Hi Johnny,
On October 1st 2004, Olympic posted a VOA of M1 5W-30 SS with the following results:
Zinc: 1000
Magnesium: 20
Calcium: 3000
Phosphorous: 902
Molybdenum: 87
Boron: 182
On February 10th, Stinky posted a VOA of the current M1 5W-30 with the following results:
Zinc: 775
Magnesium: 13
Calcium: 2380
Phosphorous: 678
Molybdenum: 92
Boron: 76
Stinky also compared the M1 with the new EP VOA and the current M1 EP 5W-30 VOA showcases:
Zinc: 1058
Magnesium: 15
Calcium: 2822
Phosphorous: 948
Molybdenum: 83
Boron: 251
Ok different labs were used for these different VOA's and of course the Supersyn additive isnt included in the VOA numbers.
However, the new EP addpack looks similar to the old M1 add pack with the new formula of regular M1 taking a big overall hit on additives. The only major boost that I can see in EP versus older M1 is in Boron. Magnesium, Calcium, and Moly are all down and Zinc and Phosphorous get a slight boost.
New M1 versus old M1 showcases major drops in all additives except for a slight boost of Moly.
If these VOA's are accurate and I feel that they are then a lot of the newly enhanced additives in EP over regular M1 comes from reducing the adds in the normal traditional M1 oils. Maybe GF-4 is to blame for this but new M1 does not look to me to have the same solid add pack as the old M1. Its been reduced and downgraded.
Now when Mobil upgraded from Tri-Syn to SuperSyn the increase in adds was obvious and noticable. However next generation of GF-4 SuperSyn seems to have reduced adds.
So yes, I believe that they have downgraded their lineup of regular M1 oils. And I dont think Olympic or Stinky skewed the Voas just to confuse me.
I dont see the EP lineup boosted much over old SuperSyn technology except in Boron. What Mobil has done has been to downgrade the old SuperSyn line and then claim that the new EP line is hugely improved over the regular lineup. To me this is a marketing gimmick and advertising buzz. However, they havent informed the public about the reductions in the new GF-4 versus the old GF-3 M1 line. I think many assume that new M1 is as good as the old M1 and the VOA's might hint otherwise.
The new EP line should be fairly good and similar to what weve become used to with Mobil 1. However the current lineup does appear to have taken a hit in quality and its going to take some major league UOA reports to convince me that this was a good move and that current M1 is as good as the old M1.
Happy Motoring All,
Bugshu