I don't know anything about it. At first glance, it looks promising. But I'd have to see info from a third or fourth source. Advertising hype doesn't make my socks go up and down.

A full synthetic comes from a synthetic source; as in man made in a lab. If it comes from a natural source, by definition it can't be synthetic.

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...il-technology-

http://www.synlube.com/synthetic.htm

 

Ethylene, the base material used for synthesizing PAO's, is usually derived from natural gas.

 

The local Advance Auto chain sells the jug (only 4 qts) of oil for more than 5qt jugs at Wal-Mart.

I think people just assume all jugs are 5 qts. Buyer beware.

 

 

I refuse to pay the $$$ for true synthetics. With that being said...there are numerous quality oils I can get locally for $5 or less a quart.

What would be my best choice. My car has approx 55k miles. It's a weekend toy and is mostly stock except for off road exhaust and a custom grind FTI StreetSweeper cam. My cam card says to use oil with higher zinc.

My local Wal-Mart Stocks Pennzoil Ultra in 5 qt jugs for 27.00 and M1 for 25ish every day of the week. They also stock Fram ultra filters. My local Advance Auto is always running a great deal on oils but varies month to month.

I used to use GC back in the day...but only some AutoZone's here had it on occasion and it rarely went on sale so I switched to Pennzoil Platinum and then Ultra. The last time I changed the oil (probably 2 years ago) I used 6 qt. of Ultra 5w30 and a WIX 51522. Although I'm sure it's still a great oil, it's my understanding Pennzoil Ultra SN isn't as good as the SM was. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I went by Advance Auto to see if they were running an oil/filter deal and get a jug of Mobil 1 0w40 and a Fram Ultra filter as recommended to me by a member on here and LS1tech.com. Right now they're having a deal on Castrol Edge Syntec which includes the 0w30 Euro Formula. 5 quarts for 32.99 plus a free Pure One filter or pay 2.00 more and get a K&N or Fram Ultra filter. Plus they give you 10.00 back in a rebate card. Most of the qts are made in Belgium, but they have several that is made in Germany.

Is the 0w30 still as good as it used to be and does it matter whether it's from Germany or Belgium anymore?

If so, should I stock up on this while there's a deal or would it be worth it to switch to M1 0w40?

Also, of the 3 filters, which is the best?

If the Castrol is still good stuff I'll switch back to it...especially at this price. If the M1 is better I'll switch to it and stock up when there's a sale on it in a month or two.

What do you recommend?

 

For the vast majority of cars on the road, there's no need to.

Synthetic oil has two major advantages. First, it can handle a lot of heat for a long time without breaking down. That's important with sustained high rpm's, like road racing. And with air/oil cooled engines, like a Harley or VW.

Second, they have really long drain intervals. If you drive 15,000 miles a year, you can do an oil change once a year.

Bu for the average week end toy that only see's 5-6K street miles a year, synthetic oils are a real waste of money.

As for filters, I use Purolater Pro-1. Fram is probably one of the worst filters on the market.

 

To be fair, the Fram Ultra is probably their only filter that's not terribly bad. This ONE filter from Fram has metal ends instead of the cardboard ends.

Having said that, there's plenty of better filters out there, I stay away from any and all Fram oil filters.

The cheapest filter I use is a Mobil1 extended. I stock for my vehicles Fleetguard StrataPore filters.

Let's keep this on oils people, this is a discussion about replacing German Castrol.

 

Drain89, if it's Belgium made Castrol, it's not the German Castrol that everybody has been using up until it's been discontinued.

 

Isn't the made in Belgium stuff equal to the made in Germany stuff?

 

Do we have any proof that the made in Belgium stuff isn't identical to the German?

 

If you can get ahold of the MSD sheets and look at the specs on both it may show something?

 

I was under the impression that the "german castrol" was a true synthetic and that's what made it special.

Either way, I won't run RP in my stuff because it's too damn expensive and not necessary. If I had to pay full price for Castrol I wouldn't buy it either. If I get Castrol Syntec on sale it's $30-35 with a good filter. That's not much more expensive than using name brand dino oil and having to buy a good filter.

At the end of the day, "what oil to use" might be one of the most over stressed worries for no good reason. Especially since most of the people asking change it prematurely in the first place. Several guys on here have admitted to changing synthetic oil at under 3,000 mile internals which is just wasteful (assuming the car is not stored or often started and not allowed to reach operating temp).

 

Pennzoil platinum here (not ultra) and an Eastwood zinc additive because I'm not running cats. The two SUVs get Pennzoil high mileage.

 

Our Wix or Napa gold filters run $10 minimum apiece here. I buy them buy the case for $60. That's 5 apiece. You can get a big jug of dino oil here for $10ish, and syn for $15ish. I don't see why anyone has to spend 30-35 for an oil change.

 

Where are you getting synthetic oil and filters for that price for that price. I get Wix filters from RockAuto for a little under $5 but if I could pick them up without paying shipping that would be great.

 

Where do you buy them by the case like that? That does make for a good deal.

I believe last time I looked our oil prices at WalMart here even the store brand was $13 for 5 qts and most dinos were around $15. But doing as you suggest would be a good deal.

 

Just loaded 7 quartz into the Hemi yesterday...but I only use HPS with RP . R P said that the HPS can last longer than their regular synthetic oil because of a better additive package they added to the oil.. I can't confirm that but new gen Hemi are known to have that "Hemi Tic" and the stroker in my truck doesn't "tic" with HPS.

.I haven't found a store that carries it so it is ordered in..

All my other cars have Mobile 1 Syn.. with either a Mobile 1 filter or a Wix filter

 

I just bought the last 32 qts of German Castrol in my area. Unless the Belgian 0w-30 turns out to be as good...I'll be going to M1 0w-40 when it's out.

 

I updated and rescored the chart to include a bunch of oils listed here: Valvoline, redline, Rotella, etc etc


5W30 Synthetic Oil Comparison Chart

I'm having a helluva hard time finding info on the Joe Gibbs oil.

And the Rotella info I found was for PC1303, I need to find out if that is their T6 oil or another branch of their 5W30 lineup

Some of these guys make it so damn difficult to get product information

 

There's many sources that state the four ball wear test is mostly for grease and heavy gear oil testing-and few oil manufacturer perform the test on motor oils.

I found a much better and detailed oil test result page, in for a long read?

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30483