Synthetic oil & other automotive web sites

[Bluestream]

I have noticed when going to other automotive web sites that many posters think that synthetic oil is made in test tubes, in a lab by technicians wearing white coats.

Has anyone else run into this, and where did this myth come from?

 

[jaj]

What? You're saying it's not true?

 

[gman2304]

Thats the way castrol commercials are!

 

[Scott_Tucker]

What color are their lab coats in real life?

 

[Hermann]

Its just like people who think their produce is grown under perfect conditions with perfect results. With a nice field worker in a clean uniform and handled with care. Trust me its not. Don't have the heart to tell them that a lot of it is picked trimmed, and packed in the field.

 

[dparm]

Who cares if people in lab coats made it?

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Who cares if people in lab coats made it?


was it a lab coat or a straight jacket???

 

[morris]

do you mean i dont get to keep the straight jacket? i was just getting used to it.

 

[beast3300]

Oh my gosh this thread has gone wrong.....




/in before the lock!

p.s. I never understood the labcoat thing either.

 

[fdcg27]

Guys in lab coats with beakers and test tubes making my $3.99/qt syn?
Sounds really good to me.
They must outsource this lab work to China or India, or some other very low wage venue.

 

[Bluestream]

Okay, to be more accurate, they think it is made from 100% man made ingredients and chemicals. No petroleum base stocks are used. That seems to be the prevailing wisdom on many sites...

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Okay, to be more accurate, they think it is made from 100% man made ingredients and chemicals. No petroleum base stocks are used. That seems to be the prevailing wisdom on many sites...


Yes a lot of people get this misconception, I guess when people think of synthesized lubricants some guy's in a lab coat have to make the stuff with some chemical x in a beaker on the left hand side, and mix it with chemical y on the right hand side, then put the mixed chemicals into a center-fuse to get perfectly shaped uniform molecules that are in a straight line under a electron microscope is how PAO is synthesized.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Per their head of product development, Roy Howell, the polyol ester base stock Red line uses is synthesized by combining an acid with an alcohol. I could see them doing the mixing in large stainless vats with people wearing proper protective clothing so that may be as close as it gets.

 

[mechtech2]

I tend to think that the guys developing synth oils wear white coats and do not look like the locals in the movie 'Deliverance'.

 

[MaxPilot]

Don't blame the readers/posters of websites. It's the false and misleading advertising from the manufacturers that is the fault.

This is not just with motor oils, it's everything you see advertised for sale. False and misleading advertising should be eliminated completely whether it's oil, corn flakes, vitamins, etc.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Originally Posted By: MaxPilot
Don't blame the readers/posters of websites. It's the false and misleading advertising from the manufacturers that is the fault.

This is not just with motor oils, it's everything you see advertised for sale. False and misleading advertising should be eliminated completely whether it's oil, corn flakes, vitamins, etc.


Couldn't agree with this more. My wife gets sucked into every stupid advertisement or sale. I can't fully blame her as they are so misleading its easy to get confused. There really should be stronger truth in advertising laws in this country. I believe in capitalism but when a company lies to make a sale.

And then there are those things in the automotivebusiness like fram saying an air filter will give you better mileage without telling you that only applies to carbureted engines. No one drives a carbureted engine any more. Professional mechanics are so indoctrinated in that one even they still think it's true.