Understanding VOA`s for protection.

[aquariuscsm]

I was searching through the VOA section on a few different oils,just trying to educate myself of what all the different elements mean. Does the highest ZDDP,phosphorous,and calcium in oils` makeup mean the highest quality of wear protection?

I noticed regular PCMO`s have the lowest of these,while oils like,15W40`s,15W50`s,HDEO`s and racing oils have the highest. Mobil 1 15W50,Royal Purple`s XPR,and Motul 300 have the highest from what I found in "search". Do these said oils with their higher #`s protect an engine better in high-performance apps? If so,Mobil 1 15W50 would be better than a regular PCMO 20W50 if you`re racing,right? RP`s XPR and their diesel/gas 15W40 had WAY higher #`s over their regular PCMO`s (10W30,10W40 for example).

Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[Bruce T]

Oil formulation is a complicated subject, so I can take my best guess here, but I don't know how accurate it will be.

Higher levels of additives often provide better protection, but not always. There are issues like conflicting with other additives or the engine, falling out of solution, etc. There are also new inorganic additives that don't show up in the VOAs.

Guys like MolaKule have mentioned using trended used oil analysis and looking closely at wear metals, but I don't feel qualified to "read" the trends without the help of experts like Terry Dyson. Other people here do feel qualified, so I leave that decision to them.