ZX1?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
2,518
Location
London, England
Just wondering if anybody on the forum has ever used this additive.

www.team-zx1.com

Contains no PTFE, Moly or Zinc Dialkyldithiophospate.

Note is is used by NATO and does indeed have NATO stock number.

Apparently it is re-engineered hydrocarbon molecules.

And you can add it to oil, coolant or even brake fluid.
 
"re-engineered hydrocarbon molecules" is bogus by itself. But if that wasn't enough, the last line is all I need to know that it is worthless and potentially dangerous.

Originally Posted By: bigjl

And you can add it to oil, coolant or even brake fluid.
 
Reasoning?

I have used it several times, it is also used a lot in motorsport in the UK.

It should be pointed out that it is a metal treatment and only uses the fluid it is in as a medium rather than changing the fluid itself.

I was hoping for a little bit more constructive comments than the usual it must be Snakeoil.
 
Last edited:
Well, in general anything that is "one size fits all" or multi-use is always never good at any any one of the tasks. But what alarms me is that motor oil is petroleum based, brake fluid is not (generally a glycol ether) and coolant is water based. What's the carrier for the additive that is soluble in all three?

Let's say it is hydrocarbon based. Do you want to dump that in your brake reservoir? What if it is water based? Do you want to dump that in either your engine or the brakes? Not me.

Anything hydrocarbon based is "re-engineered molecules". There's no primary use for unrefined crude oil.

Originally Posted By: bigjl
Reasoning?
 
Nothing goes in brake fluid, motor oil and coolant. That's absurd.

A nato stock number requires anyone with a pulse to fill out paperwork and wait 90 days. That's not an indication of quality by any means.

In the US we have all sorts of absolute garbage. Having a patent and an ad on the speed channel don't somehow make snake oil a quality product.
 
"It has been tested by the most rigorous testing procedures by standard industrial tests that are the benchmark of friction and wear lubrication performance worldwide"

Okay, let's see the name of the Independent Lab???
 
That - right there - again - is all one needs to know.

If someone tests something to standards, they list the standards and the methodology. This is total garbage.

Whose procedures? What "standard industrial test"? And anything can be very rigorous and still be worthless. I could run an extremely rigorous test of horse hair as a fire retardant. It is completely unusable as a fire retardant but the tests I used were very rigorous.

I still go back to my belief that if something was really stupendous then a major manufacturer like Mobil would already have discovered it and would be utilizing it in their formulations. I honestly don't believe that in the complex world of motor oil additive research there is still room for hobbyist "discoveries".

Originally Posted By: Spector
"It has been tested by the most rigorous testing procedures by standard industrial tests that are the benchmark of friction and wear lubrication performance worldwide"
 
Originally Posted By: bigjl
Just wondering if anybody on the forum has ever used this additive.

www.team-zx1.com

Contains no PTFE, Moly or Zinc Dialkyldithiophospate.

Note is is used by NATO and does indeed have NATO stock number.

Apparently it is re-engineered hydrocarbon molecules.

And you can add it to oil, coolant or even brake fluid.


You can probably add it to drinking water, but the best place to add a snake oil to, is the rubbish bin.
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
A nato stock number requires anyone with a pulse to fill out paperwork and wait 90 days. That's not an indication of quality by any means.


Indeed - similar to products that tout their EPA or TÜV approvals (which typically only meas it doesn't have an effect on vehicle emissions). It means exactly nothing about the product's quality or suitability for use.

Or my favorite - ISO 9001 certification. It's just a management & paperwork standard. You can make the worst products on the face of the earth and still remain fully ISO 9001 qualified... you just need to document everything in their framework.

ZX1 sounds like unadulterated snake oil to me.
 
A NATO stock number? What is it used in? All that mens is that someone somehwere in the supply chain ordered a bottle or two.

The guy who makes Synlube also claims to it's used by NASA in, IIRC, the Mars rover. Naturally, he couldn't provide any proof.

And how good can a "jack of all trades, master of none." really be if it can be added to coolant, oil, brake fluid. The only thing they have in common AFAIK is that they're wet.
 
A very interesting set of comments.

I have today been reading the Marvel Mystery Oil website and I wonder if any forum members have used that?

It does seem to have little in the way of scientific facts published and relys on people's opinion and experiences with the product.

It also makes some bold claims.


I didn't see any mention of use by NATO Forces though.

And I have a relative that used to work in RLC (royal logistics ) and he says he has indeed seen it in the stores but be is not aware what they used it for.



I am just wondering if there will be the same reaction to MMO as there has been to my question relating to ZX1.

It seems fairly obvious that MMO is indeed snake oil especially as the web site are somewhat similar in relying on customer experience over scientific results.
 
You will get the same reaction from me
smile.gif


Originally Posted By: bigjl
I am just wondering if there will be the same reaction to MMO as there has been to my question relating to ZX1.
 
I have actually ordered the Extralube ZX1, for a 2008 model Skoda Octavia 1.9 PD turbodiesel.

I did investigate a bit, before ordering it.

I am quite sure this can be a good product, but I need to try it personally.

I have also been using a product called Polytron, and ZX1 have many similar properties.
Longer OCI, less noise from engine and less oil consumption are the most noticeable benefits from Polytron.

However, the ZX1 last 25000 miles, before you have to add it again, versus Polytron 10000 miles(regardless of oil changes).

The micro polishing that both products do(flattens out the small craters in metal, and making the surface totally smooth), can be compared with how a samurai sword is made.

This makes the metal surface much harder than it was to begin with.

I have found tha Polytron oil additive is working, so I thought it would be worth a try.

It is quite interesting that you can mix ZX1 with brake fluid(5%).

Race drivers report that their brakes becomes more responsive, when doing this.
 
K

Originally Posted By: jonny-b
I have actually ordered the Extralube ZX1, for a 2008 model Skoda Octavia 1.9 PD turbodiesel.

I did investigate a bit, before ordering it.

I am quite sure this can be a good product, but I need to try it personally.

I have also been using a product called Polytron, and ZX1 have many similar properties.
Longer OCI, less noise from engine and less oil consumption are the most noticeable benefits from Polytron.

However, the ZX1 last 25000 miles, before you have to add it again, versus Polytron 10000 miles(regardless of oil changes).

The micro polishing that both products do(flattens out the small craters in metal, and making the surface totally smooth), can be compared with how a samurai sword is made.

This makes the metal surface much harder than it was to begin with.

I have found tha Polytron oil additive is working, so I thought it would be worth a try.

It is quite interesting that you can mix ZX1 with brake fluid(5%).

Race drivers report that their brakes becomes more responsive, when doing this.
 
No.

It is not the same as ZMax.

ZMax does not smooth out the metal surface, but is gradually "seeping" out from the metal.
Polytron and ZX1, prevents small particles to be broken off from the surface, and instead these tops are smoothed out, over the craters in the metal.

This makes a very thin, extremely strong outer layer of metal.

Besides, ZMax doesn't last 25000 miles between treatments.
 
Last edited:
Whatever helps you to sleep at night.

Originally Posted By: jonny-b
Polytron and ZX1, prevents small particles to be broken off from the surface, and instead these tops are smoothed out, over the craters in the metal.

This makes a very thin, extremely strong outer layer of metal.
 
kschachn, comments like the one you gave here, is not making this board any better.

I suppose you at lest have been at the respective additives homepages, or at least have Googled them, before you throw out meaningless comments like that?

badtlc asked a concrete question, and I thought I could tell him what I have read about it.

It's that simple.
 
Last edited:
I completely disagree. My comment "Whatever helps you to sleep at night" is exactly on target for this stuff. People read the total nonsense on their website, believe it, buy the product, put it in their engine/brake fluid/coolant/bloodstream and feel better and sleep better.

Hopefully, that is the greatest benefit to the product, the worst that can happen is that it damages something.

There's one statement on the front page of their website that tells me all I need to know. "Virtually eliminates friction". Oil virtually eliminates friction in a properly engineered application with no need of anything other than what the manufacturer adds to their formula.

Seriously - if this stuff did all that it claims to do - do you really think GM, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda, BMW or Mercedes wouldn't be all over this stuff?

Originally Posted By: jonny-b
kschachn, comments like the one you gave here, is not making this board any better.

I suppose you at lest have been at the respective additives homepages, or at least have Googled them, before you throw out meaningless comments like that?

badtlc asked a concrete question, and I thought I could tell him what I have read about it.

It's that simple.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top