Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
An informed decision on something like oil at some point should include actual use. Maybe not for you to buy it but definitely for you to speak negatively of it to others. Just common sense. Part of your informed decision should include listening to those who have used the product if you haven't as well. Do that and overwhelmingly you get positive feedback. Not always but usually. No oil universally shines. RP has a very good track record despite the non-using naysayers comments here at BITOG.
Completely disagree. I am not going to pay $XX.XX+ and learn from "experience". There is nothing a use of a product is going to tell me without addition UOA and I can easily look those up. Common sense dictates that surveying lots of different points of information can be equally as effective. It is called a literature review. And since very few folks do primary empirical research with their oil purchase... well, testimonials can only go so far. That is what education if for and the point of communities like this. If provides the information without the cost. And then you have Lucas-snake-oil. I put very little emphasis on folks who use a product and do not provide additional information beyond their testimonials. If someone uses an oil filter and does not cut it open, then who care if they think it works or not. However, if someone who runs Champion filters points out that Purolators tear (without actually buying one) and shows the evidence, then their point is valid.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Overpriced huh( this again ). I paid $4.80 and $5.66 respectively, per qt, the last 2 times I bought it( 2013 & 2014 ). That is right there with or better than Wal-Mart 5qt jug prices which we all know on BITOG is the holy grail of pricing.
As far as RP rarely being discounted that too is just 100% false. There are sales on RP all the time at different sources. Some of them are excellent deals too like $39.99 for 5qts + an RP filter. The filter alone is $15 normally so that is a mega deal making the oil $4.99 a qt. All kinds of places on the internet that sell it on sale as well plus you can also get free shipping a lot of times.
RP the most expensive oil on the shelf? ONLY at Wal-Mart when you compare the per qt cost of a 5qt jug against it. If you buy oil elsewhere that only has qt bottles( or even qt bottle prices at Wal-Mart )RP is no more expensive than the name brand oils and I posted factual data to prove it earlier in the thread. Another false statement from a non-using BITOG member.
I provided a non-Wal-Mart example where RP was by far the most expensive option at the local auto-parts store. Even the oil-chance deal was $10 more. If you want to compare it at the discounted price, then compare it with other discounted oils. You can find other Syn for less than $3.50 per quart depending how you want to price the filter. Claiming that the full cost of the filter applies to the cost per quart is absurd. $40 for a DIY oil changes is expensive when you can find Full Synthetic for $20-25 and then a rebate on top of that. Does this make my irrational-favorite Havoline at $26 OCSpecial equate to $3.60 per qt? Or How about the $4.50 sale + $5 rebate. Heck, wasn't Pennzoil rebating their oil by $10? Sure, you can find RP for less than the walmart price... but if you are going to "hunt" for that pricing, then you have to consider hunting for other oils in the cost. Again, RP tends to be more costly without the measurable benefit.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
I haven't done any VOA's on the new API stuff from RP but I have done some used oil analysis and they all came back excellent. That does mean something I am sorry. Seeing as I pay no more for, and many times less than, those 5qt Wal-Mart jugs getting such good used oil analysis makes my use of RP out to be a good move even by BITOG standards. Cost is irrelevant to me really and I will and have paid top dollar for RP. It is my preferred oil so I use it regardless of the cost. I will always get it for less when possible though.
Yes, but many, many oils come back with fantastic UOA at a lower cost. I am glad that cost is irrelevant to you... must be nice... but for a lot of folk here cost for the application is tremendous. I bet a lot of folk would be foaming from the mouth if the state entity did not use the most cost-effective option. You can pay millions per quart if you want but when the QUESTION was IS IT WORTH THE EXTRA $$ the how in the world do you expect people NOT to bring up cost.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
People just flat refuse to acknowledge RP can be purchased for good prices. Too many people think the only way to buy oil is in the Wal-Mart oil aisle.
Nope.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Now, if the cheapest conventional oil you can buy, that meets your needs, is what you want to use and it gets you to the point of no longer owning the vehicle as you say that is fine. However, THAT is very different from a blanket statement that says RP is overpriced.
We are not comparing it to "cheap" conventional. Most of the comparisons have been with other similar synthetics. Even then, it is overprice for a lot of retailers and the discounts then to be fewer.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
If that is your argument common sense says you compare the cost of RP vs. other synthetics and not against the cost of conventional oil. That is just not a reasonable comparison to use against RP. What YOU should say is synthetic oil costs too much. That is a completely different discussion as is trying to compare the use of oil to a trip to Moscow( really
).
If you are going to speak negatively about a product you really should use it to do so unless it is something so obvious that anyone can see it is a bad product or perhaps some kind of news story comes out showing it is bad. Neither of those scenarios applies to RP however.
Again, you don't have to try something to have an opinion about it. I don't have to try slavery to have an opinion of it. You can make an informed decision about it. I don't have to try "Restore" to have an opinion of it or mom-and-pop discount gas. The trick with these examples is that you cna make informed decisions without first-hand trial and error.
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
I also suggest that the standards you hold it to are fair standards. Using the cost of RP which is a synthetic oil as a negative vs. the cheapest conventional oil that meets your needs is just unreasonable.
It really amazes me the twisted logic people use to try and be negative about RP and even more so when they have never even used it. People who haven't used it actually are arguing with myself and others about it's quality and performance. WE actually HAVE used it and had excellent results. In my case I have used RP for decades and I even have the used oil analysis to back up that it has performed well. Yet you want to lecture me on RP and if it is any good or worth the cost? I don't get that.
Just ludicrous the way RP is thought of on this site.
But that is not the argument against RP. The argument against it is that you can get the same results with less expensive options including other upper-tier synthetics. If you want to compare conventional, there is a lot to be said about how advance Conventionals have become. Is RP worth the extra $$. That is the crux of the issue. If you can get a long life form an engine without the RP premium. No. If you can get the same great UOA result from other upper-end or even a mid-tier Synthetic, then no. If you are limited to the OCI for a warranty;definitely not worth it.
RP is not "bad" it is just expensive compare to its peers. The question was not a "good/bad" it ask the "worth". If money is no issue, then the point is moot. If money is a reasonable variable, the I and a lot of other folks say "no".