Mobil 1 quietly changed their 15W50 to API SP?

I am not seeing an issue with the API-SP service cat and spec.

On a water cooled engine, this would be for those running highly modified engine running wide bearing clearances
so you can still float the crank when it gets flexing at 7500+ rpm.
I see no need in drag racing for the synthetic that usually gets dumped after a day at the track.

Would see it more in roundy-round, then surely in non shared-sump large displacement A/C motorbikes.

Anyone here have a UOA performed by SPEEDiagnostix ? I wonder if L.S Jr's comments - if provided - would be better than what we see from B_stone?

aside: If I ran a lab I would be shy from providing suggestions as this could possibly lead to a liabilities
 
Last edited:
Dumb question time... Is this Lake Speed Nascar drivers son ?

Lake Speed only won 1 race in his Nascar career at Darlington in 1988. He had a legit good car that day and led about half the laps if not 2/3 of them. Driving that Wynn's car which actually had a pretty cool paint scheme on it. He did finish 2nd to Bill Elliot at the 1985 Daytona 500 and finished 10th in the points in 1985 and had a good year that year.

Definitely Lake Speed be was a good driver and deserved to be out there racing.

Yes. Lake Sr was also a karting world champion and still very involved in it. Lake Jr recently did some videos running Lake Sr's old NASCAR engine on the dyno. Rather than following his father's footsteps, he got into the technical side of things. He worked for Joe Gibbs Racing for many years as the general manager and engineer for Joe Gibbs oil which later became Driven oil. He's now a VP of Total Seal piston rings. I've known Lake Jr for several years and glad to call him a friend. I was speaking to him over the weekend about some upcoming videos he's making.
 
Anyone here have a UOA performed by SPEEDiagnostix ? I wonder if L.S Jr's comments - if provided - would be better than what we see from B_stone?

 

Mobil's approach to formulating their racing oils is interesting to me. They don't seem overly concerned about HT/HS as some of the others. If you look at other racing oils like Amsoil Dominator (they use the Kurt Orbahn test for an example), Redline etc., they're going for maximum shear stability. Mobil on the other hand has a few "racing" oils that will clearly not stay in grade (0w40/15w50/0w50/0w30). With that said I'm sure they are very good just based on who is using them and the fact that XOM knows how to formulate a top notch oil. They're just using more VII than I would have expected.
 
I know, it's just hard to find and at least here in Spain, rather expensive ( read : ridiculously expensive ) , the only place in my city that sells it has it for the bargain price of 19.99€ per litre!
It was XoM best M1 product prior to 2007 - then they changed the formulation. I don't know anything about the current formulation.
 
It was XoM best M1 product prior to 2007 - then they changed the formulation. I don't know anything about the current formulation.
It was back around 2010 when Mobil changed ALL of their formulations. It was at this time I stopped using Mobll1 after about 35 years of using their product.
 
Mobil changed to a more LSPI friendly formulation around 2012, one of the first to do so.
 
So did the formulation change when they recently added the API SP certification or was the old formula directly compatible?
I think Mobil's been using a similar formulation since 2012 with just tweaks here and there. Just a guess based on VOA's over the years and MSDS.
 

Mobil's approach to formulating their racing oils is interesting to me. They don't seem overly concerned about HT/HS as some of the others. If you look at other racing oils like Amsoil Dominator (they use the Kurt Orbahn test for an example), Redline etc., they're going for maximum shear stability. Mobil on the other hand has a few "racing" oils that will clearly not stay in grade (0w40/15w50/0w50/0w30). With that said I'm sure they are very good just based on who is using them and the fact that XOM knows how to formulate a top notch oil. They're just using more VII than I would have expected.

I think you’re giving Mobil too much credit.

They’re not formulating Mobil 1 for niche racing applications, or extreme duty applications.

This additive change (and thus SP spec) realistically came from one of the general managers of lubricants, to stream line the number of additive packages down.

Their concern for HTHS, is also minimal because they’re designing oils for the basics, again, not really the extreme. I don’t know what car takes 15w50 from a factory fill perspective - not really a car guy - but they probably formulated and price it, accordingly to that oem’s demand.

I say this as someone that sits on a major oil company’s technical products committee, as an outsider/consultant.

What HPL does, or any ILMA striving to produce a higher quality product, is vastly different than the formulation choices from a major oil company. ILMA’s aren’t restricted by inline blending, what truck load of additives they’re solublizing today, who’s base oil they have contracts with (as much), etc.

The supply chain managers at a major are going to have more of a say in the formulation, over the supply chain manager in an ILMA.

That’s not to say Mobil won’t batch make some very boutique oils for niche racing applications. But mass produced, like their 15w50, won’t be as robust as a company that is dedicated to making robust fluids for that same application. Or, someone calling up and ILMA and having oil blended to their specs.
 
The majors (including Mobil 1) put far more effort into shaving 3 cents per gallon off the production cost than they do improving the oil's performance. That's not to say they don't strive to improve the performance of their oils, but it takes a back seat to cost and marketing. Being competitively priced on the Walmart shelf, while retaining a good profit margin, is far more important to them than increasing the oil's performance, especially when there's no incentive to improve the performance.

The most likely reason they changed the base add pack of the 15W-50 to an SP add pack is because it became the cheaper option. I guarantee there was no performance consideration for that change whatsoever. I doubt M1 did any actual testing of that oil outside of basic analysis to ensure batch quality. They likely treat it the same way Valvoline treats VR1. They take the base add pack, top treat with 50% more ZDDP, slap a label on it, and send it out the door.
 
Last edited:
I think you’re giving Mobil too much credit.

They’re not formulating Mobil 1 for niche racing applications, or extreme duty applications.

This additive change (and thus SP spec) realistically came from one of the general managers of lubricants, to stream line the number of additive packages down.

Their concern for HTHS, is also minimal because they’re designing oils for the basics, again, not really the extreme. I don’t know what car takes 15w50 from a factory fill perspective - not really a car guy - but they probably formulated and price it, accordingly to that oem’s demand.

I say this as someone that sits on a major oil company’s technical products committee, as an outsider/consultant.

What HPL does, or any ILMA striving to produce a higher quality product, is vastly different than the formulation choices from a major oil company. ILMA’s aren’t restricted by inline blending, what truck load of additives they’re solublizing today, who’s base oil they have contracts with (as much), etc.

The supply chain managers at a major are going to have more of a say in the formulation, over the supply chain manager in an ILMA.

That’s not to say Mobil won’t batch make some very boutique oils for niche racing applications. But mass produced, like their 15w50, won’t be as robust as a company that is dedicated to making robust fluids for that same application. Or, someone calling up and ILMA and having oil blended to their specs.
That I understand but my point was that their racing oils, designed and used by racing teams, come in 0w30 and 0w/40/50 grades. They're not the most shear stable grades for racing applications. Maybe that is due to them being recommended for both street and racing environment rather than just racing.

I know they make specific blends for racing teams that come in 0w2 and 0w5 (qualifying oils) as well.
 
Their 0w40 and 0w50 are both used by Corvette in Sebring and Le Mans. So why would GM/Corvette using their 0w40 and 0w50, both which by design have a relatively low HT/HS, in their racing applications?

“Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for every day customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."


1666639866156.png
 
Last edited:
Buster remember though in Nascar they run like 20+ quarts of oil in their oil system... So it has plenty of time to cool within the lines away from the motor and in the oil tank too. That and the oil is on the motor for quite short period of time which helps also. And I bet if they run a 0w40 or even 0w30 they have that factored in and if it were to shear down one grade they would be ok with that.

I'd bet those other cars racing like IRL and GT etc etc may have a similar set-up running in them too.

I hope you and your family are doing good man.

Always good to see you on here.
 
Last edited:
Buster remember though in Nascar they run like 20+ quarts of oil in their oil system... So it has plenty of time to cool within the lines away from the motor and in the oil tank too. That and the oil is on the motor for quite short period of time which helps also. And I bet if they run a 0w40 or even 0w30 they have that in and if it were to shear down one grade.

I'd bet those other cars racing like IRL and GT etc etc may have a similar set-up running in them too.

I hope you and your family are doing good man.

Always good to see you on here.
Thanks bb you too (y) You make a great point.

I always thought of racing oils being very shear stable and not using much if any VII's, similar to say Redline. Amsoil Dominator etc. Kurt Orbhan shear stability test. So I've always found it odd that Mobil's racing oils were 0w grades with a slug of VII.

Maybe for more hp gains? It's not hard to make an oil shear stable, so I don't think it's a matter of not knowing how to do so. Over the years the trend has been lower viscosity not only for qualifying but for full racing.

@RDY4WAR is better qualified to answer this question than I am.
 
Back
Top