You would be very surprised to see what differences there are in some of the oils, or maybe better stated, what ISNT true about some of the marketing claims. I have been fortunate to get a look at some testing done by some people involved in NASCAR shops, and do nothing but study and test oils. There absolutely IS different results and characteristics of many of the common named oils, and more so, the higher level racing oils.Most people dont see the difference, because they simply arent necessarily stressing the limits of the oils, so the off the shelf stuff will always work, and thats fine, as there isnt any real need for anything different. Often times , these users change the oil enough, where its not really a big deal. When you really want to see what an oil is all about, put it in a high RPM circle track engine, or boat motor. I recently witnessed a 20* temperature difference between two oils, straight up, change oil, temps dropped. A " common" off the shelf oil, was replaced with a higher end oil, and the results were exactly that. When you run for upward of 30 minutes, especially on a dirt track, where clay starts to interfere with cooling access, and flow, things happen fast at higher RPMs. I also saw a trick to reduce oil temps with a simple 10 minute procedure while building a engine.Oil temps lowered. Some of the parts manufactures also get into oil testing, such as with hydraulic lifters and such, where the weight of the oil is even a big deal. These people that test this stuff are very smart, have the knowledge, and the testing facilities, and more importantly, the hard data to compare.A recent test of the new CK diesel oils really showed a problem with flat tappet cams....its real world stuff. trust me.
My point is, there IS a huge difference in a box store oil, versus some of the race brands. The reality is, not every situation will benefit from it.Where those benefits may be noticed, might not matter in many of the engines we are talking about. I will stick with what I am comfortable with, and works, always based on research and input from some very sharp and experienced people.
My two cents.
