly an exercise in futility.