What's the deal with Royal Purple?

Mystic · Jul 8, 2003

I keep hearing that RP is great in auto racing, and I heard stories of racers switching from Mobil 1 or Redline or Amsoil to RP. And yet, in VOAs and UOAs at this site, RP has not looked that great.

What is the deal with RP? Is it really a good oil or is it that over-rated?

pedaltothemetal · Jul 8, 2003

If racers are switching over to RP means less wear after teardown so there is less maintenance. This is the paramount concern of racers.
A daily driver will never see the stresses a race car gets so their main concern is wear over extended drains so your engine will not be subjected to adverse effects of long drains. So far wear has been excellent in UOA. This is also the paramount concern of a daily driver.
So I don't see there is any problem unless you don't like the color Purple!

Leo

Patman · Jul 8, 2003

There is a 2400 mile sample of Royal Purple 5w30 from my wife's car at the lab right now, and I should hopefully have results by tomorrow night. I didn't drain her oil though, I'm running it out to 5000 miles, I was just curious to see how it's doing, since my wife only drives about 150 miles per week, it takes me forever to see UOAs on her oil, so I got impatient.

Chris A · Jul 8, 2003

It really is a good oil.

If you search on "royal purple", you will see many discussions about it. Is it syn or not? Does it always thin out? etc

If you add Member Number 9 in that search, you will see that Terry has said some good things about it and he has probably seen more UOAs on this oil than anybody else here.

unDummy · Jul 8, 2003

Hearing stuff is just HEARSAY.

If racers do anything, its usually because of SPONSORSHIP!

buster · Jul 8, 2003

I think it's over rated. My friend runs it in his dragster. I'd go with Redline for Racing.

DockHoliday · Jul 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by pedaltothemetal:
If racers are switching over to RP means less wear after teardown so there is less maintenance. This is the paramount concern of racers.
A daily driver will never see the stresses a race car gets so their main concern is wear over extended drains so your engine will not be subjected to adverse effects of long drains. So far wear has been excellent in UOA. This is also the paramount concern of a daily driver.
So I don't see there is any problem unless you don't like the color Purple!

Leo

It is my understanding that most racers will rebuild the engine after every race or two, regardless of wear (i.e. wear is not a concern). The concern for racers is HP, so I would expect that they would choose an oil based on dyno tests, not wear after a tear down. But this is just an not-so-educated guess on my part (from my kart racing days).

In general, I would say that motor oil in race engines experience very different conditions than street legal cars, therefore, what is good for one may not be good for the other.

[ July 08, 2003, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: DockHoliday ]

Patman · Jul 8, 2003

Believe me, wear might not be a concern for racers with big budgets, but for small part time racers, engine wear is a huge factor in their decision to choose an oil. If a particular oil can keep their engine rebuild frequency down, they can save mega $$$ over the course of a year.

Remember, not all racers can afford to rebuild their engines after every single race, only those with sponsors with deep pockets. And there are a lot of different forms of racing out there, not just NASCAR and CART. There are a lot of guys out there every week running their local stock car tracks, and they certainly don't rebuild their engines every race.

Al · Jul 8, 2003

Sets flame suit setting to "High"

. I think RP belongs in the same class as Redline (at least for me). No better than Mobil 1 10W-30 or Amsoil-until proven so. When I say better my criteria is to give good wear numbers in extended drain intervals with the oil still intact.

buster · Jul 8, 2003

quote:

think RP belongs in the same class as Redline (at least for me). No better than Mobil 1 10W-30 or Amsoil-until proven so. When I say better my criteria is to give good wear numbers in extended drain intervals with the oil still intact.

I'm with you Al. When I see it, I'll believe it.

pedaltothemetal · Jul 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by buster:

quote:

think RP belongs in the same class as Redline (at least for me). No better than Mobil 1 10W-30 or Amsoil-until proven so. When I say better my criteria is to give good wear numbers in extended drain intervals with the oil still intact.

Click to expand...

I'm with you Al. When I see it, I'll believe it.

RP is half the price of Redline here, and even less than Mobile 1 in price at $3.99/qt. Can't beat that for full synthetic. If RP goes up in price to what Redline is, then I'll buy Mobile 1. I'm not brand loyal just price conscious.

Leo

sbc350gearhead · Jul 8, 2003

I have been using RP 5w30 for about a year now and no complaints. I used to use mobil 1 but when I found RP at NAPA for 3.99 a quart, I decided to try it. It makes my engine run smoother with less noise than the mobil 1, but that may be the fact that it is supposedly thicker than mobil 1 within the same viscosity rating.

pedaltothemetal · Jul 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by sbc350gearhead:
I have been using RP 5w30 for about a year now and no complaints. I used to use mobil 1 but when I found RP at NAPA for 3.99 a quart, I decided to try it. It makes my engine run smoother with less noise than the mobil 1, but that may be the fact that it is supposedly thicker than mobil 1 within the same viscosity rating.

ditto!

Bio-T · Jul 8, 2003

I have seen UOA's on the Royal Purple 15W40 Long Rider on diesel engines and they were very good. I would have no problem running the 5W or 10W30 after seeing these results. With 2 Ford PSD's I am always looking for the holy grail in 15W40 oils. I see very little mention of Royal Purple gear lube and transmission fluid but it ranks with the best. I went to a RV gathering and I thought I was at a Royal Purple meeting. About 10 of those present used it from front to back with 3 of the users over 200K on their vehicles.

pedaltothemetal · Jul 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by 59 Vetteman:
I have seen UOA's on the Royal Purple 15W40 Long Rider on diesel engines and they were very good. I would have no problem running the 5W or 10W30 after seeing these results. With 2 Ford PSD's I am always looking for the holy grail in 15W40 oils. I see very little mention of Royal Purple gear lube and transmission fluid but it ranks with the best. I went to a RV gathering and I thought I was at a Royal Purple meeting. About 10 of those present used it from front to back with 3 of the users over 200K on their vehicles.

Cool!
I'm currently using Royal Purple 15W40 Long Rider in my gasoline engine.

Leo

What's the deal with Royal Purple?

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