Bluesky 07
Senior Member
There's an interesting oil comparison article in the latest Blackstone Labs newsletter.
The bottom line is that differences among the 10 brands they compared are so tiny as to be insignificant. With that said, for one of the engines tested, one of the most well-regarded brands was the worst performer:
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Shell Rotella T6 had the lowest iron wear rate, at 2.03 ppm per 1,000 miles, while Royal Purple 5W/30 had the highest wear rate, at 2.58 ppm per 1,000 miles. The difference is just over half a part per million per 1,000 miles, which is almost completely negligible.
In a typical engine, a half a part per million of the oil in the sump is such a small quantity that you wouldn’t be able to see it without a microscope. To put that in perspective, an Olympic-sized swimming pool holds about 660,000 gallons of water. One half part per million of that volume would equal just over 5 cups of water – that’s like mixing half of a 2-liter bottle of Sprite into the pool, and it makes about as much impact on your engine: if you know it’s there, it might bother you, but realistically, you’ll never notice the difference.
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So their conclusion is that paying more does not necessarily get you better results:
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Well, we’re no closer to saying that one type of oil is better than another, that’s for sure. We see much more variation in wear levels from the type of engine, the time on the oil, the viscosity, the use the engine sees, etc. Whatever differences exist from oil brand to oil brand, we don’t see a lot of difference in terms of wear for most types of engines. Now, some people report better fuel economy or other benefits from using one type of oil instead of another, and if that’s you, that’s great.
Our point here is not to tell you that you should or shouldn’t use a certain type of oil, so by all means, feel free to stick with what’s working for you. All we’re saying is, if you want to try an oil that maybe costs a little less, you probably don’t need to worry about it causing any problems.
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That lines up nicely with my own view that oil standards and refining are so good today that WalMart's SuperTech is as good as anything else on the shelf. Which really annoys me because I still tend to buy the "reputable" brands. :wacko:
The bottom line is that differences among the 10 brands they compared are so tiny as to be insignificant. With that said, for one of the engines tested, one of the most well-regarded brands was the worst performer:
==
Shell Rotella T6 had the lowest iron wear rate, at 2.03 ppm per 1,000 miles, while Royal Purple 5W/30 had the highest wear rate, at 2.58 ppm per 1,000 miles. The difference is just over half a part per million per 1,000 miles, which is almost completely negligible.
In a typical engine, a half a part per million of the oil in the sump is such a small quantity that you wouldn’t be able to see it without a microscope. To put that in perspective, an Olympic-sized swimming pool holds about 660,000 gallons of water. One half part per million of that volume would equal just over 5 cups of water – that’s like mixing half of a 2-liter bottle of Sprite into the pool, and it makes about as much impact on your engine: if you know it’s there, it might bother you, but realistically, you’ll never notice the difference.
==
So their conclusion is that paying more does not necessarily get you better results:
==
Well, we’re no closer to saying that one type of oil is better than another, that’s for sure. We see much more variation in wear levels from the type of engine, the time on the oil, the viscosity, the use the engine sees, etc. Whatever differences exist from oil brand to oil brand, we don’t see a lot of difference in terms of wear for most types of engines. Now, some people report better fuel economy or other benefits from using one type of oil instead of another, and if that’s you, that’s great.
Our point here is not to tell you that you should or shouldn’t use a certain type of oil, so by all means, feel free to stick with what’s working for you. All we’re saying is, if you want to try an oil that maybe costs a little less, you probably don’t need to worry about it causing any problems.
==
That lines up nicely with my own view that oil standards and refining are so good today that WalMart's SuperTech is as good as anything else on the shelf. Which really annoys me because I still tend to buy the "reputable" brands. :wacko:
