Age Old question---what's your favorite brand of oil

[sailor55330]

I know, this is a worn out tired debate and I've never really seen anyone come up with a decent testing method till I ran across this guy on youtube. I'm not saying his methods are perfect, but he goes about as far as anyone I've seen to actually test some key measures and then actually explain what he's testing and how he got there. Kind of interesting. I think his site is called project farm and I'm not affiliated with it in any way. He does a tournament style head-to-head of the major brands. If you look a little, you'll find many of the major brands represented. He's also not apparently sponsored, which I like. I've watched most of these and it's a little surprising the results, at least to me. I wish he would have paired them differently as I think some stronger brands were eliminated a little early due to bad draws meaning that that some brands were eliminated early, making them look worse than they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT2qa-2TuLA

[Big Block Power]

Yea I was bored one day too and watched those. Good stuff

[AsLan7]

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Olive.
(Kirkland brand is pretty darn good)

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[Ytmsn]

I'm partial to bacon grease.

[Southerncomfort]

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Olive.
(Kirkland brand is pretty darn good)

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Yeah prefer mine extra extra virgin... though my wife makes me stick to just plane old non-virgin.

[cmattj]

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Olive.
(Kirkland brand is pretty darn good)

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Same here! We use the same.
From Vodka to Micro fiber towels.. I loce Kirkland.

[sailor55330]

I'm partial to bacon grease.

You're in luck....he actually tests bacon grease as an engine oil.

[Tuscany]

I kinda like to try CBD oil for cooking...

No preference, and never cared.
I have a hard time believing there is any real difference in automotive oil. I mean, really? It goes in, it comes out. I couldn't care less what brand goes in. I've never lost an engine, so there's that.
The marketing as of late, with pinpointing different elements of supposed need is almost insulting...

[NautiGirl]

I kinda like to try CBD oil for cooking...

No preference, and never cared.
I have a hard time believing there is any real difference in automotive oil. I mean, really? It goes in, it comes out. I couldn't care less what brand goes in. I've never lost an engine, so there's that.
The marketing as of late, with pinpointing different elements of supposed need is almost insulting...

I worked for the parent company of Valvoline for about 5 years. I talked to one of our chemists about this once, he dumbed it down as much as he could for me. The basic deal is there are several different types of base oil's produced by large refineries. Everyone starts /w a combination of these same base oils and adds their own additive package and boom you have "Valvoline" or "Pennzoil".

Valvoline always struggled to find differentiation in the DIY space, by in large people use what their dad used, and his dad before him used, you get the idea. The big money was always in the DIFY or Do it For You Space. Instant Oil changes places have crazy profit margins, if we could get you into a Valvoline Instant Oil change place we were winning.

I run Castrol 5w-40 in the BMW as it is one of the few oils that meets BMW's LL-01 rating. The truck gets the same in 5w-30, because if it's good enough for BMW its good enough for my Ford - plus they are right next to each-other on the shelf at WalMart. My dad actually uses Pennzoil, no idea why, think it was cheapest one day or he likes yellow? Who knows.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ is a great resource if you want to watch people endlessly debate oil specs.

[sailor55330]

I kinda like to try CBD oil for cooking...

No preference, and never cared.
I have a hard time believing there is any real difference in automotive oil. I mean, really? It goes in, it comes out. I couldn't care less what brand goes in. I've never lost an engine, so there's that.
The marketing as of late, with pinpointing different elements of supposed need is almost insulting...

I worked for the parent company of Valvoline for about 5 years. I talked to one of our chemists about this once, he dumbed it down as much as he could for me. The basic deal is there are several different types of base oil's produced by large refineries. Everyone starts /w a combination of these same base oils and adds their own additive package and boom you have "Valvoline" or "Pennzoil".

Valvoline always struggled to find differentiation in the DIY space, by in large people use what their dad used, and his dad before him used, you get the idea. The big money was always in the DIFY or Do it For You Space. Instant Oil changes places have crazy profit margins, if we could get you into a Valvoline Instant Oil change place we were winning.

I run Castrol 5w-40 in the BMW as it is one of the few oils that meets BMW's LL-01 rating. The truck gets the same in 5w-30, because if it's good enough for BMW its good enough for my Ford - plus they are right next to each-other on the shelf at WalMart. My dad actually uses Pennzoil, no idea why, think it was cheapest one day or he likes yellow? Who knows.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ is a great resource if you want to watch people endlessly debate oil specs.

I think you're on to something about using a given product because of someone they knew. Everyone has their own reasons and rationales and success/failure stories. Ironically, when I had engine failure (the only) in a low mileage engine, I was using Castrol--so obviously for me it's a sore subject. I agree most base oils are probably very similar, but I think there might be some differences when you get into the 100% synthetics, but I'm not the one who can understand or decipher them.

I've read Bobistheoilguy and it drives me crazy. My post was more in passing and fun than anything.

[Tuscany]

For what it’s worth, although I’m not brand specific, I am 100% synthetic specific in everything I own.
My last Powerstroke diesel was turned up to the max and could spike major EGT numbers. I’ve been using synthetic oils mainly for heat stability. I also never push high mileage numbers on an oil change, 4K and it’s out. Oil is cheap.

[Driller]

For what it’s worth, although I’m not brand specific, I am 100% synthetic specific in everything I own.
My last Powerstroke diesel was turned up to the max and could spike major EGT numbers. I’ve been using synthetic oils mainly for heat stability. I also never push high mileage numbers on an oil change, 4K and it’s out. Oil is cheap.

+1

[jma2@fuse.net]

Mobil 1 for my cars; Volvo Penta for the boat.

[jhnmdahl]

Mobil 1 in my cars, although I've used Pennzoil Euro Platinum when it wasn't available (it's BMW's new repackaged oil provider, and very similar to Shell Helix). Hard to beat those $22-25 5 quart jugs at Walmart!

[MnLakeBum]

Mostly Mobil One in our vehicles but I really like no oil or hardly any service on our Tesla that has 89,000 miles. We spent a total of $400 in service, maintenance, and repairs in over four years of ownership. I’m at the Rover dealership right now getting and oil change, rotation, and cabin filter and they are charging $230. I normally wouldn’t take it to the dealer for the oil change but there are some software upgrades and a recall so it’s just easier to get it all done at once. The Range Rover diesel takes 7.5 quarts of oil. I’ve been using the Motorcraft 5W-30 diesel spec oil for the RR that is made by ConocoPhillips since Ford makes the engine and it’s what they recommend.