330hp_91RS

Just curious for those of you who really know about Synthetic oil. I would think that since is has more resistance to heat and breakdown that the oil remains for viscous (thick) under severe/high heat conditions. Am I right?? I saw in an article that on a 400hp motor Synthetic oil gives you a gain of about 5 horse...did any of you notice a difference you could feel with Synthetic??

Also...Most quarts of Synthetic are about $4.40 a piece...but Havoline is only $3.29 at Autozone.. I would save over 5 bucks buying this oil. Why is it cheaper??? Is it crap....??? What about the Wal-Mart synthetic and stuff....Should I just stick with Castrol and Mobil 1???

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

It won't give you more oil pressure based on its ability to resist thermal break down. It "tends" to be more viscosity stable over temperature changes, but that means it will be thinner when cold and thicker when warm. However, thermal break down can cause an oil to get thicker, while not being as good of a lubricant, so you may be seeing better oil pressure with a broken down petroleum oil while your engine is wearing itself down.

There are just too many generalities in the questions you pose. Synthetic base in and of itself doesn't guarantee anything, because it's the total "package" that matters. No lubricant is made of a single constituent, and synthetics are no exception.

Although you tend to get what you pay for, most of the majors got into synthetics on a "me too" basis. Mobil is the only major company that has exhibited an exception to that rule. The independants like Redline, AMSOIL, and (what little I know about) Royal Purple have been much more serious about the products than Castrol, Valvoline, Pennzoil, Havoline, etc. But, Mobil 1 is as much better than those guys as are Redline, AMSOIL, and Royal Purple (although my bias puts AMSOIL at the top of the heap).

As for noticing a difference? When changing over the entire drivetrain, yes. Just the engine, a little harder to quantify; but over the long haul, better mileage which is indicative of reduced friction, which should translate to better power. And, for what it's worth, I've been using ASMOIL since 1983, and have yet to wear out an engine with it in it.

Slade1

AMSOIL I'd have to say is an excellent synthetic oil.. only when I run amsoil do I get smoke on morning startup from my worn valve seals.

That oil really can get itself into cracks and abrasions mobile 1 can't...

I switch between mobile1 and amsoil on a regular basis... depends on my budget at time of oil change.

camaro6spd

if you look at the pros and cons of M1 vs amsoil, 1 is really not superior to the other overall. each one excells where the other fails....i think M1 is a lower pour point, ensuring faster pressure build at start-up. but amsoil does have positive aspects that M1 does not, i forget where i saw the comparison but it is really a personally choice, i like M1, very available and very good quality as amsoil but amsoil is "harder" to get. (this keyboard sucks, the space bar is very hard to push)