Before you read on, let me assure you that I have absolutely NO affiliation with any of the parties mentioned. I've never even bought anything from them yet, nor are they even aware I am posting this. I have nothing whatsoever to gain from this except to see some acceptance for a product that I believe in, from a company I appreciate.

Let me also assure you that every single gripe and quip about this stuff has already been made and answered. If anything you read here - or the fact that the products are not yet widely used - is a deal-breaker for you, please be respectful and move on.




Some of you may have heard of Renewable Lubricants, Inc. (a.k.a. RLI). If you haven't yet, you will. Long story short, they are a mom-and-pop operation making automotive lubricants from renewable resources on a farm in the middle of Ohio, and the stuff they make just might be the best ever seen.

Their claim to fame nowadays is that they are the only known company with an oil that works properly in US-market Audi RS4s. Those cars are apparently chewing up and spitting out flagship high-dollar street and racing oils from Mobil, Castrol, Red Line, Motul, Fuchs, Elf, and others, including ones that were officially approved by Audi/VW: None of them would run more than 3,000 miles in those engines without needing to be changed at the risk of severe engine wear. In the same cars, RLI's products have run well over 6k miles with no need to be changed. And this isn't someone's butt dyno talking, or some n00b looking at the oil on the end of the dipstick and saying "OMGZ IT'S STILL CLEAR!!!11" These results were validated by numerous oil analyses under the personal direction of Terry Dyson, perhaps the most respected freelance lubrication consultant in the industry.

I'll spare you the gritty details. If you want to read more, click below:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/foru...886906&fpart=1

One of RLI's own favorite stories is one of a professional drag racing team (funny cars) that was using Kendall GT-1 Racing oil, one of the most respected and well-established racing oils on the market. Their engine had reached a point at which valvetrain components were actually welding themselves together over the course of each run down the track. They swapped out the Kendall for something from RLI and the problem went away.

The secret is in RLI's unique plant-based esters. Esters in general are great for oil because they stick to metals and form really strong films to prevent metal-to-metal contact, and withstand heat extremely well without losing performance or breaking down. That's a big part of why Red Line and some Motul oils are so great. The plant-based esters that RLI uses are even better in those respects than the synthetic ones used by the more commercial brands. But engine oil has to have a lot of ingredients to keep it working over thousands of miles, and the challenge with plant-based esters is that they don't usually play well with those ingredients. RLI solved that problem by engineering plant breeds such that the esters they produce are easier to work with.

I'm not going to try to tell you the big boys couldn't have figured this out if they wanted to. It's just that bio-based products aren't as profitable as petroleum products for people who don't need synthetic, nor are they easy to market to people who want high-end stuff because they're not "synthetic" (although these oils do contain a lot of synthetic components). But it works, and the results are extremely promising.

So, what does this mean for you?

The thread I linked to earlier gives the details, but the short version is this: RLI's engine oils lubricate and clean better than virtually everything else on the market, they don't leave deposits or coke up in turbos, and they actually PREVENT oil consumption, fuel dilution, and emissions by improving piston ring sealing. And most of all, they deserve your money because they are a small operation with great technology, and they're doing it all with renewable resources right here in the US.

It's pretty self explanatory: You should buy it.

Terry Dyson actually uses RLI oils in his own cars, and he personally oversaw the development of the specially tweaked blends that RLI produced for the RS4. Incidentally, that development process was financed *personally* by an RS4 owner who goes by RI_RS4 on various forums. So, if you come across him, you can drop him a line if you have questions.

RLI's engine oils come in a wide range of viscosities. When I spoke with Terry Dyson, he said the 10w-30 would be great even for Philly winters. So, a group buy would probably be for that and/or the 5w-30.

If you're interested, PM me or just post here. If there's sufficient interest, I will contact RLI to get something going. Maybe we could also get a deal going with Terry Dyson on discounted oil analyses so that our usage can contribute to the development of the products.

 

I sent you a PM.......

 

Replied...

 

I'm interested, any idea of estimated cost?

 

They only sell by the gallon now and price varies greatly by grade and quantity. I can tell you that 1 gallon of 10w-30 or 5w-30 comes out to about $7.60/qt, but I have no idea what the final price would be or if they'd be able to do quart bottles for a group buy. I can tell you that as far as I'm aware, the price will drop fairly significantly if we get a good amount of people together.

 

Interested but poor.

 

Werd. But if I can go 6k or more between oil changes, I might consider.
Jae

 

6k?


Start considering.

 

Ok then, I'm in for a year's supply. I drive about 25k/yr. I currently change every 3k or so. If the product's as good as you say, and I can safely do 6k or more, great! Do you think RLI 10w-30 is ok for my engine of 205k?

Jae

 

10w-30 would be great. Just use a good oil filter and air filter and you'll be set.

 

I feel bad that I haven't read all the stickies/reports on oil and filters. I use Premium filters or Nissan.

Jae

 

Has Audi tried the oils designed for Desiel applications yet? That's some tough oil.

 

I'm not sure if they tried any HDEOs. Those oils do have a huge amount of detergents and anti-wear additives, which is great for diesel engines because they are very demanding (especially in terms of barrier protection) and tend to produce a lot of soot. But when those antiwear additives burn off (inevitable with any engine to some extent), the by-products can cause damage to the catalytic converter, which is obviously not good.

Fuel dilution was the root of the problems the US-market RS4s were having anyway. An HDEO wouldn't really have been enough of an improvement over a good PCMO with a high TBN and good basestock because, while it would certainly tolerate fuel dilution better, it wouldn't prevent the problem from happening in the first place as RLI's oils did.

 

BTW, I just opened a dialog with RLI. Let's see what we can cook up.

 

Sent you a PM.

 

Responded.

 

Alright, since it seems that I only have 2 more quarts of Amsoil left and am 5,600 miles on the last batch of oil, I'm probably in. LMK

 

Any news on this D00D ?

 

alright d00d, your name's mud. i need oil, stat. get on it!11onelim(x->0)sin(x)/x

 

Just saw this, potentially interested.

 

d00d, i need that oil yesterday. where's you at ****?

 

Sorry for the lull, guys. Prices for the 5w-30 are as follows:


$9.81 per quart

$30.50 per gallon


Shipping not included. If it's any indication, shipping 5 quarts from them to Philly comes in under $12.


If interest for this stuff ends up being localized enough that we can ship 50+ quart bottles to each location (e.g. we ship the stuff to shops or organized meets in a few cities to dole the stuff out), the price comes down drastically: it's $9.24 per quart, which isn't much of a difference, but we'll save a lot on shipping.


Let me know what you guys think. I have at least a few people in the Philly area who'd be in on this, so anyone else around here should definitely post up here and/or PM me.

 

Could you somehow quote me for 2 gallons shipped to 93103?