I have been informed that products at Walmart can be of lesser quality than those purchased at other retailers, hence the lower price. (I know of many other reasons their price is lower but that is not the issue here) I usually purchase my oil at Walmart, usually Mobil1 5w30 or 10w30 depending on the season. I have noticed recently that even the bottling is sometimes different on oil purchased at walmart and on the front of the bottle it even specifies that this product is sold at Walmart. I have not actually sat down and checked product numbers to see if they are the same, which I would assume they are different, especially if the bottling is different. But is there any proof that this oil may be of a lower quality than that sold at other automotive retailers ?

 

Its cheaper because they can buy entire 'lots' of products. Ammo, clothes, oil, oil filters, they can buy in quantities that 'autozone' 'advanced' 'napa' can hardly compete with that's why they get such a break when it comes to prices on most things.

I normally went to Auto zone for my oil until one of the guys was like, why not get the oil from China mart and save 8$'s? I was like isn't it junk? He said no one there buys their oil haha.... Just the other parts. Last night in fact I went and picked up a 5qt jug of 5w-30(high mileage) for my oil change, smells\feels the same as every other mobile 1 oil I have bought from Auto zone.


As far as other products, mostly manufactured in china or sourced for cheapest possible manufacturing cost.

 

I'm going to use flour tortilla wraps as an example. Costco and Walmart both sell the exact same brand and item. However, Costco's version is 3 pack. It's exactly the same thing. Same brand, same taste, same quality.

However, you will noticed the Costco version to be smaller in diameter. Will you be unsatisfied? No, not unless you are trying to make a giant burrito.

I (we) are not a chemist to noticed any difference or if there is one. But do have the confidence that it's that "same thing."

Here is my guess. Unless you are old, you will noticed the 12oz can of soda are a few ml less compared to the old days. You can see it in the shape of the can. If they take 0.0001 ml less soda, it's still a "12oz can." But that 0.0001 ml will translate into millions of dollar per year for Coke.

So for Walmart to have a price advantage, there has to be something that gives in the production process. That does not always mean the product is inferior. Or could be something like Walmart got a great deal in plastic raw materials (from another source) for Penzoil to package the plastic 5qt containers.

 

I think it has to do with the "bulk" buying power of Walmart. Personally I wouldnt buy Mobile 1 anyway. But thats another conversation. I wouldnt worry about walmart oil being inferior.

 

Unless you are buying walmart branded oil (such a thing?), the grade should be the same in my opinion. Like most have said, they are cheaper because they buy in bulk. Not to mention they pay the employees with peanuts =x

 

^^Which^^ brings up something I was wondering...The Supertech full synthetic they sell for 3 something a quart. Cheaper than Dino oil from other makers. I confess I've used a couple of quarts recently when my car was leaking. I hope its repackaged Mobil 1 or something, lol. I mean, how many places make synthetic oil?
Prolly filtered/ recycled crap like the old Golden State...aack.

 

I've been buying Mobil1 0w-30 full synthetic from WalMart for $23 for a 5-qt jug for the past couple of years now. I have no problem with it. Any other store would be $30+ for the same thing.

I just wish they sold STP or some other filter brands. I WILL NOT put a Fram filter on anything I own. But that's not just because it's at WalMart. I usually pick up STP filters from AutoZone.

 

oil is oil from my experience. im a valvoline man myself. to be honest though when it comes down to it i have seen engines last forever off of sheetz brand oil literally, and engines with nothing but the best name brand oil have internal problems before 100k. so whos to say what is the better oil.

 

All I know about Walmart oil is I've been told Autozone oil jugs are 5.28 quarts because Walmart patented the 5 qt jug. Not sure how much truth there is to it though.

 

It's the same oil as you'll get anywhere else. The jugs are sometimes branded different with the walmart logo on them.
Sadly, I work at walmart so I know first hand. Just stay away from supertech, that's the store brand.

 

Brand name is brand name, there is no way in the world that any company would allow WalMart to use their brand name with/on an inferior product, Mobile 1 at WalMart is the same as Mobile 1 at any other dealer.

Weight/Volume is controlled, although you have can more weight/volume then stated on packaging, you can not have less, a quart/liter of Mobile 1 at WalMart is the same as a quart/liter at any other dealer, [unless stated differently on packaging].

WalMart pricing is directly related to "bulk buying". 94

 

+1

This is entirely true, and applies to every product I've seen with the same brand names. Just be careful of the packaging style - sometimes they are slick with offering smaller packages for less money; I've never seen them do that with oil, though. It appears to be the same 5qt jug as others have.

 

They also probably get some kind of deal since they purchase so much product, the manufacturer agrees to include WalMart's logo on their label or something like that.

 

I myself used to purchase my oil at parts stores until I noticed the difference in price at Wal-Mart. I highly doubt it's any different, Valvoline=Valvoline Mobile1-Mobile1.

 

To be fair, I did run Valvoline MaxLife 5w-30 in my GS-R for nearly 160,000 miles, from around 110K on the odometer up to around 270K. Car is about to turn 300K in a few weeks, still on all original engine and transmission internals. I certainly wouldn't call it junk.

However I feel better about using the Mobil1 0w-30 that I've been using for the past couple of years now.

 

Junk may be too strong of a word. Less than ideal if it makes you feel better. Look on the back of your valvoline bottle. Which OEM is it approved by??

 

Back to the point guys...

I had a friend that worked at autozone so i always used his discount for oil but when he was too buys i would just go to walmart... Same thing. Like it was stated they get deals cus they buy in bulk... And possibly mistreat their employees