New Oils: Rotella & M1 Truck-SUV

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My guess is that this is a marketing tactic. All those brodozers out there can't possibly use oil meant for cars!
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It's definitely marketed towards the truck/suv crowd. I don't agree or like this approach but it's obviously a marketing strategy.
 
Truck and Minivan oil was at thing in the early 00s and it didn't last.

But I use specific oils for my specific vehicles ... In my fleet I use

Gas truck oil: Supertech high mileage conventional
Economy car oil: Supertech 5w-30 convenational
Crossover oil: Supertech 0w-20
Severe Use Offroad Oil: Supertech 10w-30 conventional
 
When consumers shelf-shop at walmart or wherever this stuff is sold, I think the marketing is spot on. People who tow or haul in the summer know they stress their engines.
Plus, PUs & SUVs are incredibly expensive these days. When they spot a name-brand "extra-strong" oil on the shelf, at a cheap price (walmart anyway has a low price for Rotella, $24/jug...).

Plus, won't the Subaru crowd who loves Rotella go for this? And anybody else who wants something better in their common cars. Its similar to who is buying the premium flavors of Castrol Edge & M1 EP/AP: they want something better, and probably just change oil at the OLM, but its better oil. Less deposits, holds up, good stuff.

Want better oil in your sump? By year:
1978: Want a better oil? Use Mobil1 or Amsoil.
1999: Any synthetic you see on the shelf, more choices, really, although M1 0w40 or Castrol 5w50 stood out for engines being tortured.
2010: Extended Performance lines of Castrol, M1, & Ultra, etc.
2019: Now add Towing-Hauling-Truck oils as a "better" option.

Still no replacement for at least getting the Owner's Manual specs met. For somebody towing-hauling, you can just put in M1 0w40 (euro oils) for summer extra protection. Similar to how Corvettes typically use 5w30 dexos1 for the street, yet GM says bump it up to a stouter oil for track use.
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
When consumers shelf-shop at walmart or wherever this stuff is sold, I think the marketing is spot on. People who tow or haul in the summer know they stress their engines.
Plus, PUs & SUVs are incredibly expensive these days. When they spot a name-brand "extra-strong" oil on the shelf, at a cheap price (walmart anyway has a low price for Rotella, $24/jug...).

Plus, won't the Subaru crowd who loves Rotella go for this? And anybody else who wants something better in their common cars. Its similar to who is buying the premium flavors of Castrol Edge & M1 EP/AP: they want something better, and probably just change oil at the OLM, but its better oil. Less deposits, holds up, good stuff.

Want better oil in your sump? By year:
1978: Want a better oil? Use Mobil1 or Amsoil.
1999: Any synthetic you see on the shelf, more choices, really, although M1 0w40 or Castrol 5w50 stood out for engines being tortured.
2010: Extended Performance lines of Castrol, M1, & Ultra, etc.
2019: Now add Towing-Hauling-Truck oils as a "better" option.

Still no replacement for at least getting the Owner's Manual specs met. For somebody towing-hauling, you can just put in M1 0w40 (euro oils) for summer extra protection. Similar to how Corvettes typically use 5w30 dexos1 for the street, yet GM says bump it up to a stouter oil for track use.


The premise works, sure; but the efficacy of the marketing is the question here. Mobil 1 had Kevin Harvick slinging oil for them. I don't see this taking any kind of real market share. I see it more as a play to put a higher percentage of SOPUS products on the shelf.

I've been pretty consistent in my critique of this oil. Mostly for the "we won't tell you anything about the oil except that it's got what trucks crave" responses from shell.
 
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Originally Posted by Donald
Besides having a label that says so, what makes the Shell oil "extreme protection"?

1. Full synthetic
2. Extra anti-oxidants
3. Some extra viscosity (kv100, not sure if HTHS is slightly elevated too)
4. dexos1 Gen2 -- Its a higher spec than SN+, so there is "more" that you get.
Thats enough for marketing to go nuts over "extreme protection". Those 4 things are what they are basing marketing claims on. They aren't wrong, maybe hyped though.

https://shell-livedocs.com/data/published/en/86da4bf5-68c8-4676-bbe7-a2d42cc13ba7.pdf
With its high KV100, you could use this in suspected fuel-diluters (Ecoboost, Honda 1.5T, 2.0T, etc.) and you'd have 2.5 cSt of viscosity margin to help you stay thick enough.

Originally Posted by BLND1
I've been pretty consistent in my critique of this oil. Mostly for the "we won't tell you anything about the oil except that it's got what trucks crave" responses from shell.

Given those 4 real benefits above, I'd say they have communicated some actual value.
I still like Castrol Edge EP or M1 EP/AP better in terms of higher performance though. Its a close call. And the reasonable price for Rotella at Walmart ($24) makes it a good deal.
 
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Originally Posted by Mainia
Protect against wear.......UHMMM, are you sure?

https://mobiloil.com/en/product-comparison?p1=%7bf7037cd7-c521-439f-a1ec-c107bbce1376%7d&p2=%7b13d37eac-ed45-4e21-ba36-944912a51197%7d


lol!
 
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Those "4 real benefits" are similar to the same things that every manufacturer says about their premium synthetic oil products.

Heck QSUD has a high kv100, full synthetic, "formulated with more anti-wear additives than any other oil" and is D1G2. It's also 17 dollars at WM. Both SOPUS products.

They haven't communicated anything that half a dozen name brands haven't already. This is a label and shelf space grab. Nothing more.
 
Originally Posted by BLND1
I've been pretty consistent in my critique of this oil. Mostly for the "we won't tell you anything about the oil except that it's got what trucks crave" responses from shell.

Similar to what the Secretary of State said: "Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes."-- Idiocracy, 2006.
It was true about Brawndo, and its true about Rotella Gassy Truck.
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
Originally Posted by BLND1
I've been pretty consistent in my critique of this oil. Mostly for the "we won't tell you anything about the oil except that it's got what trucks crave" responses from shell.

Similar to what the Secretary of State said: "Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes."-- Idiocracy, 2006.
It was true about Brawndo, and its true about Rotella Gassy Truck.


Maybe shell can just try using water, like for toilets, in their next formulation.
 
I'm sure it's marketed more for the newer Truck/SUV crowd, but, I'm curious if it helps older, high-mileage engines any better than Mobil, Valvoline, etc. Probably not, but, it would be nice to see some test results.
 
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