Why Do You Choose the Oil, Filter and Parts You Use?

Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
6,056
Location
VA
Some people go for the cheapest oil and filter they can find. Some try to somehow balance the quality and the price. Some just buy on brand.
Some buy the most expensive. Some like to experiment. Some buy what they perceive to be the highest quality regardless of price.

Why do you choose the oil brand, oil filter and parts you use?
 
Price, budget is usually tight, so cheapest usually wins.
Convenience is a part of the equation as well….so cheapest from my work gets it done.
 
Always bought NAPA/Wix filters and Pennzoil before I joined Bitog, take all the yahoo experts advice with a grain of salt. :D :D :D
 
In my shop we use OE or OEM filters, OE transmission fluids and coolants, and OE spec oil, generally Quaker State or Mobil products for domestic and asian and Liquimoly products for VW. On parts I have a good idea of what brands are quality parts for what application. If I have a quality aftermarket part available to me I will sell it. If not it gets OE. There are some non-negotiables as far as OE. I will not sell an aftermarket engine mount unless OE is obsolete. Same goes for engine management parts.
 
Buy cheapest oil that meets specs. Did run Mobil1 filters for awhile that I got on cheap but prefer OEM due to problems being reported with this engine.
 
I used to buy the Fram Ultra because they were wire backed microglass so I didn't have to worry about filters twisting due to high differential pressure or condensation like you get with cellulose filters, once I burn through my stash, now I don't know what oil filter I'll choose, I'm not really feeling paying $15-20/filter from Amsoil or Royal Purple, I'm not a huge fan of the Wix XP because of it's garbage efficiency, and overall I just don't care for the lack of QC from Purolator to consider the boss.
 
I balance several things. For example on my 2012 Ram I use Fleetguard filters because of the reputation and confidence of the brand for Cummins. Fleetguard is the OEM for Cummins. I use oil I can get on sale that meets the spec for the motor.

For our 2005 Jeep GC I use Motorcraft. They make a darn good FL400 IMO. Again oil is a variety based on spec.

Parts are much the same. I weigh price versus likelyhood of failure versus PITA to change.

Just my $0.02
 
I just use whatever synthetic oil is the cheapest, of all the majors there's not a whole lot of difference in their products. When it comes to parts, I use brands that are trusted, only the original equipment manufacturer for sensors and plugs, also I'll spring for OE on hard to replace parts like engine mounts or water pumps that are hard to get to, if it's something that's a pain to replace, best to bite the bullet up front and go for the OE part instead of paying for cheap and then later on having to redo it and pay for the OE part anyways.
 
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