Is Z-Max worth a [censored]?

[Shooff82]

I cant seem to find anything on the forum. The reason i ask is, a few years ago my family and i took a road trip to colorado in a '99 ford taurus with a 3.0 and 150k. I did a basic tune-up and with the oil change, i added a bottle of Z-max. I also added a set of Bosch +2's. Granted, i didn't have a baseline, but the car, with 5 passengers and a trunk full of luggage averaged 32 mpg's. This average is with high-altitude, stop and go driving. We went to Pikes peak, Poudre canyon, Estes Park, royal gorge, the works. It even averaged 31 mpg's on the way back to Ks. with the A/C on.
Is this stuff worth a [censored], or was it a mix of aerodynamics, tune up, driving style, etc,? Any thoughts?

 

[Rand]

snake oil.

 

[Quest]

pretty much a redundant question that you answered it yourself already.

*no offense but we BITOGers don't care about them snake oils*

Q.

 

[friendly_jacek]

It used to have some following on BITOG some time ago. Not sure now. Did you search?

 

[zloveraz]

Originally Posted By: Shooff82
I cant seem to find anything on the forum. The reason i ask is, a few years ago my family and i took a road trip to colorado in a '99 ford taurus with a 3.0 and 150k. I did a basic tune-up and with the oil change, i added a bottle of Z-max. I also added a set of Bosch +2's. Granted, i didn't have a baseline, but the car, with 5 passengers and a trunk full of luggage averaged 32 mpg's. This average is with high-altitude, stop and go driving. We went to Pikes peak, Poudre canyon, Estes Park, royal gorge, the works. It even averaged 31 mpg's on the way back to Ks. with the A/C on.
Is this stuff worth a [censored], or was it a mix of aerodynamics, tune up, driving style, etc,? Any thoughts?


It actually is highly praised in the aviation community.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2044492

 

[demarpaint]

It has been discussed and is in the archives. Some loved it, some hated it, some bashed it, it was called snake oil, etc. typical of most oil additives here.

 

[RamFan]

If I'm not mistaken it is the only product that put its money where its mouth is against the FTC to prove the claims made. Johnny was a big fan, the fact that he was I think speaks volumes for the product. Have I tried it? No. but I'm not opposed to if I had a need to.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Make up your own mind.

http://www.zmax.com/documents/testing_summary.pdf

 

[tstep]

Has anyone ever come across results of ZMax usage eating the carbon and freeing up the rings in the 5.3l AFM engines?

 

[tstep]

Also that's pretty thin stuff. 12 oz in 6 qts is about 6%. 12oz probably causes a 0.5-1.0 cST drop in Kv at normal ratios.

Any cause for concern with that? Use a heavyier oil or offset w/ a qt of 20w50? Website says you do not replace the oil 1:1, just add zMax on top of the normal fill and you will not have an overfill consition. Does it just burn off quickly?

 

[badtlc]

I haven't used it, but it did have to prove itself in the court of law and succeeded. I don't know of any other additives that have done that.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The older Tauruses have no problem touching 30MPG on a trip. Aerodynamics and driving style more than anything.

A few years ago I took my Taurus on a road trip from NY to Alabama, stopping in DC and Atlanta.

For the pure highway runs, the car averaged 32-34MPG. Driving through DC traffic and a few traffic jams the car got about 23 and the average mileage for the trip was 29.5MPG. Traffic was flowing fast. I'm sure if I had kept my speed at 65 the whole way, I would have got WAY better mileage!

The car ran WAY better after nearly 2400 highway miles. Previous to that, the car had pretty much 30K miles of short trips.

 

[dparm]

What is wrong with your motor that leads you to believe that you need ZMax? Or any oil additive, for that matter?

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: zloveraz


It actually is highly praised in the aviation community.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2044492


Believe it or not, I've read all the 59 pages.
It was quite interesting how some people declared it snake oil, then changed their mind due to shifting BITOG consensus, reluctantly tried it, and admitted it quieted their engines.

I'm tempted to try it myself for piston slap like noise.

But, no one reported increase in MPG or decreased oil consumption.

 

[Trav]

I honestly don't know if it works or not but one member here who i respect and trust said it was the real deal.
I have no reason to disbelieve him as he had nothing to gain, in fact he took an awful beating for it and has not posted since that i can remember.

Try it and make up your own mind.

 

[Dominic]

I did probably too much research on Zmax - it's effectively plain mineral oil that's "highly refined" - I doubt it's helpful in any aspect besides lightening the wallet. If you want a cheaper version that has a few cleaning properties, pick up a $3-4 bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil instead

 

[friendly_jacek]

I'm not sure what to think of this, but I emailed zmax 3 times with a request for information and didn't hear back.

 

[panthermike]

Wasn't there testing done on Zmax that showed double the bearing wear vs plain oil. Anyone know of/about this? Wish I had a link but it's something I've just ran across here and there.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: panthermike
Wasn't there testing done on Zmax that showed double the bearing wear vs plain oil. Anyone know of/about this? Wish I had a link but it's something I've just ran across here and there.


That would argue for chlorinated hydrocarbons, but they say there are none in Zmax.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Trav
I honestly don't know if it works or not but one member here who i respect and trust said it was the real deal.
I have no reason to disbelieve him as he had nothing to gain, in fact he took an awful beating for it and has not posted since that i can remember.

Try it and make up your own mind.



I recall that entire thread.
From what I remember its a additive used in the aviation industry. It coats metal so that nothing can stick to it,which eliminated any possible power robbing deposit formations.
And because the coated metals were so slick it reduced friction wherever there was a contact point in the engine. The pistons slid easier,cams turned with less parasitic loss.
Lets just take into consideration the were attacked by some governing agency then at some point they proved to this governing agency it did something because the governing agency ended up backing off.
So it definitely did something.
Is it better than my proven MOS2 for 8 bucks a can,I doubt it but Carroll Shelby put it in every mustang his company built.