A trip to Wal-Mart this weekend showed me they have Wal-Mart brand full synthetic oil. Here's the 5-quart summary:
ò Mobile 1 Full Synthetic: $19.99
ò Shell Rotella Full Synthetic: $15 (can't quite remember)
ò Supra Tech Full Synthetic: $11.88

The Wal-Mart brand is 59% the price as Mobile one (or 41% cheaper, if you want to look at it that way).

1. Any reason why Mobile 1 is that much better, or even better at all? (I do know Shell Synthetic doesn't use certain agents that Mobile 1 does; for that reason it's safe for motorcycles with wet clutches like my Honda Magna)

2. If "somewhat common standard practice" is to change your oil every 5k with regular oil, how long do you go with synthetic? (I know, everyone is different)

Thanks, wayne

If you [b]currently use[/b] synthetic, which synthetic oil DO you use (or would you switch to) single choice
	Mobile 1 ($20)
	Shell Rotella ($15)
	Wal-Mart Supra-Tech ($11.88)
	Other brand
	I use pure dinosaur (regular oil). Otherwise known as
Votes accepted starting: 08/16/04 05:00 AM
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There are several different ways to make synthetic oil, some better than others. I don't know what the Wal-Mart brand synthetic is based on, but I trust Mobil One. The extra few $ is inconsequential, spread over 5,000 miles.

BTW, one of the local Wal-Marts here sells quarts of Mobil One for $3.38, which actually works out cheaper than the same store's price for the 5 quart container. None of the other Wal-Marts have that low of a quart price, though. It has been that way for years for some obscure reason...I swing by there every once and a while and buy a couple of cases.

I buy the NAPA brand of 100% Synthetic for my 95 Trooper and 95 Maxima. I use NAPA Gold oil filters, too. Maybe not the cheapest, but quite a bit less than Mobil 1 and plenty slippery.

Price on NAPA? 5 quarts.

NAPA is Valvoline I was going to buy to do full fuild replacement. TRANNY, T-CASE, and Motor, I would get it at about $3.50 we have a discount. But not sure if full syt. in tranny and the rest is recomm. and what wieght. I put cheapy to let the t-case and tranny, clean out suggestions to wieghts sorry to hi-jack but same topic. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

Given the current prices of the gas, the process of circulating between shops and choosing a "better-value oil" is more expensive (in terms of spent gas price and personal time) than the oil itself. I'd buy the Mobil1 once I get to the shop and I'd forgot about the issue. The $9 per 5K miles cannot justofy even mere typing the post.

I personally buy Mobil1 6qt for $22 in our local Costco when I shop there.

Regards,
Oleg

Well it is a 2 sided question. Oil, I know the Supertech stuff is actually Quaker State, but I like to Use Mobile 1. As far as the filters, I use the Supertech. They are the exact same as the AC Delco's, and they are only $1.97.

Many can say what they want and even call me a liar, But I change the oil every 5,000-6,000 miles and I have noticed that I don't really comsume oil when I use the good synthetic stuff.

In fact I found this a bit ago, it is a lubricant specialist's opinion, I will find the link to it later, but here it is:

"In every single test of any consequence, Mobil 1 outperforms every other brand of oil there is, dino or full synthetic.

Amsoil, which until a few years ago bought thier base stocks from Mobil (and then added thier own additive package), stopped using the the Mobil-manufactured full-synthetic 'Group IV/V' base stocks, and quietly substituted 'Group III' base stocks obtained from another manufacturer.( primarily Coastal/Uni-Lube, the same ones who supply Castrol with thier base stocks) The 'Group III' stocks are derived from crude-oil, but they go through some very sophisticated and expensive extra refining processes, like severe iso-delaminating and hydro/propane dewaxing. This gives it a near-full synthetic performance, but it is not as resistant to hi-temp oxidation (sludge maker!), or low-temp agglomeration.

Mobil cried 'foul play' in regards to Castrol selling this product as full synthetic when they came out with thier 'Syntec' line several years ago, but after a long study, the US government decided that Castrol was allowed to market it as 'Full Synthetic', even though it is not. This opened the flood gates for a lot of other marketers to sell thier 'Full Synthetic' oil, when in fact it is not. (Like the current Amsoil product).

In Europe, no one, even Castrol is allowed to use a Group III-based oil and call it 'synthetic'. The Castrol product goes by a different name over there.

The Group III oils are very good, almost as good as full synthetic. But they are NOT full synthetic, and there are some definite benifits to using a 'true' full synthetic.

Royal Purple has a loyal following, especially with racers, but it is made with far less dispersants and detergents than what is needed in regular passenger car use. If used in a clean engine, driven under optimal driving conditions and changed VERY frequently (like no more than 2500-3000 miles), then it performs admirably. Otherwise, it is not the best choice for every-day driving.

If you are looking for a good oil and to save some $ at the same time (who isn't ?), then there is a great deal to be had at Wal-Mart. Thier house brand of full synthetic oil (Super-Tech full synthetic) is actually top-of-the-line Quaker State full synthetic, a very good oil. At $2.97/qt., its a smokin' deal.

The Wal-Mart/Super-Tech oil filters are made by Champion Laboratories, who makes filters for Mobil and Purolater. The Super-Tech filter is made with a synthetic media(the same as the Mobil 1 filter) that has a single pass efficiency rating of 98%, and a multi-pass rating of 99%. The FRAM filters are rated at 92 single, and 93 multi. The Wal-Mart filters are $1.97...another great deal.

This is the best 'formula' for long engine life:

1) Use a good synthetic oil of the correct viscosity.
2) Use a good filter.
3) Change frequently (obviously!)
4) Use NO SUPPLEMENTAL ADDITIVES. This includes Lucas, Slick 50, STP, Dura-Lube,Z-Max, Prolong, Restore, etc...( Basically , no engine treatments)
5) Drive sensibly: As little idling as possible, no extended warming up before driving, as few short trips as possible, as much highway driving as possible, as little WOT as possible(I know, I know...a tough one!).

This consistently produces the longest engine life."

I've heard the "base stocks" explanation before. I've seen it on reputible sites, so I know it's true.

Does it say somewhere on the bottle what group it is?

Not that I know of, I have tried to see if anyone would put that on the bottle, but so far haven't found it. I assume they don't because they want to have people believe that it is "synthetic" even if it may not be. I will look on some bottles when I get home to see for sure.

In fact the new standard of oil will come out is GF-4, the current stuff (they have this on the bottle of Mobile 1) is rated GF-3.

LINK to the goup base oil's and what they mean

Here is more of the saved info I have:

"Performnace of a motor oil is rated by the API (American Petroleum Institute), and uses a two letter rating system (as opposed to the numbers used by the SAE) for gasoline motors, and another two letter system for diesel motors.
For gas motors, the first of the two letters is always an 'S', which stands for 'service station'. At the time the system was concieved, (1961)it was thought that most drivers of gas-powered vehicles would get thier motor oil from the local 'service station'.
The second letter denotes the particular additive package in the oil, and started with the letter 'A' (naturally).
So, in 1961, the first additized motor oil availible was rated as 'SA'. (detergents/dispersants were the first additives put into american passenger car motor oil). As the performance of the oil was increased thru the use of more and improved additives, the next letter in the alphabet was chosen. It went next to 'SB", and then 'SC', and so on and so on. Today's motor oils are all rated as 'SL', to be supplemented in 3 months by a totally new category of oils rated as 'GF-4'(a whole 'nother story!)
This system is considered to be a superseding system, so any newer, higher rated oil can be used in any older vehicle. You will derive extra benifits from the use of modern oils in older cars, especially fuel economy.
Whenever a new rating is introduced, the previous rating is discontinued, so you will never see any 'old', lower rated oil in the stores or shops anywhere, unless someone has some VERY old stock. Extremely unlikely, so don't even worry about it.

The two-letter diesel rating is much the same, but begins with the letter 'C', which originally stood for 'commercial', because it was then thought that any diesel powered vehicle would be a commercial, not passenger vehicle.
Diesel ratings started at 'CA', and are today at a rating of 'CF'."

So what's the concensus on using synthetic in an auto tranny?? I'm about up for a tranny service and was thinking about using syn.

Tim B.
99 Rodeo