I have a BIL that is like this. He won't touch Pennzoil oils because of something that happened in the 1970s. He also doesn't like Firestone tires nor car batteries that ARENOT made by Johnson Controls. He's just that way.
Kirkland signature synthetic oil
- Thread starter Scott S
- Start date
Project farm??? Lol
Sounds like your Costco sucks.
I was looking at both of the formulas. And that's what made me think Kirkland was better. Please educate me here..
A consumer analysis will not tell you the base oil composition. It only lists the amounts of the elements it tests for like calcium, magnesium and molybdenum for example but it doesn’t tell you which forms of those elements were used. Moly has several different forms so if one oil has more than another it really means little.
So I guess you really wouldn't know unless you sent them both out to Blackstone labs for a VOA.
That's what he's talking about, a spectrographic analysis. You're never looking at the "formula" for the oil, only a basic elemental analysis of decomposed compounds. And only those atoms that can be tested in this type of an analysis, which for the most part would be metals. The base oil composition is not detectable via a spectrograph since the oil is composed of carbon and hydrogen.
You also get nothing about performance. Performance of the finished product is tested by sophisticated tests such as those in SAE J300, the ACEA Sequences and various manufacturer approvals.
Have someone here actually done a virgin oil analysis, of Quaker State? Just curious.
Thanks. You explained it better than I ever could.
My two Costco warehouses are suckier. Haven't seen any Kirkland Signature oil in months!
This is not a true VOA
FWIW QSGB 10w-40 showed the best numbers in my jeep when I sent in uoa's in the past.
One cannot judge comparative oil quality via a UOA or a VOA.
How do you think they got those numbers for the elemental analysis?
Unless someone has two identical, blueprinted engines ran for hundreds of thousands of miles in matching circumstances to compare the two oils, its going to be very difficult to identify whether Kirkland Signature or Quaker State Full Synthetic is a "more premium" oil.
Members can bench race over specific characteristics, but to loosely borrow from dnewton3's signature, "the act of preventative maintenance is far more important than the choices of oil and filter" and even Blackstone Labs has noted that there is no discernable difference in wear patterns when appropriately rated oils are used.
If you need an oil that is Dexos1 Gen2 licensed, or that is approved for API SP/ILSAC GF-6 (or earlier) and you don't have a high performance engine with flat tappet cams, either Quaker State or Kirkland Signature will probably help the engine outlive whatever vehicle it is in.
Members can bench race over specific characteristics, but to loosely borrow from dnewton3's signature, "the act of preventative maintenance is far more important than the choices of oil and filter" and even Blackstone Labs has noted that there is no discernable difference in wear patterns when appropriately rated oils are used.
If you need an oil that is Dexos1 Gen2 licensed, or that is approved for API SP/ILSAC GF-6 (or earlier) and you don't have a high performance engine with flat tappet cams, either Quaker State or Kirkland Signature will probably help the engine outlive whatever vehicle it is in.
