DuraLube?

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My father is convinced that DuraLube is great! He uses it in every motorized contraption he owns. He tried to pour it in my car one day when I was changing oil at his house. I had to explain to him why I was using FP and LC with that "overpriced Red Line Stuff" and that huge filter. He wasn't convinced. Could someone fill me in on why this stuff is so illrespected?

ThanX
 
Not an answer for you, but some interesting info on the company.

BTW they are allowed to advertise:
Increase power, MPG and Reduce friction

Duralube to get rebuilding effort

By Kathy Showalter
Business First of Columbus
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET July 3, 2005
Entrepreneur Alan T. Rudy might be called a betting man.

Rudy, who founded Express-Med Inc., a medical supplies mail-order business he sold three years ago, has spent $3 million to buy the assets of Duralube, a motor additive with serious sponsorship connections to NASCAR.

The purchase was made in mid-June in Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut, where Duralube Corp.'s former owner, Media Group Inc., filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

Over the next three years, Rudy and business partner James Scott hope to grow Into Great Brands Inc., which owns Duralube and two other automotive-related product lines, from a $5 million business to one that records $100 million in annual sales.

To make the leap, the pair intend to use Scott's business connections. Scott, who is now chief executive of Columbus-based Into Great Brands, twice represented Slick 50, a rival automotive lubricant now owned by Shell Pennzoil-Quaker State, a part of Shell Oil Co.

"Jim Scott has done this twice," Rudy said. "I think he can do it a third time."

Selling expertise
Observers might conclude that instead of selling medical products, Rudy is now pushing automotive aftermarket goods. That's not quite accurate. His companies also sell telephone answering and selling services and pharmacy insurance.

But what Rudy really offers is financing and management guidance.

Two years ago he launched Into Great Companies Inc., a management consulting firm in Columbus that provides expertise to fledgling businesses that Rudy chooses to fund. In addition to working with Into Great Brands, Into Great Companies helps Preceptionist Inc., a telephone answering business that specializes in generating sales; MemberHealth, a drug discount insurance business that administers the Golden Buckeye Card program in Ohio; and Freedom Mobile Oil Change, which provides car oil changes at customers' homes or businesses.

"We look for companies in good markets (and with) good margins that need management help to grow to the next level," he said.

Into Great Companies was already helping Motorkote Inc., another auto petroleum products line. Duralube was added to that business and the name was changed to Into Great Brands.

Like Duralube, Motorkote sells consumer products. And it will be Scott's job to build a network of retailers such as Wal-Mart, Pep Boys and Auto Zone to carry the products.

Rudy said Scott knows how to build those retail networks as well as fashion direct-to-consumer advertising to sell motor oils.

"That's the magic elixir that Jim and his team have," Rudy said. "They understand how to balance the relationship with the distributor with advertising money. They have the analytics to provide feedback."

Rudy and Scott are partners in Into Great Brands. Other executives are Jim Dolin, chief financial officer, and Bill Beichner, president.

Scott said there's a lot of work needed to reconnect Duralube with distributors, particularly in mending relationships damaged by Media Group's bankruptcy.

"This (Duralube) suffered from neglect," Scott said. "That's why it was in bankruptcy. Our job is to let (retailers) know that a seasoned management team has taken over the brand. There's a lot of finessing we have to do."

Under its previous owner, Duralube became embroiled in a 2000 complaint by the Federal Trade Commission, charging Media Group and its affiliated companies of making false or unsubstantiated claims in its TV advertisements. Similar complaints were filed against other petroleum additives, including Slick 50, the brand Scott once managed.

Duralube settled the FTC suit, not admitting wrongdoing but paying a $2 million fine. Owners of Slick 50 did the same but paid a $10 million fine.

"That was pretty much industrywide," Scott said, who was not managing Slick 50 when the FTC lodged its complaint.

Into Great Brands also includes about a dozen other Motorkote products, which Scott said have a strong following in the auto fleet business. He expects Motorkote sales will grow along with Duralube's.

In the meantime, Rudy is looking for more investors for Into Great Brands.

"There's a lot of undervalued brands out there that have a lot of growth potential in them if they're property managed. If we roll up a number of those, we can have a pretty sizable company in 10 years," he said.

© 2005 Business First of Columbus

[ July 27, 2005, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: tenderloin ]
 
Nice explanation here Tribotech IJP Web Page. Basically it is in the category of Chlorinated Additive snakeoil.

I used it on an older car and it dislodged carbon leading to a carbon knock in the cylinders.
 
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