Who’s making the best 5w30 these days?

I'm enjoying this thread! There is no earth-shattering info here, but it's nice to bring together info where most of the better current offerings are mentioned together.
I wasn't expecting to find the One True Oil here, but I've been putting M1 EP + Fram ultra filters in everything for near a decade without much thought. Wanted to get the lay of the land in 2024.
 
Cough cough, cough cough....
1733104650931.webp
 
I wasn't expecting to find the One True Oil here, but I've been putting M1 EP + Fram ultra filters in everything for near a decade without much thought. Wanted to get the lay of the land in 2024.
A solid choice running a 5K mile / 6 month OCI in average mixed driving conditions .
 
Honestly I'm considering it for a few OCIs because I'm not the original owner and they used whatever the dealer put in, so it'd be kind of nice to "reset" with a clean engine.
Actually I was a bit afraid to use 5W-30 because for the past 7 years I had Shell Helix Ultra 5W40 in my engine. It has KV100 of 12.8, and the R & P has KV100 of 10.8.
However, the HTHS of Helix 5W40 is 3.6, and R&P is 3.24. So i guess its safe to use.
I drove my car for over an hour in over 92F weather and the engine ran fine, no clacking noises and no low oil pressure warning. Engine ran smooth as the Shell before it.
Need to put some more miles on this oil to tell if there is any improvement on my "cold" startup oil burning.
 
Just purchased a 2017 Chevy SS sedan with the LS3. It’s got low mileage and I’d like to keep the engine happy as long as possible. I drive so little mileage wise I’m looking at yearly oil changes just to keep things fresh, so cost isn’t really an issue. Who should I be looking at?

Cheers,
Nathan
If you look at a large # of VOAs and UOA's on BITOG, you'll find all oils have the same wear (wear readings are all the same within the margin of error of the test). So what oil you use doesn't matter, as long as it meets the spec. So, your vehicle likely requires the Dexos 1 Gen 3 Spec. Any oil that meets that spec is all you need.

When I was much younger and uninformed, I thought using Mobil 1 oil would make an engine last forever.
That it had some secret sauce, and that if you used Mobil 1, you would be keeping the engine very happy, and wear would be zero.

In reality, after 300k miles with reasonable oil changes (every 5,000 miles), any oil that meets the Dexos 1 Gen 3 spec should have an identical outcome. So, one approach to consider would be to choose oil with that approval based on lowest price.
 
Now that M1 0W40 (essentially a high 30 weight after short driving period) has SP rating it should be a lower SAPS oil with ash under 1% creating less potential deposits (good for GDI engines) . M1 5W30 ESP meets SP specs but does not have actual SP approval and 5W30 EP has SP approvals and is a very good, long drain oil. Both M1 0W40 and M1 5W30 ESP have a HTHS of 3.5 min. while the M1 5W30 EP offers a little lower HTHS of 3.0 (wear protection). *There are posters here that feel these three oils are about as close as you can get to a “universal” oil . I’ll let much smarter posters than me weigh in on the pros & cons of the three M1 oils listed above .
 
Just purchased a 2017 Chevy SS sedan with the LS3. It’s got low mileage and I’d like to keep the engine happy as long as possible. I drive so little mileage wise I’m looking at yearly oil changes just to keep things fresh, so cost isn’t really an issue. Who should I be looking at?

Cheers,
Nathan
Amsoil SS. Probably be $100 a year on top shelf oil. Your car will thank you.
 
Back
Top Bottom