Outside of extended OCIs with ideal usage (all highway), what is the use case for boutique oils?

[D1dad]

Your thread actually gave me a new idea. I don’t wanna waste $100 worth of oil for a short winter run. VRP costs about $30 and I do believe is the real deal. I’m going to use HPL, Torco or Schaffers all summer. Then use VRP during the winter. Sounds like a plan. I’ll still stick to my OLM during the summer but winter will be 11-1 thru 3-31.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Boutiques for sure especially in cvt applications as I use Redline Non Slip CVT Fluid PAO/Ester. Much better throttle response and cleaner.
Is my car is starting to age I'm changing oil a lot more often but what I can tell you is sometimes during the winter the startup is less than stellar, and there are not a lot of 0w30 that can boost cold wear start and Redline in that weight does and cleans well. I use it in our 24 Kia only if I need to top off and feel better as the 0w20 along with GDI is just a disaster waiting to happen with fuel dilution as she only drives 10 miles to the hospital to work. On both applications I can tell you, that the oil does stay cleaner longer, and it's quieter because with the boutiques they sometimes have a higher hths which is a good thing when you're worried about turbos and fuel dilution and it seems to run just a hair bit quieter. I'm almost out of the extended performance mobil one but I have topped off especially when it's only a 10th or a fifth of a quart and if I thought I heard any clattering or anything of that sort it seemed like it ran better. If I had something like my parents and owned a Porsche, after the factory oil changes are done, I wouldn't hesitate to run the same weight but with a boutique as it won't sheer down as quickly and would be beneficial especially if you plan to keep the car for a couple hundred thousand miles. I have four jugs of the Valvoline vrp and my guess is I'll probably get two maybe three oil changes out of it as I probably will have a slight consumption not so much from carbon but just because I've got a lot of miles but I did opt for the 30 weight variant just to give it a chance.

 

[Furious]

I think a lot of people here run the boutique oils not just for the quality, but for the high level of customer service and the knowledge that this batch of HPL / Amsoil is the same as the last batch. Where as giant blender whomever can change the spec pretty much at will and you truly don't know what your running.

Or at least that would be the reason I would ever run it. Give my dollars to companies that value the same things I do.

Now on the other end of the spectrum is us tightwads that will run whatever oil Walmart screwed the pricing up on so we can get 3 for the price of 1.

You know at minimum no matter what despite any formulation change you are still getting a good quality oil that at minimum meets the manufacturer requirements that will keep your vehicle running a very long time.

As I have said before cars have been running 250,000-300,000+ miles on regular off the shelf oil simply by following decent oil change intervals long before these boutique oil companies gained any real popularity aside from maybe Amsoil who has been around since the 60s.

 

[Astro14]

You are correct. Still 3 quarts more for my front diff and transfer case and 2 more than I needed for rear diff (different weights for them).

I don’t think there’s a minimum if you pick up the phone and talk to Mary Jane.

They can put together whatever you want and whatever quantity you want.

Pretty old school concept, using a phone to order something, I know, but sometimes it’s a lot more effective than the web, and you get exactly what you need.

 

[OVERKILL]

You know at minimum no matter what despite any formulation change you are still getting a good quality oil that at minimum meets the manufacturer requirements that will keep your vehicle running a very long time.

As I have said before cars have been running 250,000-300,000+ miles on regular off the shelf oil simply by following decent oil change intervals long before these boutique oil companies gained any real popularity aside from maybe Amsoil who has been around since the 60s.

I've torn down several high mileage 302's at around the 200,000 mile mark. Making it there is not the bar I use. Sticking rings, lots of varnish... but yep, it still got there. The comparison is pristine internals, free rings, perfect compression and leak-down, and that wasn't even on a boutique oil, it was M1.

I think we've entered a new realm with GDI and TDGI which are considerably greater challenges for lubricants than your bog-standard naturally aspirated port-injected mill, and we've seen some evidence of this in some of the TGDI teardown videos with coked up rings and bore scoring using the OE spec lubes. Some of these applications are just much harder on oil than their predecessors, while concurrently, we push for even thinner and thinner products to satisfy CAFE.

 

[Sienna dude]

No use. I used Amsoil and didn't feel any difference. Got the same results on the oil analysis report as well. Now I'm running HPL, and I am not very hopeful. Nothing will show up in my oil filter. 200,000 miles on Mobil 1. Save your money, stick with Mobil 1 and Pennzoil

 

[Furious]

I've torn down several high mileage 302's at around the 200,000 mile mark. Making it there is not the bar I use. Sticking rings, lots of varnish... but yep, it still got there. The comparison is pristine internals, free rings, perfect compression and leak-down, and that wasn't even on a boutique oil, it was M1.

I think we've entered a new realm with GDI and TDGI which are considerably greater challenges for lubricants than your bog-standard naturally aspirated port-injected mill, and we've seen some evidence of this in some of the TGDI teardown videos with coked up rings and bore scoring using the OE spec lubes. Some of these applications are just much harder on oil than their predecessors, while concurrently, we push for even thinner and thinner products to satisfy CAFE.

Do you have the history of these engines, are you certain the oil was changed at decent intervals? did you compare several high mileage 302's torn down at 200,000 miles strictly running HPL or other boutique oils to compare? otherwise your claim holds no ground and that is just the reality.

 

[cammyfive79]

I posed a similar question a week or two ago - what do boutiques excel at if you do normie drain intervals - and got the the same answers as you got here.

For me, a lot of it has to do with supporting an American small business and the customer service received and their contributions here. Next, I just like the idea of using something very well engineered even if the application I choose could have gotten by with a lot less. My main auto passion is auto detailing/paint correction which I’m a zillion miles down that rabbit hole of chasing perfection so that has rubbed off on me with maintenance too.

Check out the post I made in the UOA sub-forum on the analysis of my wife 2024 Mazda CX-90 using HPL. Lots of remote start cold idling in winter and approx 2% fuel dilution with the cst dropping all of 0.1 in the 0W-20. However, I realize that had I used generic brand X the engine would not have turned into a mushroom cloud.

 

[OVERKILL]

Do you have the history of these engines, are you certain the oil was changed at decent intervals? did you compare several high mileage 302's torn down at 200,000 miles strictly running HPL or other boutique oils to compare? otherwise your claim holds no ground and that is just the reality.

Yes, I had the history of these engines. HPL wasn't around when I was active in the Mustang scene, it's a rather recent arrival. AMSOIL was around, I did do an engine swap and some upgrades of a couple of 302's run on AMSOIL, they were extremely clean, but no cleaner than my ones run on Mobil 1, and weren't as high mileage as the other ones I've mentioned.

Regarding my claim holding no ground, it's more than you've brought to the table in this discussion, unless you are holding out on divulging your own history of engine tear-downs?

Our small fleet of RAM 1500's at work, several of which have experienced lifter failure, they were all serviced at conservative intervals on NAPA (Valvoline) 5W-20, which is the spec visc. All of them were quite heavily varnished by around the 200,000 mile mark, which is approximately also when we experienced lifter failure (unrelated). The engines ran fine, and I don't think a better oil would have gotten them any further (lifter failure is a materials issue). While they would have been cleaner, and probably had better compression and leak-down results, that's rather immaterial when you are dealing with a failed lifter that takes the vehicle out of service.

 

[OVERKILL]

No use. I used Amsoil and didn't feel any difference. Got the same results on the oil analysis report as well. Now I'm running HPL, and I am not very hopeful. Nothing will show up in my oil filter. 200,000 miles on Mobil 1. Save your money, stick with Mobil 1 and Pennzoil

What are you expecting to feel or see in an oil analysis report?

 

[OVERKILL]

Next, I just like the idea of using something very well engineered even if the application I choose could have gotten by with a lot less. My main auto passion is auto detailing/paint correction which I’m a zillion miles down that rabbit hole of chasing perfection so that has rubbed off on me with maintenance too.

For me, it's nice seeing something that stays in grade in my 6.4L. When I ran the $$$ non-boutique Ravenol SSL in my Jeep, it ended up at 12cSt (started at 13.8), while the HPL started at 13.9 and ended up at 13.2.

 

[Sienna dude]

What are you expecting to feel or see in an oil analysis report?

Prove to me that Amsoil does better than Pennzoil. I am running HPL right now, and I think I'm going to break the hearts of many HPL fanboys here when my oil filter looks absolutely clean. Mobil 1 magic baby!

 

[OVERKILL]

Prove to me that Amsoil does better than Pennzoil

How is it that you've determined that this was a reasonable response to the question I posed?

 

[Sienna dude]

How is it that you've determined that this was a reasonable response to the question I posed?

You can't prove, simple. These oils are all great. If you change them regularly, you don't need some Boutique oil. Boutique oils are a waste of money, I could have bought three jugs of Pennzoil for what I paid for Amsoil.

 

[OVERKILL]

You can't prove, simple. These oils are all great. If you change them regularly, you don't need some Boutique oil. Boutique oils are a waste of money, I could have bought three jugs of Pennzoil for what I paid for Amsoil.

You didn't answer my questions, again. Are we going for round 3?

 

[Sienna dude]

My engine is clean, the wear metals are the minimum, and I get great gas mileage. Why would I need Boutique oil? For what purpose?

 

[OVERKILL]

My engine is clean, the wear metals are the minimum, and I get great gas mileage. Why would I need Boutique oil? For what purpose?

You tell me, you were the one who decided to use it and then listed that you expected to feel or see something. So I ask you again, what did you expect to feel or see?

 

[Sienna dude]

You didn't answer my questions, again. Are we going for round 3?

I'm asking you a question. In my case, why would I need Boutique oil? Kindly convince me with some solid proof. My engine is perfectly clean, I get great gas mileage, wear metals are at the minimum, and I'm at 200,000 miles. Why do I need Boutique oil, for what? I want to learn. For what? I'm not being rude or anything. I want to know, why would I need Boutique oil?

 

[OVERKILL]

I'm asking you a question. In my case, why would I need Boutique oil? Kindly convince me with some solid proof. My engine is perfectly clean, I get great gas mileage, wear metals are at the minimum, and I'm at the 200,000 miles. Why do I need Boutique oil, for what? I want to learn. For what? I'm not being rude or anything. I want to know, why would I need Boutique oil?

But I asked you two questions first, let's start there. What did you expect to feel, or see?

 

[Sienna dude]

Fellow Sienna owner drove his 2022 for 385,000 mi, and he traded in for another one. He didn't use any Boutique oil