Is there a straight answer: Best and Worst oil?

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: hate2work

No, because everybody's idea of best and worst is different.


Exactly. Reliance upon hopelessly vague notions of "best" and "worst" is very much misplaced. You must define where your priorities lie, do your own homework, and make informed choices from there. Many factors will go into this analysis (part of what makes it fun, and why this site thrives), and again, only you can decide for yourself (with our help, of course!

) which factors YOU should emphasize. And naturally, each of us brings our own funky mix of subjective considerations to the table too. And that's fine, so long as one's subjective preferences are not overtly insane (as we occasionally see here. . .).

Concentrate on finding out what's best for you and don't worry about splitting hairs to the n-th degree in an attempt to determine what's "best" for everyone -- you can't do it -- and nobody else can either.

 

[Familyguy]

Originally Posted By: Popinski

Is there a straight answer?


Nope. It depends entirely on the application.

 

[PandaBear]

Best Synthetic: back then when Kragen and Valvoline had double receipt and double rebate, got as many SynPower as I can for free, about 36 quarts.

Best Dino: same as above, but I got paid 50c instead on the Dino Valvoline.

Worst Synthetic: Those exotic brands that are multi-level marketed with sales rep not leave you alone whenever you talk about anything remotely oil related.

Worst Dino: API-SA non detergent oil

 

[Pman]

I would tend to think we all agree that grade IV and V is the best out there. Let me as the guru's what all oils are out there that are primarily grade IV and V?
I can only say I'm pretty sure of Amsoil for IV and Motul and Redline for V.
Mobil 1 and the other "popular" oils are mostly III arn't they?
I contacted royal purple once and they said they mix III,IV and V in theirs. I didn't like that answer.

I think the best motor oil is the one the person in the book of world records uses who has the most miles on his/her car. maybe we should give him a call.

 

[heavyhitter]

If I had dollar for everytime this question was asked I could probably make a mortgage payment.

If there was a "real" best and worst oil, there would be none of us would be here.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Pman
I would tend to think we all agree that grade IV and V is the best out there. Let me as the guru's what all oils are out there that are primarily grade IV and V?
I can only say I'm pretty sure of Amsoil for IV and Motul and Redline for V.
Mobil 1 and the other "popular" oils are mostly III arn't they?
I contacted royal purple once and they said they mix III,IV and V in theirs. I didn't like that answer.

All good oil formulators do that.

Group IV has excellent cold flow and resistance to chemical breakdown, but terrible solubility and film strength. Group IV has excellent high temp performance, solubility, and film strength, but is vulnerable to chemical attack and forms acid when it does break down. Modern Group III base stocks can be somewhere in the middle (although usually closer to Group IV), at some expense to physical properties (viscosity index etc.). Any good formulator will mix-and-match for what they want to achieve. That goes double for Groups IV and V, since neither can constitute an engine oil by itself.

Yes, Amsoil is a big fan of Group IV. They also use Group V where they see fit. Likewise, Motul and Red Line are big fans of esters, but they use PAO where appropriate; sometimes their base stocks are mostly PAO, and esters just happen to be the party piece of the formulation.


Originally Posted By: Pman
I think the best motor oil is the one the person in the book of world records uses who has the most miles on his/her car. maybe we should give him a call.

That'll only tell you about THAT engine and THAT person's OCIs and driving.

Besides, who's to say it wouldn't have done even better with another oil?

One case is not enough to make a general point.

 

[wgtoys]

"Worst Conventional?"

That one is easy: Any of the "SA" or "SB" motor oils you often see on the shelf and which make up a depressingly large portion of over-the-counter motor oil sales.

 

[RWEST]

Quote:
That one is easy: Any of the "SA" or "SB" motor oils you often see on the shelf and which make up a depressingly large portion of over-the-counter motor oil sales.

"Oil is oil!!" I've actually heard people say that as they were dumping one of those in their engine. They act shocked that you'd even ask them about it.

 

[Warstud]

If your looking for a straight answer you should ask "what are the top five best and worst oils".

No perticular order...

Best:

1)Motul
2)Amsoil
3)Redline
4)Mobil
5)Royal Purple

Worst:
The list is endless..

 

[sir1900]

Best and worst oils are subjective.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer.

I like PP because it has demonstrated good UOAs (based on what I have seen here) and is reasonably priced. I can safely do 5000-7500 mile OCIs every 6 months or so for a price of $19US per 5Qt. jug. That alone (to me) makes PP the BEST OIL in the world.

 

[Bigsyke]

Im thinking he means "best oil period" cost/fuel economy aside. Personaly Im stuck between amsoil and redline.

 

[d00df00d]

Even still, what makes an oil good at protecting one engine might make it bad for another.

 

[SidViscous]

The best oil is the one you get FAR
2nd best is oil you get for 1 buck or less after rebate
Worst oil is one you pay full price for

 

[mitchcoyote]

YES. Best is Amsoil, Worst is Citgo.........

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: mitchcoyote
YES. Best is Amsoil, Worst is Citgo.........


Beyond political contexts, can you shine a light on what makes Citgo the worst motor oil?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: mitchcoyote
YES. Best is Amsoil, Worst is Citgo.........


Do you mean the opposite (for me at least due to cost)?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: SidViscous
The best oil is the one you get FAR
2nd best is oil you get for 1 buck or less after rebate
Worst oil is one you pay full price for


True that.

 

[Ed_T]

Originally Posted By: mitchcoyote
YES. Best is Amsoil, Worst is Citgo.........

heymitch I've been running a U$31k+ sedan bot new for almost three years and 55k miles on Citgo's 5w-20. All purchased on sale.

Strangely, my engine has not yet seized, blown the rings, ate the gaskets, thrown a rod, sucked a valve, snapped a chain, slipped a liner, melted a manifold, cracked the block, fallen out, or melted it's way to China.

AFAICT, I will 70/30 likely continue to use this oil (never paid retail yet) probably for my complete period of ownership, barring finding even cheaper warranty-meeting oil to use. (Yes I'm all over the rebates, and no, my wife hasn't threatened to kill me.....yet..)
Dude: that's what extended warranties are for: cheap oil !!

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: Popinski
I've seen so many answers to these questions:


Well there you go.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Ester's clean,cool and lubricate better then any other form of base stock in automotive and jet aircraft and space craft fact not fiction. So if you are only concerned with that then go for an ester. The problem is that the base stock by itself is nothing with out the other additives....I could take the best ester technology on this earth and if I ran it plain the engine would not last long!

The additive package is where all the disagrement comes into play. Do you want the beefiest additive package even though you and your car will never take advantage of it or is their some point of marginal return that is good enough?????This is where the debate is at. Do we really need all the additive levels that are in Redline or can we do just fine with German Castrol levels of additives? This is where your goal for decreased wear, high temp oxidation resistance,extended drains,friction modification for increased fuel economy and all the other things get muddy!

For instance someone pointed out that while M1 0W40 does great in large 8+ quart European Sedan sumps for extended drains my little Toyota's 3.9 quart sump probably is not large enough to try and make it 12 months on it in my applications. On the other hand Redline or Amsoil S3K 5W30 would more then likely do 12 months no problem!Why???? Not the difference in base stocks but the difference in additive levels! In a small sump you need an oil that is a lot more concentrated if you want it to have any TBN left at the end of 12 months!So if I use M1 I will have to get more additives into it how I do it is another matter you can add additives or blend in other oils with more concentrated levels of additives.