Mobil 1 quietly changed their 15W50 to API SP?

Just confirmed that this oil does in fact exist. Although at the Walmart I checked, majority of the bottles were all the older SN formula. They only had one quart of the SP formula.

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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.

There is a deeper thought process with major oil companies, besides just the technical aspects. If Mobil wanted to make a product that simply stomped anything else on the market, they certainly have the ability to do it. However, with Mobil - as RDY pointed out - there's other concerns. And we're getting real close to speculation on "what ifs" here, not so much factual information.

I was going to give a deeper dive into my opinion on it, but for now I'll bite my tongue. Just, I would chalk it up to marketing money vs performance.
 
The 0w50 has a HT/HS of only 3.9 and VII of 202, which on paper seems nuts. Just seems like this is not designed to be a very shear stable racing oil.

 
I would take Mobil 1 ESP 0w40 or 5w30 over the 15w50....

Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 meets Porsche C30 and MB 229.5 and Mobil 1 ESP 0w40 meets Porsche A40, BMW LL-01 etc etc .
Far tougher specs to hit vs API SP and ACEA A3/B4.

If it can run in a Porsche and have to be that strong.... It is not Trailer Park motor oil.
 
I'm not sure why Mobil 1 formulates their 0W-30 and 0W-50 racing oils the way they do. My guess is they are trying to make them universal so that it works in your Late Model dirt car in the Georgia summer heat as well as your snowmobile in the Alaskan winter. Instead of making 4 or 5 different grades, they must make 2 that covers everything. That would also fall inline with how the majors work as their racing oil is just a tiny fraction of 1% of their oil sales/distribution so it's not something they want to spend a bunch of time on.
 
I'm not sure why Mobil 1 formulates their 0W-30 and 0W-50 racing oils the way they do. My guess is they are trying to make them universal so that it works in your Late Model dirt car in the Georgia summer heat as well as your snowmobile in the Alaskan winter. Instead of making 4 or 5 different grades, they must make 2 that covers everything. That would also fall inline with how the majors work as their racing oil is just a tiny fraction of 1% of their oil sales/distribution so it's not something they want to spend a bunch of time on.

My guess:

An OEM wanted that spec oil. They sent out an RFQ for those minimum specs. So Mobil met those specs for the oem contract. Then just packages it and sells it retail.

Any thing about racing and the like is marketing dollars.
 
Just confirmed that this oil does in fact exist. Although at the Walmart I checked, majority of the bottles were all the older SN formula. They only had one quart of the SP formula.

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The four-digit formulation number 5885 on the bottle has not changed from API SN to SP.

This means that the formulation of Mobil 1 15W-50 has not changed from API SN to SP.

Here is a 2016 Mobil 1 15W-50 API SN UOA, showing the same mixed calcium–magnesium detergent as in the API SP VOA. So, the oil-expert guy in the original post is way behind the times. ;)


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But M1 15W-50 is half the price of those other brands.

Are those other brands twice as good as M1 15W-50? 🤔
Once you start pushing the envelope of what can be done the price per quart goes out the window. Like I said, many using these really high dollar oils got thousands of dollars invested so that kinda money for oil isn't a gripe to them. The Bugatti Veyron was the best for a long time in many aspects but nobody was wondering how many Corvettes it would take to make it reasonable exchange. When you want better than best or close enough for govt work then this is where these products come to mind. @High Performance Lubricants has products that cost a lot more maybe two to three times more than M1 and it's worth it because it's got better material and the users are reporting much cleaner engines and performance.
 
"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."

"Congrats to Corvette Racing on another win at the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring running Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50"

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

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VOA:
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"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40. Through our partnership with these teams, we prove the performance and durability of Mobil 1 by pushing our motor oil to perform under the most punishing conditions."

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

Dont want to be a skeptic but many years ago I had a friend who worked for Illmor. He said the oil in the bottle may not be what it showed on the face. For example, some teams had Castrol sponsors but their engine was validated on another oil and that's what was in the bottles.
 
Dont want to be a skeptic but many years ago I had a friend who worked for Illmor. He said the oil in the bottle may not be what it showed on the face. For example, some teams had Castrol sponsors but their engine was validated on another oil and that's what was in the bottles.
Yeah that's not the case here. There was someone a few years ago that attended one of these races and saw them putting in Mobil 1 freshly opened.
 
"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."

"Congrats to Corvette Racing on another win at the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring running Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50"

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

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VOA:
Seems the high PAO M1 Racing is twice the cost of 0W40 A40…
 
"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."

"Congrats to Corvette Racing on another win at the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring running Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50"

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

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VOA:
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Hello moly!❤️
 
"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."

"Congrats to Corvette Racing on another win at the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring running Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50"

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

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VOA:
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Now after the race can they have the motor essentially rebuilt or do they have to leave it for the whole season as is?
 
So, if I do our group chump car racing...do I use the best oil I got even though it's not worth using in a old beater or just whatever is laying around?
 
So, if I do our group chump car racing...do I use the best oil I got even though it's not worth using in a old beater or just whatever is laying around?

Who says it's not worth using in an old beater? Do you enjoy racing that old beater and want to ensure it's protected as best as possible so you can keep racing it? After all, most people running low buck cars and races usually don't have a lot of spare money around to rebuild/replace an engine should something awry. What's $25 for a better oil compared to $2,500 to rebuild or replace the engine?

In all reality, it likely won't matter that much. It just depends on how much you care about those small 1-2 percentage points here and there.
 
Who says it's not worth using in an old beater? Do you enjoy racing that old beater and want to ensure it's protected as best as possible so you can keep racing it? After all, most people running low buck cars and races usually don't have a lot of spare money around to rebuild/replace an engine should something awry. What's $25 for a better oil compared to $2,500 to rebuild or replace the engine?

In all reality, it likely won't matter that much. It just depends on how much you care about those small 1-2 percentage points here and there.
Drive and race it till it breaks just like on the old TV show pinks right?
 
"Many of the teams on the Sebring track use Mobil 1 motor oils that are available for everyday customers to buy, for example Corvette Racing uses Mobil 1 0W-50 racing oil and Porsche Motorsports uses Mobil 1 0W-40."

"Congrats to Corvette Racing on another win at the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring running Mobil 1 Racing 0W-50"

GM chose a 0w50 with a HT/HS of only 3.9 for a 24 hour race?

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VOA:
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Is that moly # a typo?

I think that’s the highest PPM measurement of moly I’ve seen in a VOA/UOA.
 
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