So, there is no other impactful trade-off? I know it's an old car, but it's in great shape @150K miles and is still my daily driver. My goal is for it to remain so for at least another 3-4 years.
I’d stick to 0w-30 or 5w-30. No need to simply chase the lowest bench race on 1 test. It’s unclear if 10w has any PAO for example, as it’s not shown on the SDS. And, none of the AMSOIL Signature Series oils has a poor Noack score. Anything under 10 is pretty good. Beats almost every OTS PCMO (likely all of them?)
Interesting…
I don’t think so. I have AMSOIL 10W-30 in the stash, and I guarantee my coldest start will be 10-20 degrees colder than anything you guys will ever see.
I think the coldest it gets in our states is single digit degrees F in the coldest of winters and only for a spell or two at most. The lowest typical per year is in the teens.
You are assuming 0w30 uses "more VII"...depending upon the base oil, this would be false. In addition, some oils use pour point depressants to achieve a lower winter value. I have bought Mobil 1 ESP 0w30 at the same or lower prices than the run-of-the-mill 5w30 at the same store.
Agree. I have noticed higher quality Euro oils are often cheaper than the "nice" OTS API spec oils like Mobil 1 Extended Performance, Castrol EDGE Extended Performance etc.
Actually the opposite is often true as most 0wt oils start off with a better base stock and are more robust overall than most 5w/30s. Not saying this is true all the time across all oils....and your point still stands in some situations especially with say a 10w/40 oil which would have more VI improvers.
Switch to 0W-xx at -22F
In typical SC weather, no advantage, maybe slight disadvantage with using 0w30 as opposed to 5w30. Amsoil is a superior product in many ways, and either will protect your Camry.
Remember that your oil will often slip by one winter rating after a few thousand miles so if you’re starting out with a 5w-30 it might be a 10w-30 mid way through the winter. For that reason I would suggest that if your car is parked outside overnight you might consider using 0w-30 even if your area only gets down to about 0F during that time. It’s better to have that extra margin of safety in my opinion.
Right, the winter grade drop is what I was worried about. If I'm nearing the end of my OCI and I have to leave it parked outside at a hotel or something like that it could get a little marginal.
SAE allows a drop but that doesn't mean it will occur. Lots of things go into that happening if it does happen, and OCI is one of the variables.Right, the winter grade drop is what I was worried about. If I'm nearing the end of my OCI and I have to leave it parked outside at a hotel or something like that it could get a little marginal.
Since Valvoline Restore and Protect is only made in 5W-30, maybe this is my sign to go to HPL for a 0W-30
