I was talking to a guy the other day and he said that synthetic in oil is just plastic. I've never heard of this. I didn't think it was true but I'm asking just to be sure.
A reason why I don't believe him is because he is convinced that Castrol Syntec is the best oil out there available. And we started to argue about castrol not even being a true synthetic oil but he didn't want to listen.

 

According to our oil analysis data, Castrol Syntec is probably the worst "synthetic oil blend" there is out there. Even Castrol GTX out performs the Syntec product line. My own car is prof of that. Take a look at the oil analysis spread sheet in the sticky thread. My car had worse numbers with Syntec then GTX.

Mobil 1 and Amsoil are the synthetics you want.
Castrol GTX is probably the best Dino oil out there.

Castrol Syntec isn't a very good oil.

 

What is synthetic oil actually made of though? Is it plastic? If so, why is it synthetic? Plastic is made from oil... basically.

 

the oil molecules were artificially created in a laboratory. hence the name synthetic. synthetic oil isnt mined somewhere in the middle east.

also, the synthetic molecules are smaller in size so they flow better and can reach more places inside your engine.

 

so where is the synthetic fuel?

 

In a nutshell, PAO based synthetics like Amsoil and Mobil 1 are created by combining ethylene molecules into hydrocarbon chains of uniform size and shape. Polyolesters, like Redline, are created by combining an alcohol and an acid.

I wouldn't put Castrol Syntec in the worst beater out there, it's junk for the money they charge.

 

Why is castrol GTX the best dino oil?

 

anyone?

 

Sorry, not a chemist. My guess would be it's way too impractical and not cost effective at this time. Research has been focused on stuff like ethanol fuels instead of hydro-carbon based one's instead

 

They use a pretty high quality base (relatively) and a good additive package that holds up better over time than other similarly priced conventionals. Used oil analysis reports from this forum and others have indicated that the GTX holds up fine and is not just based on opinion. With the Syntec line, Castrol decided to take the cheapest possible "ingredients" that they could get away with, called it synthetic and jacked up the price. Basically, they got greedy.