JwaxMax99

iTrader: (14)

Anyone see the new Valvoline AD.? Any thoughts on the new commercial that says. " Valvoline SynPower provides 4 times the protection as Mobil 1"
Is this marketing BS?

wyche89

probably... i dont think any synthetic oil would outperform any other synthetic 4 to 1.. it might be a little better... i'd be interested in seeing some data or hearing some experiences though

n3985

iTrader: (36)

Mobil 1 has changed their formula, for the best bang for buck synthetic oil buy Pennzoil Platinum.

10bird

I came across this while researching the "energy conserving" on oil labels.
http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/...ne_Claims.aspx

talkinghorse

iTrader: (121)

Advertising can sometimes be misleading, and from what I've seen, both Exxon-Mobil and Valvoline play the game very well. I looked at Valvoline's wear comparison and it's a joke. The first test show the percentage of phosphorous remaining in their oil versus that of two unnamed competitors, after subjecting the test oils to some 20-hr test I've never heard of. Then they drew the scale on the illustration to begin at 68 and end at 86, making their product appear to be at the top of the scale and their competitors products appear significantly lower. The Table which shows their product providing 4-times better wear protection than Mobil-1 refers to some 100-hour test, but doesn't identify it. The illustration is also absent of any scale which allows the consumer to compare actual numbers. So the bottom line is that while I'm sure Valvoline has some basis for their claims (or they'd get into a legal bind), I believe the ad is misleading.

Reviewing this data gave me the opportunity to do what I have not done in a while, and that is to compare performance data from these two products to AMSOIL synthetic lubricants. Neither Valvoline nor Mobil publish the wear performance data on their oils using industry-standard ASTM protocols, and my guess is that if you were to contact the company and ask for the test results, they would claim ignorance...I've actually done this in the past when comparing oils, and AMSOIL is the only company which freely publishes this data. From what information is available on Syn-Power and M-1, AMSOIL clearly beats them in Viscosity Index, Total Base Number and very importantly in Volatility performance. In fact, AMSOIL 5w-30 performs about twice as well as Syn-Power does in NOACK volatility testing, meaning that Syn Power will lose about twice the volume when subjected to high temperature engine operation, which in turn will contribute to chemical break-down, engine deposits, increased emissions and the need to change the oil more frequently. AMSOIL's TBN is also about 50% higher than Valvoline's, making it much more resistant to the destructive effects of acids, and capable of longer service intervals. Speaking of wear protection, AMSOIL's Signature Series oil will provide over twice the wear protection of Mobil-1 EP (and the EP oil contains significantly more additives than regular M-1) when subjected to a standardized wear test. AMSOIL openly publishes their performance data, much of which is contained on their packaging, without advertising hype.

Companies like Valvoline and Mobil spend huge money on advertising...you have to be wary.

Grimsta

I'm sure Valvo does out perform Mobil since Mobil is not a TRUE synthetic, its a Group 3 base stock.
And of course AMSoil will outperform them both, thats just science. But as far that TBN, was that a virgin or used oil sample? Because what really counts is the TBN in the used sample because then you know exactly how much of the base number is left after its been abused.

talkinghorse

iTrader: (121)

TBN numbers are from new samples. I agree that it's the amount of TBN that remains after use that is an important factor in determining the amount of oil life remaining; but when one product (Syn Power) starts out at 8 and the other (AMSOIL ASL) starts out over 12, it's a pretty good indicator that one of the products is capable of longer service intervals than the other one is...and that was the point I was making.

Grimsta

Yeah it is already at a better starting point.

JimBaratta

Yes and it's true too. I have used Valvoline in all of my cars since 1993. My Ford Ranger has 258,000 miles on it, all on Valvoline Dura Blend (they didn't have Full Syn then), same engine, no major work done, runs great to this day, My 2001 Maxima, Valvoline Durablend until last year, now Full SynPower Valvoline and 135,000 miles, no problems, no drips, no burning oil in between changes...Some poster stated, "Mobil 1 is expensive, etc.", well So is Valvoline Full Syn man, same price where I shop... Valvoline is a proven racing oil that has been the preferred oil in the USA since 1895, Mobil is a great company too, if they're out of Valvoline, I'd use it surely, but I prefer their gas to their oil...

The only other oil I'd put into my cars would be Royal Purple, and thats it.
At $10.00 a quart though, I don't see that happening in the near future. ha ha ha...

P.S. Amsoil will never touch my oil pan, they are a very shady bunch of folks over there.

95BLKMAX

iTrader: (10)

Amsoil is the best oil, hands down with proof. If JimBaratta has had bad experiences with Amsoil reps in the past it is unfortunate. It doesnt have anything to do with the product itself though. Around these parts, talkinghorse is the man for Amsoil, with world-class customer service and a long history of years here on then org to back it up.

I personally most say that the VQ is quite picky for the oils you put in it. At least i could literally hear the difference in how the engine idled and ran when it was on dino oil and synthetic.

I always used Mobil1. I tried other Synthetic oils for their cheaper price (at the time) like Castrol Synthetic... yea the engine ran as if it had dino oil. I tried several OTC synthetic oils and I will attest that there were only 2 oils that my engine absolutely loved (as far as idle and reving smoothness/ longevity/ cleanness over 5k-6kmi with a filter change in between/ and cost)-
- Valvoline SynPower
- Quaker State Q-Power

I have yet to look up the actual comparison data between the brands, but for the last year I had the VQ it was running on SynPower or Q-Power (whichever was on Sale at the time of oil change lol)

firebirdude

Advertising is FREQUENTLY misleading. I don't have time to read every oil bulletin/report out there. Especially when things change every other day. Mobil has always/will always be a solid brand name, so I buy it. Is brand B 2% better? Maybe. But who cares? Move on with life.

nissandrvr98

iTrader: (3)

wow...too many noobies in here for this discussion to have ANY credibility[on the org].

...i think a few of you need to read a bit more about what you're discussing or cite your sources

JimBaratta

Don't marginalize me because I haven't made 800 posts like you pal. I have experience with oil in my vehicles and since my last post have gone over 275,000 in my Ranger, 145,000 in my Maxima and have a new car a Jaguar Vandenplas in which I use either Valvoline Full Syn or Royal Purple 5W30, found a seller on EBay where you can get 24 quarts of RP 5W30 for less than $180 and free shipping, cant beat that for the best motor oil on the planet...

I do my own oil changes and have found that my engines on all of my cars have performed exemplary with Valvoline and sometimes Mobil and now Royal Purple for the Jag...AMSoil is good oil, but some of their adds are more misleading the anyone who says Pennzoil is good oil...

Cheers,

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

JimBaratta, the problem here is that other than the mileage you've posted on your cars, you have no concrete proof of anything being better or worse than another product.

My old Maxima made it to ~223,000 miles using who-knows-what oil in it for the first 160k before I bough it. Then I beat the bejeezus out of that car until 223k when I blew the engine at the racetrack (at 7000rpm). at least 5000 miles of its life was spent ON a racetrack at full throttle. Up until the day I blew the engine, it didn't leak a drop of oil.

So what did I put in that car? Good ol' Castrol GTX. whoopie. $2.50/qt. I changed it every 6-7000 miles- basically whenever I felt like it and remembered. (cause of engine failure was rod bolt vibrated loose after 220k miles and lots of high RPM use at race track. completely unrelated to the oil.)

So again, other than a few mileage claims on two of your personal vehicles and calling Amsoil "shady characters", your comments really have little weight and don't add any useful information we didn't have last week or last month.
Nothing against you or anyone else here, but that simply doesn't give your comments much credibility- 2 posts or 20,000 posts.

..... And none of this means crap since you dug up a year-old thread to whine about your lack of credibility.

JimBaratta

Concrete...umm, let me think, My cars run good? Of course My cars running good on the oil I use can't be concrete. Not really sure on how else to explain it. And I will not make 19000 more posts to make my point.

In all I really haven't spoke harshly of any product, except the character of some of the AMSOIl folks, I met them at a car show in Pomona, and they were truly evasive about questions from the audience...Maybe just those 3 guys, maybe not, but they have a good product.

Sorry that I don't post all day like the rest of you, but if you use RP, Valvoline, Mobil 1 or Castrol you should be OK.

vball_max

iTrader: (5)

These two statements are where you lose credibility. Do a little research on bobistheoilguy.com about royal purple.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

I don't post all day either. I've been here since the site was started over ten years ago. Then again, post count doesn't mean crap if you're just talking trash, or have very few posts and actually post relevant, TRUTHFUL information.

The problems you mention with Amsoil are speculative at best. maybe the guys you ran into at a car show were n00bs and didn't know the product line (or their competitors product lines to use in comparison.) Bad salesmen are often called shady because they deflect questions they don't know the answer to so they don't have to say they don't know. (i.e. look at every politician out there. Ask them their stance on abortion or illegals or terrorists and you get a 1000 word canned response about starving children in Africa.)

Amsoil has been and is a good product, when used in the right place and with the right supporting parts. i.e. oil filters, temp ranges, proper lubricant & viscosity, etc.

Same with RP, Mobil 1, Castrol, etc.

How about concrete data?
My friend's 240SX race car ran 500+ degrees on his rear differential using "regular" gear oil. He knows it went to that temperature as that's where the sulfur containing products break down and the oil begins to stink like rotten eggs. and leaves an obvious residue on the inside of the diff.
He then coated a few spots on the inside of his diff cover with various temp indicating paints and put it back together. ran an event, and sure enough the temp paints indicated 500+ temps.

He switched to Redline fluids and they went down into the mid 400s, still had sulfur smell.
next time he tried Amsoil at the same track and got temps in the low 400s. Gear whine was noticeably reduced as well.
He now runs a mix of Redline Shockproof for its gear-cushioning effects and Amsoil gear oil be

That's the kind of concrete evidence we're looking for.

smarty666

It appears the Amsoil is the best full synthetic followed in 2nd place with a tie between Mobil-1, Valvoline, and Pennzoil. Each of the latter 3 came in 2nd place in various different categories so I would say they are about equal, with maybe Valvoline having slight advantage but even that is pushing it! I really don't think you could go wrong with any of the those companies full synthetic oil! I personally use Valvoline SynPower but I have had others do just as well with Amsoil, Mobil-1, and Castro full synthetic!

This ester stuff Nissan pushes is all bull ****!!

http://www.synthetic-motor-oil-chang...g-competitors/

xiton

What's the take on German Castrol in here? I see a lot of Castrol mentions, but never GC.

JwaxMax99

iTrader: (14)

There are many here using it, I have used it the past 5 years in my Max.
Mostly positive remarks in here, and on BITOG.

Bobo

I run Esso Extra XD3 0w30 PAO full synthetic available at the Esso bulk plant locally (a suburb of Vancouver, BC). I highly recommend this oil to Canadian members or anyone near the border who can get it. I don't believe it is available yet in the US, although I could be wrong. Apparently it is soon to carry the Mobil name, with Esso being dropped so perhaps it will be sold in the US. The last I heard the 0w40 was available in WalMart but that was a couple of years ago.

This oil is highly thought of on BITOG, is a fraction of the cost of Mobil 1 and outpeforms it on UOAs. It also lends itself to longer OCIs.

xiton

Nice! I'm using it in mine for the first time. Just changed my oil on Saturday with GC and a Mobil 1 filter. So far, so good. Engine seems to be running very smooth - maybe a placebo effect, but I like it. :

stamar

I strongly suspect this stuff is what is being sold of as store brand oreilly oil by mobil exxon.

probably walmart or omni brand as well. I got a lot i stocked up on it. in the us its sold under omni brands which is a division of mobil exxon

actually is there a picture of esso oils plastic bottles?

icedclimber

For most of my civics life Ive done 6000 mile or so oil changes. Then there was the occasional 7 or 8000 mile change. No problem at all. Then I did a ten thousand mile change and now the car sucks oil significantly more than it ever did before. I'm guessing that extended oil changes are not all what they are cracked up to be.

Also, I'm not convinced that there is much difference between any oil, unless you are racing perhaps. My Nissan went nearly four hundred thousand miles on dino oil, and it never smoked or used anymore oil than my civic with 173000 miles.

On a side note, I too refuse to use amsoil based on what I consider shady salesmanship. I simply wont buy into the 25000 mile oil changes they recommend, or the ridiculous hundred thousand mile changes with fancy filters. SORRY Charlie......

talkinghorse

iTrader: (121)

If you ran into an AMSOIL Dealer who provided you with incorrect information, shame on them. There's no need for any Dealer do that as the company offers extensive training material for Dealers and their sales literature contains test results of how their products perform against generally accepted industry tests and competing lubricants.

AMSOIL doesn't arbitrarily recommend their oils be used for 25,000 miles; and while oil analysis can allow some users to extend their drain intervals longer than what is recommended, I'm not aware of any AMSOIL engine oil that carries a 100K recommended service life. AMSOIL's top of the line synthetic oil for passenger car/light truck use is formulated for up to 25,000 miles or 1 year of service (whichever comes first) in mechanically sound engines when used in normal operating conditions. Severe service, vehicles with over 100K which had not been previously run on AMSOIL and modded engines shorten the drain recommendation.

You may not be aware that AMSOIL also offers two other "families" of synthetic oil for those people like you who simply don't believe extended drains intervals are possible. AMSOIL Extended Life oil is formulated for up to 10,000 miles, 6-months or longer as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer or if the vehicle is equipped with an oil life monitoring system. The other oil, AMSOIL OE, is recommended to be changed in accordance with the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations. So there's an AMSOIL synthetic motor oil that fits one's budget, driving pattern and comfort level.

Some people think that a synthetic is a synthetic and that they're all capable of extended drains, but there's big differences in the basestocks and additive packages used. Your personal experience probably resulted from the use of another brand of synthetic that was neither formulated or recommended for extended drains...so you shouldn't be surprised by the results.

Back in 1972 AMSOIL revolutionized the industry by introducing the first 100% synthetic oil that surpassed API requirements. That oil, 40 years ago, carried a 25,000 mile/1 year change recommendation. Back then, the major oil companies and the uninformed public openly rejected the concept of a "fake" (synthetic) oil and a 25,000 mile drain recommendation was unheard of given that people were commonly changing oil every 1500 miles or so. Today, every major oil company offers a synthetic oil as their premium product. For the past 40 years AMSOIL has kept with their concept of formulating high quality oils formulated for extended drains. Do you think the company would have lasted for 40 years if the products didn't perform as stated? The company has not only lasted for 40 years competing against the major oil companies, but it is growing exponentially. People are willing to spend the money for a premium product that will result in greater convenience; less environmental impact; and depending on one's driving habits, cost savings. The AMSOIL name is also gaining in brand recognition...the Valvoline site even identifies AMSOIL as a benchmark against which they compare their synthetic oil to.

The next time you receive information about AMSOIL that doesn't sound quite right, please drop me a note and I'll see if I can address your concerns.