What is the best synthetic oil? Best oil filter?

[Gary Wells]

Might want to check out the forum:
"Bob Is The Oil Guy", or BITOG

Your first oil change will probably somewhat darker in color, especially on GM high performance vehicles, due, at least, in part to assembly lube mixing with the oil and / or GM EOS (engine oil supplement) being in the first oil change. I believe that C6ZO6 first oil changes are considered by many to be somewhat darker than normal.

I have heard rumors that it may not be 100% independent though.
I don't know what all brands make oil filters for these cars, but as related to turbo buicks, something that I am somewhat familiar with, everybody seems to agree that
1)Fram filters are positively the worst for anything.
2) AC Delco oil filters may not be what they used to be quality wise.
3) There are what appear to be un-doctored pictures on the inter-net of AC-Delco filters being fraudulently copied in China or other countries.
4) If you buy a AC Delco filter from a authorized GM dealer and study it closely, it may not be the same as the counter-part sold at some of the Parts houses, thereby making what appear to be genuine AC Delco filters sold at some parts houses of questionable integrity.
5) Those in the know on turbo Buicks generally agree that oil filters made by Mobil1, K & N, Wix, & Baldwin the best available.
6) Some of the better oil filters originate from Champion Labs, regardless of what brand name they are wearing.

[SlvrBullIT]

Any word on the AMSoil filters, they are larger, higher capacity etc etc. but are they "better" than lets say a mobil 1, wix etc? I have yet to find an independant lab verified document etc on AMSoil versus "what have you" oil other than what AMSoil puts out and is linked on other "dealer" sites.

I'll probably end up with AMSoil and a filtermag due to lack of bad results versus "I run AMSoil....it's the best, trust me!!! I got 457 million miles on my 2010 ZR1 that I only do 1/4 miles in!!!! and it gave me +927HP" I know this is an exaggeration, but everything I look under in google for reviews ends up with either the canned AMSoil blackstone test stuff from their site or "personal" experience. Same with oil filter reviews.

[RapidRob]

^^^ Maybe the following link will help:

https://www.amsoil.com/performancete...971/index.aspx

Rob

[SlvrBullIT]

Still the same canned test from AMSoil site.

[CIWS]

As long as the lubricant is still in good condition it isn't going to make a big difference which one is in the engine for "normal" driving. So it's a question for some of finding the brand they can go the longest between oil changes. For others they change their oil on a regular basis, like every 3-5K miles whether it needs it or not. They can use just about anything because they're changing it before most oils are going to have to time to be broken down.

It also depends upon how / how often the car is driven, be it a daily driver or a garage queen that sits more than it's driven.

My car is a D.D., it came with Mobil 1 and it gets changed before the oil life service monitor says it needs it.



http://www.trustmymechanic.com/motor-oil-bible.pdf


http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm

[SlvrBullIT]

I saw the nordicgroup article before, have to look at the motor oil bible when I get home.
Thanks for the links

Car is D.D. and my track car after I break it in some more. Hence the concern on my part on not getting snake oil, pardon the pun.

Independant confirmation is what I'm looking for, I really don't like stuff from the company's site because I also saw another oil company show theirs better than AMSoil etc etc with "independant" looking graphs, and charts..... so who is BSing who.

[nc09v2]

I did my second oil change about three weeks ago, at just over 2K miles, and went with Castrol Edge 5W-30 and the Delco PF-48 Duraguard oil filter.

I used the Mobil 1 5W-30 the first time, but the new Castrol stuff meets GM standard 4718 and is supposedly good for a year or 15K miles. Mobil 1 does not make either claim.

I switched over to Castrol 5W-20 Syntec in the wife's Odyssey last January when the Mobil1 shortage was going on, and have found it to stay cleaner much longer that the Mobil1 5W-20 I had been using. I have stayed with the Castrol in her van since with excellent results.

My V ran great before, and still runs great, but I think the new Castrol will last a little longer.......until the next time Mobil comes up with an oil upgrade anyway.

Amsoil is great stuff, IMHO their diff lubes are the best bar none, I changed my diff over to their fluid about a month ago with excellent results.

I do however think the Mobil/Castrol synthetic motor oils are almost as good if not as good as Amsoil these days. Just my opinion of course.

[C66 Racing]

Catching this one a little late...

Not sure this qualifies as the total independent test some are looking for, but I've been running AMSOIL 0w30 in my 06 CTS-V for a few oil changes now and my wear results are well below the univeral averages for this motor family for the lab I use (Blackstone):
Cadillac CTS-V Used Oil Analysis – AMSOIL 0w30

As for the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter, I really do feel that it is better than other filters on the market because of its new nano-fiber technology that improves filtration without sacrificing flow. They did a better job of explaining this technology on the above link than I can.

[SlvrBullIT]

Very nice, thanks.

[CadV]

Originally Posted by C66 Racing

Catching this one a little late...

Not sure this qualifies as the total independent test some are looking for, but I've been running AMSOIL 0w30 in my 06 CTS-V for a few oil changes now and my wear results are well below the univeral averages for this motor family for the lab I use (Blackstone):
Cadillac CTS-V Used Oil Analysis – AMSOIL 0w30

As for the AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter, I really do feel that it is better than other filters on the market because of its new nano-fiber technology that improves filtration without sacrificing flow. They did a better job of explaining this technology on the above link than I can.

Good post.

I am serious guys once you switch to Amsoil you will never use anything else.

[AuPanda]

Amsoil EA filter but Redline Oil. I became a Redline fan when I would drag a GN running 23psi at Sacramento Raceway (RIP). That oil held up to incredible abuse.

[wfo]

Why do we think we know better than the engineers at GM?

Mobil 1 is what GM engineers spec'd this car to use. It's also what they spec'd the Corvettes..the coupes, convertibles, Z06 and ZR-1 too. It's also what the C6R Corvettes at the 24 HR LeMans use as well.

So again, why do we insist on recreating the preverbial wheel? Experiment, In my humble opinion..don't do it with high priced equipment. Even if someone you trust says it's OK.

[Peter Gregg]

Originally Posted by wfo

Why do we think we know better than the engineers at GM?

So again, why do we insist on recreating the preverbial wheel? Experiment, In my humble opinion..don't do it with high priced equipment. Even if someone you trust says it's OK.

Then we would never move ahead, I feel we are the deciding factor of what we do or add to our cars. Same for doctors, they aren't the last word over your body - you are.

I have read here that Mobil 1 has changed it formula. On the other hand I have read over here: http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00105.html that Amsoil is good but adds more stuff to keep the viscosity up and it is the additives that really break down and not the oil - but he likes Mobil 1. But which Mobil 1, the old or the new??.

Personally I like and trusted the names Mobil 1 and Amsoil but now they both have "reasonable doubt" so it makes it hard to choose and causing me to look at Royal Purple. Ironically Royal Purple is a synthetic oil I would have not considered before. What is the world coming too

Peter

[C66 Racing]

Originally Posted by Peter Gregg

Personally I like and trusted the names Mobil 1 and Amsoil but now they both have "reasonable doubt" so it makes it hard to choose and causing me to look at Royal Purple. Ironically Royal Purple is a synthetic oil I would have not considered before. What is the world coming too

Peter

Peter,
My advice, clearly biased, is to stay away from RP. I went through the same decision process in 2003-4 after I lost a motor in my Corvette (running Mobil 1 15w50). I wondered if another motor oil would have prevented the failure. I initially looked at RP and Red Line, discovered AMSOIL and obviously chose that. Of the many things that influenced me was that many oil companies clearly disclose what basestock they use. AMSOIL is up front in saying their Signature Series and SAE synthetics are a PAO (Group IV) basestock. Red Line is clear about saying theirs is a polyol ester (Group V) basestock. Mobil 1 used to be clear and said they had a PAO basestock, but about a year and half ago it got vague and they now say "includes" PAO. Many suspect that they are now blending in Group III, highly processed mineral oil, into their basestock. Search RP's website and try to see what they use. I couldn't, so I asked them. They wouldn't say. I'm skeptical.

AMSOIL has included RP in their motorcycle and gear lube tests. In general, RP shears down fairly quickly. To me, this indicates that they are using an inferior basestock, likely largely Group III. But, I really don't know.
AMSOIL Motorcycle Oil “White Paper” (1 MB pdf file)
AMSOIL Gear Lube “White Paper” (2 MB pdf file)

I was also not impressed with RPs wear results on numerous used oil analysis test on the oil forums.

And, clariflying a little the info on the link posted above (which is very dated), it isn't all the additives that break down, it is the viscosity improvers. And, it can be the basestock, particularly if the basestock contains mineral oils. Because of AMSOIL's PAO basestock, which has excellent multi-viscosity improvers, their fluids don't need a lot of viscosity modifiers and are very shear stable. In fact, their Torque Drive ATD (fluid for the Tremec manuals such as that in my 06 CTS-V) has zero viscosity modifiers and is totally shear stable. And based on my used oil analysis reports, their 0w30 is very shear stable as well. As a final example, the factory fill Dexron III (mineral basestock) in my CTS-V sheared down from a viscosity of about 7.3 cSt (at 212F) to 5.0 cSt in 10k miles and my AMSOIL ATF lost no viscosity in about 7k miles (when I switched it out with the Torque Drive mentioned above):
2006 Cadillac CTS-V Used Oil Analysis Dexron III vs AMSOIL ATF Transmission Fluid

[21rouge]

Originally Posted by C66 Racing

Peter,
I was also not impressed with RPs wear results on numerous used oil analysis test on the oil forums.

Scanning through BITOG I see only one Used Oil Analysis of this direct injection engine in a Cadillac for any oil...let alone RP . The question posed by the OP cannot be answered with any degree of expertise until there is a body of analyses.