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Motor oil test, shocking results Mobil 1, Redline, Royal Purple, etc

I have tried Amsoil once and didn't care for it much for the price at the time. Until about 2 years ago I used Mobil 1, with no complaints. I tried Royal Purple and was very pleased with it. I now use it in both my Accord and my NSX(both are tracked). I thought I was crazy, but my car seems to run noticably smoother with the Royal Purple. My wife had my Accord at her work one day and bought the oil and did an oil change and told me that the car does run smoother, especially after an oil change. I have been curious to try Eneos but is even more expensive than the Royal Purple.

You know what, I noticed the same thing when i changed from Mobil 1 to Royal Purple just a few days ago. The chatter I usually get around 2500 rpm went down noticably. It idles smoother.
 
I have been curious to try Eneos but is even more expensive than the Royal Purple.

I used Eneos synthetic during my 240sx days. Personally, Royal Purple is better than Eneos. Eneos is sorta like Shell over here, just a little better quality. The price difference is because of importing fees. When I ran Royal Purple in my car, I actually dyno'd a couple more HP than I did with Eneos (brand new).

How I saw it, it was just bragging rights to have JDM oil in your car. Stick with AMSOil or Royal.
 
so in conclusion is mobil 1 better for the nsx or royal purple?:confused:
i've been using mobil 1 in my cars for years and i never had a problem but than again, i never took any oil samples and send them to a lab. Do you think its possible to get a little more power from switching over from mobil 1 to royal purple? But i also don't want to sacrifice protection either.
 
maybe a bit off topic, but any facts on Agip oil??

I use it in my Lambo and had to switch from 10W40 to Racing 4T 20W50 to help keep the oil temps under 120C...still wandering over and close to the 140yellow bar and the 150 max red bar when running hard and keeping the revs high. Keeping 15 quarts cool aint easy! :eek:

Thinking about switching to Royal Purple, I already did for the tranny oil.
 
Ive always heard amazing things about Royal Purple and never really took hearsay too seriously until the auto the that works on my Lambo and alot of other local exotics strongly recomended it. This make it a little easier to swithc next oil change

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil Tests.pdf
 
I did several months of research on oils trying to determine if there was a better oil. I primarly was looking at Royal Purple and Redline.

What I discovered, is that oils, both dino and synthetic, are vastly different, in both their basestock and their additives. These differences contribute to differences in performance.

The API classifies oils into five different groups.

Group I base oils are the least refined of all of the groups. They are usually a mix of different hydrocarbon chains with little or no uniformity. While some automotive oils use these stocks, they are generally used in less demanding applications.

Group II base oils are common in mineral based motor oils. They have fair to good performance in the areas of volatility, oxidation stability, wear prevention and flash/fire points. They have only fair performance in areas such as pour point and cold crank viscosity. Group II base stocks are what the majority of engine oils are made from. 3000 mile oil changes are the norm.

Group III base oils are subjected to the highest level of refining of all the mineral oil stocks. Although not chemically engineered, they offer improved performance in a wide range of areas as well as good molecular uniformity and stability. By definition they are considered a synthesized material and can be used in the production of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants. Group III is used in the vast majority of full synthetics or synthetic blends. They are superior to group I and II oils but still have limitations. Some formulations are designed for extended oil changes. AMSOIL XL Motor Oils, Castrol Syntec and many others fall into this category.

Group IV are polyalphaolefins (PAO) which are a chemically engineered synthesized basestocks. PAOs offer excellent stability, molecular uniformity and performance over a wide range of lubricating properties. AMSOIL SAE Synthetic Motor Oils and Mobil 1 primarily use group IV basestocks. PAO is a much more expensive basestock than the highly refined petroleum oil basestock of Group III.

Group V base oils are also chemically engineered stocks that do not fall into any of the categories previously mentioned. Typical examples of group V stocks are Esters, polyglycols and silicone. Redline uses an ester basestock.

In the 90s, Mobil filed suit against Castrol for falsely advertising Syntec oil as synthetic, when in fact it contained a Group III, highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil, instead of a chemically synthesized (group IV or V) basestock. Due to the amount that the mineral oil had been chemically changed, the judge decided in Castrol's favor. As a result, any oil containing this highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil (currently called Group III basestock by the American Petroleum Institute) can be marketed as a synthetic oil. Since the original synthetic basestock (polyalphaolefin or PAO) is much more expensive than the Group III basestock, most of the oil blenders switched to the Group III basestock, which significantly increased their profit margins.

When I was trying to decide between Royal Purple and Redline, I discovered AMSOIL. What impressed me about AMSOIL was that it used the same basestock as the stock Mobil 1 (Group IV PAO basestock), but used oil analysis reports showed AMSOIL used higher levels of detergents and anti-wear additives. This was somewhat confirmed when Mobil 1 came out with their Extended Performance Mobil 1. When Mobil 1 came out with this new product, at the time they claimed that it had about 50% more detergent and anti-wear additives than the regular Mobil 1.

What turned me off to Royal Purple were several poor used oil analysis reports I reviewed, and the fact that they did not say on their website what type of basestock they used. Other companies such as Redline, Mobil 1, and AMSOIL were very up front with their basestock, so I wondered what Royal Purple was trying to hide.

My research indicated to me that Redline was (and still is) a very good oil, but I was somewhat concerned that its basestock was Group V, an ester basestock, and I'd read a few bad reports on the ester's effects on seals in the Corvette transmission.

Now, I'm heading towards Amsoil.
 
I did several months of research on oils trying to determine if there was a better oil. I primarly was looking at Royal Purple and Redline.

What I discovered, is that oils, both dino and synthetic, are vastly different, in both their basestock and their additives. These differences contribute to differences in performance.

The API classifies oils into five different groups.

Group I base oils are the least refined of all of the groups. They are usually a mix of different hydrocarbon chains with little or no uniformity. While some automotive oils use these stocks, they are generally used in less demanding applications.

Group II base oils are common in mineral based motor oils. They have fair to good performance in the areas of volatility, oxidation stability, wear prevention and flash/fire points. They have only fair performance in areas such as pour point and cold crank viscosity. Group II base stocks are what the majority of engine oils are made from. 3000 mile oil changes are the norm.

Group III base oils are subjected to the highest level of refining of all the mineral oil stocks. Although not chemically engineered, they offer improved performance in a wide range of areas as well as good molecular uniformity and stability. By definition they are considered a synthesized material and can be used in the production of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants. Group III is used in the vast majority of full synthetics or synthetic blends. They are superior to group I and II oils but still have limitations. Some formulations are designed for extended oil changes. AMSOIL XL Motor Oils, Castrol Syntec and many others fall into this category.

Group IV are polyalphaolefins (PAO) which are a chemically engineered synthesized basestocks. PAOs offer excellent stability, molecular uniformity and performance over a wide range of lubricating properties. AMSOIL SAE Synthetic Motor Oils and Mobil 1 primarily use group IV basestocks. PAO is a much more expensive basestock than the highly refined petroleum oil basestock of Group III.

Group V base oils are also chemically engineered stocks that do not fall into any of the categories previously mentioned. Typical examples of group V stocks are Esters, polyglycols and silicone. Redline uses an ester basestock.

In the 90s, Mobil filed suit against Castrol for falsely advertising Syntec oil as synthetic, when in fact it contained a Group III, highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil, instead of a chemically synthesized (group IV or V) basestock. Due to the amount that the mineral oil had been chemically changed, the judge decided in Castrol's favor. As a result, any oil containing this highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil (currently called Group III basestock by the American Petroleum Institute) can be marketed as a synthetic oil. Since the original synthetic basestock (polyalphaolefin or PAO) is much more expensive than the Group III basestock, most of the oil blenders switched to the Group III basestock, which significantly increased their profit margins.

When I was trying to decide between Royal Purple and Redline, I discovered AMSOIL. What impressed me about AMSOIL was that it used the same basestock as the stock Mobil 1 (Group IV PAO basestock), but used oil analysis reports showed AMSOIL used higher levels of detergents and anti-wear additives. This was somewhat confirmed when Mobil 1 came out with their Extended Performance Mobil 1. When Mobil 1 came out with this new product, at the time they claimed that it had about 50% more detergent and anti-wear additives than the regular Mobil 1.

What turned me off to Royal Purple were several poor used oil analysis reports I reviewed, and the fact that they did not say on their website what type of basestock they used. Other companies such as Redline, Mobil 1, and AMSOIL were very up front with their basestock, so I wondered what Royal Purple was trying to hide.

My research indicated to me that Redline was (and still is) a very good oil, but I was somewhat concerned that its basestock was Group V, an ester basestock, and I'd read a few bad reports on the ester's effects on seals in the Corvette transmission.

Now, I'm heading towards Amsoil.


Batman,

We really appreaciate your research. It is helpful .
The question is now the chart that was posted - is it a biased data by the independent researcher who did not name themselves?

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Batman,

We really appreaciate your research. It is helpful .
The question is now the chart that was posted - is it a biased data by the independent researcher who did not name themselves?

That is really helpful information that "Batmans" did. I guess he was so proud of his effort that he posted it in practically every car forum on the planet. :rolleyes:
 
I still think all this oil talk is biased.

Redline's terrible. No Redline's great! Royal purple's great! No Royal Purple's terrible. Mobil1 is great!...

I run Shell Rotella T in the Z because it's apparently one of the better oils for a turbocharged engine, always ran Mobil1 in the NSX and G35. I can't tell you whether I had excessive wear or not, but I sure did enjoy my car and many aspects thereof without worrying that my car is dying.

You talk about oil brands when there's nothing else about the car you know to talk about haha. :tongue:
 
Road raced a Super Sport 400 Honda for years and the valve train would barely last for one race with normal oils. It would last two to three races with AMSOIL (our sponsor) but a whole season with Mobil 1 (10-12 races) so we ran Mobil 1.
 
The original test is 9 years old. Is there any newer data(oil tests) out there?
 
Whoa! Just took the time to check out the "Test" . That test is designed for EP* oils not engine oil and is popular among "mouse milk"** salesmen . Sorry, not a valid test for engine oil.



*extreme pressure --I.E. rear end and transmission

** STP,Bardahl,Etc.
 
you guys are all wrong I have a girl I know that works in the husbandry department of a local zoo.... she got me 5.5 qts of lion sperm

I didn't think it would work in my NSX but said lets try it.. drained all the oil out and filled it with lion sperm.

that was 4 years ago.... have not changed it since when you pull the dip stick out the sperm is still white and if you look real close
you can see the sperm is still alive..

I tell you what I will never switch back to normal motor oil for my NSX is so 20th century tech
 
you guys are all wrong I have a girl I know that works in the husbandry department of a local zoo.... she got me 5.5 qts of lion sperm

I didn't think it would work in my NSX but said lets try it.. drained all the oil out and filled it with lion sperm.

that was 4 years ago.... have not changed it since when you pull the dip stick out the sperm is still white and if you look real close
you can see the sperm is still alive..

I tell you what I will never switch back to normal motor oil for my NSX is so 20th century tech

If you had posted that at 2:30am the night your team won the superbowl, OK, that's no surprise. But 8:51am on a Friday? Shawn, WTF!?!?!?!? LOL
 
you guys are all wrong I have a girl I know that works in the husbandry department of a local zoo.... she got me 5.5 qts of lion sperm

I didn't think it would work in my NSX but said lets try it.. drained all the oil out and filled it with lion sperm.

that was 4 years ago.... have not changed it since when you pull the dip stick out the sperm is still white and if you look real close
you can see the sperm is still alive..

I tell you what I will never switch back to normal motor oil for my NSX is so 20th century tech

How in hell did she extract the lion sperm? The way girls usually do, LOL?
 
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