Meets or Exceeds largely overlooked

[ngzcaz]

Amazing how guys overlook that little " meets or exceeds " typo when looking at motor oils. Very few simply say exceeds all etc etc. Look at the various brands ( even synthetics ) and chime in.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Nah... most of us here are pretty sensitive to these skillfully crafted marketing terms. Additional ones I like are "recommended for use in applications requiring the following specifications..." and "designed to meet..." (notice no claim that the design was actually successful).

 

[D-Roc]

I've always looked for that "meets or exceeds" Most I've seen only say "meets"...

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
ngzcaz - What matters most IMO is "Approved" and/or "Approved and Listed" with corresponding references

It is just so easy to say Meets or Exceeds - a lubricant Marketer's dream words. For instance "exceeds" what.........?

 

[Gary Allan]

While I understand what Doug is saying ..and we've seen it for ..well ... forever on oil filters. Now the Euro spec's have managed to configure a long enough string of narrowly passable hoops that it kinda makes that method (exceeding ALL parameters) darn near impossible. Throw out any one of the parameters (economy for one) and the field opens up quite a bit.

 

[EagleFTE]

Kind of looking at that from a different direction are the approvals always a good thing? To meet API you need 800 ppm or less ZDDP for SM in certain grades. So I guess if oil xyz only has 500 ppm it exceeds API SM. So I'm guessing that there are some that would rather have SL or CI-4 instead. For certain applications there are really good, possibly "best", that don't meet a lot of criteria. But for my late model cars the oils I use oils that have the meet/exceed GMxxx, Ford xxx, Chrysler xxx, etc.

 

[Nikola]

If you (oil company) create oil with extremely good anti wear capabilities and still in the process you put some good additives in uncontrolled amount you will certainly say EXCEEDS because you are getting good lubrication but you are not playing by the book

 

[cheetahdriver]

i am with doug on this one. "meets or exceeds" in marketspeak means "fooled you again". the prime example of this is GM4718M, which isn't a euro spec, but an american one. there are exactly 9 oils (14 vis) that meet this spec, but nearly every oil out there will strike up with "meets or exceeds". this is one of the ones that really toasts me, because part of the spec is that you have to RETEST if you change your formulation, which some of the boutique oils do with nearly every batch.

this goes along with the "it's too expensive to certify" routine. however, if Northland and CITGO can afford to certify, and live inside the specs, the other folks don't have much of a leg to stand on...