Originally Posted By: gathermewool
I'll say it again, that those of you who say it doesn't matter because there's no perceived difference when running dino and synthetics at the same interval are missing the point. Regardless of how much information there is here on BITOG, there are still those who don't recommend going past 3kmi, 5kmi, 10kmi, one year, etc. All of these are arbitrary numbers and irrespective of the oil used. Heck, there's a thread I just read where the OP is wondering whether to add half a quart of Redline after 4700 miles or change it out. I guess I don't understand this overly conservative attitude amongst oil enthusiasts. Most people don't even know what Redline oil is, but those who do, and have the where with all to read up on it here, still can't quite break the need to change the oil too frequently.
It's safe to say that we've all moved on from the archaic 3kmi oil change intervals, but there are a lot who are still unwilling to realize the potential of the different oils out there. With that in mind, no, it doesn't matter which oil you use. For those of us trying to get the most out of our oil, yes, yes it does matter. As stated, I doubled my oil change interval switching from a group II (Cam2) to a Group III/III+ (Rotella T6).
Hypothetically speaking, would some one who can safely - backed up by UOA - run an OCI of 25kmi and two years on a group IV/V synthetic not see benefit if he/she was only able to run a group II+ oil to 8kmi?
IMO, it's all about value, convenience and partially nerdy need-to-knowness. It's very convenient to pay more than double for an oil change, but not have to change it for double the amount of miles. It's fun to send out samples for analysis and play backyard tribologist with the results. However, I might change my tune if my car burned through 1 qt every 500 miles. Realistically, I'd tear the motor down, but, saying I didn't, I for sure wouldn't be dumping $10/qt oil down the drain every 500 miles. I'd pick a suitably spec'd oil and probably only every change the filter.
I am a Redline Oil User and just because the Oil "can" go longer doesn't mean you have to. In my car I change the Oil every 3K miles. Am I wasting money? Maybe, but to me as stated by another member, oil is cheap. My turbo costs $2000, my motor? I don't even want to know, so if I change the oil more frequently than needed, to me that is preventive maintenence.
There are different types of folks on this site. People that are looking for best performance, HP, MPG's etc from their oil, and those that want to find the EDI oil that will last 25K miles and then test it and just see how far they can go on oil. I am not in the latter bunch. I use Redline for its performance characteristics, not for the fact I can go 10K miles with it. Going that far on an oil change in ANY High performance car is a mistake that I for one cannot afford.
My service manual says change the Oil every 3K miles, My tuner says to change it even more frequently than that, and at times, I change the oil after every dyno session or Track Event, just to be on the safe side. Oil is cheap in comparison to new parts, that is for sure.
Jeff