Quote: My silver bottle of full synthetic Valvoline doesn't say anything special about 'protection'.
It says on the label;
exceeds API SERVICES SL/SJ, CF/CD, ILSAC GF-3
Your bottle is not VR-1. It is regular Valvoline synthetic. The SL rated oil is the last API rated oil before they went to SM which dramatically reduced the ZDDP levels. This reduction has been occuring over time. Your SL oil is ok for a street engine. If you bought the same bottle today, it would likely be SM or SN rated which would not be OK.
