Recently I have been wondering about the oil in my car. I have always stuck to Mobil 1 synthetic, as I heard it is quite good. Recently I have been hearing about so called "racing" oils, such as Amsoil and Redline. I was wondering if anyone had used these (or any other) high performance oils and if there was any benefit to using these oils? I will track my ITR probably 2-3 times a month this year, as well as auto-x just about every weekend, to give you an idea what I use the car for.

So, basically what I want to know is if anyone thinks that there is any real benefit to using an oil like Redline or Amsoil over a more readily available (and cheaper) oil like Mobil 1.

 

Personally, I'm not even sure that synthetic is necessary, although I exclusively use Mobile 1 synthetic in the ITR. Are you burning oil? Do you change it based on track time or total miles/time? IMHO, frequently changed Mobile 1 is just as good as any "race" oil on the market, assuming that you don't have a lubrication problem in the first place that need a fix.

It's like brake fluid. If you change your fluid frequently enough that you can ignore the wet boiling point, there is no sense in paying obscene amounts of $$$ for a top fluid until your needs change.

 

Heh. Some people still consider Mobil 1 expensive.
There have been numerous tests that have shown benefits of synthetic over dino (though many still say synthetic is overkill), but I've yet to see a test that puts Redline or other racing oils above other synthetics. IMHO Mobil 1 is all anyone will ever need.

 

...until Spoon comes out with their own oil

Only $50/liter

 

I'm not sure synthetic is necessary either, but that doesn't stop me from buying 6 quarts of Mobil 1 every 3K miles.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I must say I'm a bit surprised, I thought that everyone would be pretty into synthetic oil. I guess I'll just try some Mobil 1 synthetic 10W30 at the track and see how that goes.


[Modified by Type-R 940, 12:56 PM 4/1/2002]

 

Use the viscosity recommended for your car. That's why I use 5W30 Mobil 1 in the ITR, 10W30 Mobil 1 in the NSX.

 

10W30 is okay for the ITR, it's just only recommended for warmer climates. Since it is now nearing the summer and I'll change it back to 5W30 before the winter I'm sure it will be fine.

 

Yeah. Someone pointed out to me the thicker (when cold) 10W30 does not have to be used over 5W30 on track, for the oil is always going to be hot and running at the 30 viscosity, so the cold viscosity doesn't matter at all.

 

There was a thread about this earlier. Someone made a translation boo-boo... He basically said to use the best oil you can.

Warren

 

Dyno results have shown syth is better than dino. It is also less prone to breaking down at high temps. But Mobil1 vs. Redline, I've never seen tests either way.

I use Castrol Syntec (or whatever they call the semi-synth blend stuff) cause it's less expensive than the Mobil1 and whether or not rotaries should use synth is up in the air.

 

I use Redline and will not change. I've seen comparisons and write ups (ask SVT Coupe and Phat S, can't remember who else). A certain individual once told me, "it's sort of like insurance, the better the policy, the better off you are". Go with what you can afford, Mobil is great for the price.

 

I use 5W30 Mobil One every oil change now. When I put the turbo on I will go to 15W50 Mobil One. Then in the winter I will drop down to 10W30 Mobil One.

 

Mobile One Synthetic for me as well. Molecules are supposedly symetrical throughout.

 

What would Pat Goss say?

 

No joke George -not exactly symmetrical, moreso uniform. http://www.mobil1.com/index.jsp /why synth /faq

I wouldn't necessarily take any one knowledgeable person's word for it before hearing from others also. I regard Pat Goss as good general info, but tailored more towards the Consumer Reports type of driver, i.e. not always fitting our desired needs.

Should I get into the whole bruhaha a while back about how Mobil 1 changed their formula from original to Tri-Synthetic which was like - it used to be Coke but now is a little more like new Coke because of US FTC law changes that still allow it to be called fully synthetic so a few other ingredients were substituted in place of all Type IV PAO's which are more expensive (see http://www.mobil1.com/index.jsp /products /Tri-Synthetic /formula faqs). It's still a good oil, Amsoil being one of the few other choices.

Ooh http://www.mobil1.com/index.jsp /products /Mobil 1 vs. the competition faqs

Red Line Oil talks about "four-ball wear," "load wear," "Falex wear" and "Timken psi load" for their synthetic oil. Are these valid tests?

These tests are low-cost tests generally used to determine the performance properties of grease. They do not correlate with engine performance tests. For example, the use of an additive such as lead naphthenate would yield excellent results in these bench (or lab) tests, but would cause excessive oxidation of an oil in an engine and would cause a motor oil to fail the industry standard oxidation test known as the Sequence III test.

None of the tests referenced are used by API in determining gasoline engine oil performance (SJ is the current, most severe oil classification), nor by engine manufacturers. The API approval requires the following tests:

L-38 for bearing corrosion.
Sequence IIIE for oxidation, deposits and wear.
Sequence VE for sludge, wear and varnish.
Sequence IID for rust.
This slate of tests can cost over $75,000 to run – considerably more than the simple bench tests mentioned.

Red Line Oil claims to have 100 percent polyolester base stocks. Are these different or better than the base stocks used in Mobil 1?

We are very familiar with polyolesters. In fact, we manufacture them and use them in our aviation jet engine oils such as Mobil® Jet Oil II and Mobil® Jet Oil 254 and in our refrigeration compressor lubricants, where the polyolesters are utilized for their compatibility with new HFC refrigerants. Polyolesters are indeed excellent at high-temperature oxidation stability and low volatility.

However, our work on automobile engines and jet engine designs has shown that polyalphaolefins offer the best all-around performance for gasoline engines:

From being completely compatible with conventional oils and gasoline engine seals.
To providing both low- and high-temperature performance.
To providing a stable oil in the presence of water and moisture.
To having anti-rust capabilities.


[Modified by 4WDrift, 1:45 AM 4/2/2002]

 

Castrol Syntec has star molecules, y0.

 

Whenever I use Mobil 1 (if I can't buy the RedLine), I often smell burn oils from redline shifting. But the Redline oils gives no odor, although it does burns up pretty quick as well. Performance wise, there is no way I can tell by butt-dyno, but I like Redline because they're odor-less.


[Modified by nEoMuGen, 2:03 AM 4/2/2002]

 

What about temperatures? Which oil is better at higher temperatures? At what temperature does one oil vs the other start breaking down and not working as well as it should (to put it in simple terms)? Where do the highest temperatures occur in an engine and how high does that temperature reach? What is one of the biggest problems with the Type R motor (I've noted it 5 times above). I know the answer, just checking with you guys.

 

For a street car, oil is oil, just change in when you are supposed to. For a race car, I don't like to take chances. I have Redline in the motor and the tranny. As J28S pointed out, the operating temp of a race enging is a lot higher then street. Plus it only has 2 modes, run at redline for a weekend and sit in the garage.

I found that "normal" oil just wasn't up to this. It would be sludge before the weekend was over. Then I was facing a drive home with sludge in the motor. I was doing on oil change before and after every weekend. Redline has held up like a champ. There are like 2 weekends and a few AutoX on the oil that is in there now and it looks a lot better then the other stuff after just one day. The trade off with synth is the engine will eat more of it. My egnine seems to like Redline a lot more the Valvoline that used to be in there. But I always keep the levels about 1/3-1/2 qt over, so it is no problem.

 

Change it so your car will smoke like mine

Bryan

 

My motor would burn about a quart of oil per 3K miles for the first 9K miles. For the last 3K miles, it hasn't burned a drop. I guess at 12K it's fully broken-in, everything is seated right and it's now less prone to burn oil until it wears? Has anyone else experienced reduced oil usage in the early life of a motor?

 

Be careful Using Mobil one. I have a friend who races ARCA and its been going around that Mobil one has been linked to connecting rod failures at high RPMs (lack of zinc in the sythetic) and I jus t had a friend running it in his G60 corrado snap the rod on the number one cylinder
Redline only 4 me!!!

 

Hmm well. The following is opinion only:

IIRC synthetics hold up much better to the higher temps our cars see on the track. Synthetics also do shear apart as easily as dino oil. Almost any synthetic oil is way better than the best dino oil for the track stuff we all do.

I base my oil choice on availibility. Mobil 1 is readily availible at any Wal-Mart or Advance Auto. Redline and Amzoil are hard as hell to find and when you do, they are 2X as much as Mobil 1.

If you need more protection than Mobil 1 can provide, you are doing some damn serious hard *** driving.

As far as the rods breaking with Mobil 1: If you race, you may blow your engine. I've heard of engine failures with Redline, Amzoil, Royal Purple and Mobil 1. It happens. Just rebuild. If you can't afford to, you shouldn't have been racing in the first place.