0W-20 vs 5W-20

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I'm new so excuse if this has been discussed here elsewhere, probably ad naseum. In easy-to-understand layman's terms, what is the difference between these two? I see the 0 oil advertised by M1 and others as "for use where 0w-20 or 5w-20 are recommended".

Is that true? Can you really just substitute the 0 for the 5 oil? For reference I live in Pittsburgh and my car is garaged. Occasionally my wife will come out from work and her Lexus RX-330 will have been sitting outside in 0-20 degrees for 8 hours. And in the summer we MIGHT get a stretch of 90-95 degree days. But that's about as extreme as it gets. Most driving is city.
 
You can easily substitute 5w20 with 0w20, just like M1 says. According to them, you'll still have warranty protection. All the 0 means is it can start easier in the cold then 5w.
 
You can certainly use either one without any difficulty; they're generally regarded as being close to inter-changeable. The 0 winter weight would provide some benefit at start up but plenty of people have used 10W or even 20W oils in your climate (and even colder) for years with good results.

You didn't indicate whether you were considering the 5W20 in dino, semi-syn, or syn. The 0W20 is generally available only in a full syn. For my wife's 07 Camry, I'm using 0W20 and stretching out the oci. It seems to be working well.
 
Originally Posted By: Daryll
In easy-to-understand layman's terms, what is the difference between these two?


ExxonMobil has a line of oils that's supposed to make your car more fuel efficient. It's Advanced Fuel Economy Mobil 1 0w-20 and 0w-30. If everyone in the US runs this oil, we'll consume a little less fuel. It prevents metal to metal contact just like 5w-20 does.

6 of one, half dozen of the other.
 
Originally Posted By: Cooper
Yes, and most times, the 0w20 is the better oil. Substitute 0w20 for 5w20 confidently.


Good Point, most if not all 0W-20 oil's a true synthetic or semi-synthetic. I do not think we have seen any Dino 0W-20

We do have quite a few Dino 5W-20

I do believe that the 0W-20 and 5W-20 oil's have different basestocks.
 
In General terms....
The difference between a 0W-xx and a 5W-xx is that the 0W-xx has more resistance to getting thicker as its temperature goes down.

Also, the 0W-xx requires higher quality base stocks to do this.

This means that the 0W-xx is usually more expensive, but you get a higher quality product and a product that will be less thick for cold starts, which is a good thing.
Less thick means better flow at start up and until the motor warms up.

Remember Cold starts are not just when it is 0 degrees F out....even room temperature for us is a cold start for a motor.

A 0W-xx is a upgrade over the 5W-xx

At operating temperature, BOTH 5W-20 and 0W-20 are 20 Weight oils.
This is sometimes not understood.
Look at the HTHS value to compare most closely what the oil will be like in warmed up operation.
 
So other than cost, why even continue to make/sell/buy/use 5W-20? At my Walmart, by the way, both M1 oils discussed here cost the same...about $6 and change/qt. Plus the M1 0w-20 has the really cool and comforting and "green" label that says it's "advanced", too. So why would ANYONE buy the boring, merely silver label 5w-20 right next to it?
 
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Originally Posted By: Daryll
So other than cost, why even continue to make/sell/buy/use 5W-20? At my Walmart, by the way, both M1 oils discussed here cost the same...about $6 and change/qt. Plus the M1 0w-20 has the really cool and comforting and "green" label that says it's "advanced", too. So why would ANYONE buy the boring, merely silver label 5w-20 right next to it?


Because the popular misconcetption is that 0wXX is too thin.
 
Originally Posted By: jorton
Originally Posted By: Daryll

ExxonMobil has a line of oils that's supposed to make your car more fuel efficient. It's Advanced Fuel Economy Mobil 1 0w-20 and 0w-30. If everyone in the US runs this oil, we'll consume a little less fuel.
6 of one, half dozen of the other.

The most fuel efficient oil on the market is undoubtedly the EOM made Toyota 0W-20; it's much lighter than M1's own 0W-20 at most temp's but especially at typical start-up temp's. At 32F it's a whopping 35% lighter and even 25% lighter at room temperature.
It's in a league of it's own.
 
Oh no
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. Is hths viscosity ok at all temps?
 
I use M1 0-20 in both Fords that call for 5-20. The 0-20 performs very well for 10K OCIs and more.
 
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