Maybe there is a best oil after all?

[johnsmellsalot]

Which Oil Is the Best? To me, oil is oil. But maybe there's a "best" oil for other reasons. Maybe there's a reason some oil is cheaper than others...

Small businesses went out of business because of giant ones. Maybe it's better for the economy to buy from smaller companies?

Brands Owned By Shell:
Shell FormulaShell
Quaker State
Pennzoil

Brands Owned By Chevron:
Havoline
Chevron

Brands Owned By BP:
Castrol GTX

Brands Owned By ExxonMobil:
Mobil1

Brands Owned By Ashland:
Valvoline

Brands Owned By Lucas Oil Products, Inc.:
Lucas

Brands Owned By Royal Purple, Inc.:
Royal Purple

Brands Owned By ConocoPhillips Company:
Kendall

Brands Owned By Old World Industries, Inc.:
Peak

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Maybe it's better for the economy to buy from smaller companies?

I fail to see the connection. For a comparable product, a smaller company will not have the economies of scale to recover the cost of R&D and setting up production/distribution facilities, and therefore this comparable product will cost more at retail. Are you willing to pay more for a product like that?

 

[Lead Shoes]

Most small company's that are recognized do not formulate an oil I would feel safe using in my lawn mower..

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Which Oil Is the Best? To me, oil is oil. But maybe there's a "best" oil for other reasons. Maybe there's a reason some oil is cheaper than others...

Small businesses went out of business because of giant ones. Maybe it's better for the economy to buy from smaller companies?

Brands Owned By Shell:
Shell FormulaShell
Quaker State
Pennzoil

Brands Owned By Chevron:
Havoline
Chevron

Brands Owned By BP:
Castrol GTX

Brands Owned By ExxonMobil:
Mobil1

Brands Owned By Ashland:
Valvoline

Brands Owned By Lucas Oil Products, Inc.:
Lucas

Brands Owned By Royal Purple, Inc.:
Royal Purple

Brands Owned By ConocoPhillips Company:
Kendall

Brands Owned By Old World Industries, Inc.:
Peak







Theres a few brands owned by the companies you listed that you forgot to include.

Conoco Phillips: Trop Artic
Exxon Mobil: Mobil super line
BP: Castrol edge, syntec
WPP: Accel, Mag1

 

[bepperb]

I don't see the connection either.

Large companies have the advantage of efficiency gains by scale. If anything, buying from them is better for the economy.

 

[dparm]

And often times it is the small companies that "get big" because they make a great product or offer a great service.

McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc....they all started somewhere.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: Brenden
Most small company's that are recognized do not formulate an oil I would feel safe using in my lawn mower..
lawnmower is tougher on oil than your car - no oil pump, no filter and aircooled and short estimated service life. Yes my mower is 20 Y.O. Yardman and still running - though the deck and associated hardware is going away. I've been running leftover ILSAC engine oil in the 3.5hp briggs. Sound impressive, then I calculated that the engine after 20 years has but 100 hours use - equivalent to about 4000 miles in you car. I would run BETTER oil in the mower than you use your car if you use a rider and use it alot. Maybe Rotella SAE30 or T5 or better. Briggs and straatton oil - blended by a small company - is good stuff though too pricy for me.

 

[UNC017]

Highly incomplete list... right off the bat I'd add that XOM also sells the line of Exxon branded and the Mobil (not M1) oils.

But I agree- there's no reason to immediately jump to the "big companies are bad" fallacy here. Big companies have lots of R&D to throw at meeting the latest specs and using the latest chemistries. If you have a late model car, they're going to have an oil for you, its going to meet warranty, and its going to be consistent quality.

Small companies are better at specialty products for smaller-scale applications, so they have their place too. If you have a custom modified engine or an older vehicle, they might serve you best.

 

[OVERKILL]

You also forgot Esso under the Exxon-Mobil moniker.

 

[SLCraig]

I like Ashland and part of the reason now is because of NextGen.
I think that is a good reason to support the Valvoline name.

 

[Knox]

More or less i believe oil is oil, assuming you have the correct one for your application, but i do have favorites.

Unless, there's a sale i buy either Kendell, TropArtic, or Mobil Super.

 

[mechanicx]

What about Redline and Amsoil? They would seem to fit in the category of smaller yet well known and held in positive regard.

I don't know if the buying from smaller companies argument applies as well to things like motor oil and manufactured items that require a lot of R&D and economies of scale to pay for it. I think small companies applies more to retailers and service companies. I think with motor oil a better argument might be to buy from American companies rather than smaller companies.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

I agree. I didn't even think of those companies when making this list. Thanks for bringing it up.
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
What about Redline and Amsoil? They would seem to fit in the category of smaller yet well known and held in positive regard.

I don't know if the buying from smaller companies argument applies as well to things like motor oil and manufactured items that require a lot of R&D and economies of scale to pay for it. I think small companies applies more to retailers and service companies. I think with motor oil a better argument might be to buy from American companies rather than smaller companies.

 

[someguy]

After looking at the PQIA website and their test results I plan to stay away from the small companies or unknown oils.

 

[mechtech2]

To me, this misses the 'best oil' part.
Is there one?
There are loads of great ones for various duties and cycles.

 

[Hallmark]

Not being critical, but the relevancy of the OP was lost on me when looking at the single ConocoPhillips listing (Kendall) and the exorcising of the Conoco, Phillips 66, 76 Super, 76 Custom, and Firebird LD brands. The 4th largest lubrication company in the U.S. also produces the popular Motorcraft brand and many other products, e.g. aviation lubricants, etc.

 

[justinf89]

AMSOIL is best, no discussion

 

[OVERKILL]

The "best" oil in terms of probably being the most universal would be Mobil 1 0w40 IMHO

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Very interesting website. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. http://www.pqiamerica.com/testresults3a.html
Originally Posted By: someguy
After looking at the PQIA website and their test results I plan to stay away from the small companies or unknown oils.

 

[someguy]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Very interesting website. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. http://www.pqiamerica.com/testresults3a.html
Originally Posted By: someguy
After looking at the PQIA website and their test results I plan to stay away from the small companies or unknown oils.


Yeah sure one of the guys who is affiliated with the site posts here with updates. Look around a bit on the site some of the results on smaller or unknown oils are quite scary while all of the large companies oils always fall within spec.