Are oil enhancers worth it?

[imported_Burlyq]

The government has been going after them lately, what do you think? Here's some helpful links.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/09/prolong.htm



http://www.prolong.com/Main.aspx

Prolong's public relations department say's this despite the FTC assertions and the settlement:

Q: Did Prolong get sued or fined by the FTC?

A: No, the facts are that the FTC thoroughly investigated all of the tests and evidence that supported Prolong’s product claims in much the same manner as going through a very detailed IRS audit.

Prolong has never been sued or taken to court by the FTC.

Prolong has never been fined by the FTC.

Prolong did not make false product claims.



Prolong Super Lubricants distinguished its conduct and had a much different experience than many of our competitors. The following products had claims that the FTC complained were false or unsubstantiated. The product owners were sued by the FTC and eventually entered into settlement agreements with the FTC and agreed to pay the following fines:

Date Product Name How the Case was resolved

1978 STP Oil Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $500,000

1995 STP Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $888,000

1997 Slick 50 Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $10,000,000

1999 Motor Up Engine Treatment Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $100,000

2000 DuraLube Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $2,000,000

2003 zMax Power System Sued by FTC, Settled, Fined $1,000,000



Another link: http://www.carbibles.com/additives.html

 

[imported_truzoom]

Nice to see you back! I've always thought these things were bull. Just buy a good quality oil to begin with and you won't have to worry about needing enhancers.

 

[imported_Burlyq]

Nice to see you back! I've always thought these things were bull. Just buy a good quality oil to begin with and you won't have to worry about needing enhancers.

TY tru, the truth was supposed to set me free but ended me up in Autopia jail for a while, lol. I've been over at Dclub, it's a cool site too.

 

[wannafbody]

My friend knows the owner of MAXI LUBE a non petroleum oil additive. He demonstrated with a pull lever against a round piece of metal. Using just Amsoil synthetic pulling on the lever added pressure to the round piece of metal and severely scoured the surface. He then added a couple of drops of MAXI LUBE to the Amsoil on a new piece of metal. He had to pull SIGNIFICANTLY harder and while he was able to mark the round piece of metal it wasSIGNIFICANTLY LESS scourged than with Amsoil alone. I was impressed. BTW I think prolong is pretty good too.

 

[JohnZ3MC]

Fellows,

An older article but still relevant:



http://www.oldengine.org/unfaq/additive.htm



In a nutshell, they seem to help very little and may actually cause some problems over the long run, but near the bottom of the article is a section on synthetic oils and a few interesting comments about them.



One of which was they could be mixed with conventional oils assuming their ratings matched, so if someone wanted to switch to a synthetic oil, a great deal of draining/cleaning of the conventional dinosaur oil is unnecessary. Just drain out the old oil and add the synthetic. We'll add the obvious caveat here also, a new filter would be prudent.

-John C.

______________

 

[benpocock]

My take on these is that oil manufacturers don't spend millions developing their oils, why would they make them only so good? Tipping one of these additives in is playing with the chemical make-up of the original oil and may actually be detrimental to its quality. Indeed, a friend of mine added one to his car, and a week later the big end went. Maybe a coincidence, but I can't see how they do any good.



Ben

 

[zippymbr]

Just forget the additives and run Amsoil. Would you not think that car makers who spend millions on engine development would recommend and additive if the car needed it. Chevy does reccomend ome for the antifreeze in m old Blazer. Amsoil blows away the Mobil one I used to use. I have been using it as a yearly change for years and my cars still run like new. My fav is the series 2000 oil. The stuff just does not break own.

 

[Wasatch]

Mobil 1 Full Synth for me.

 

[Mr.Magic]

I sell AMSOIL at my shop, and my customers just love it!

 

[Scottwax]

I'll just stick with Royal Purple.



Face it, if additives actually worked, car manufacturers would use and recommend them to increase their CAFE numbers.

 

[drewski59]

Mobil 1 is just fine for me....



My dad used it in all his cars for years and years, and I'll continue that tradition!

 

[buttashine]

[quote name='truzoom']Nice to see you back!

For sure, why did you get the boot? :nixweiss Hey B check your PM, later.



As for the oil question, I say if you change your oil every three thousand use the cheapones, if you push it with oil changes try Syn's, but leave the additives on the shelf.

 

[WSUcommuter]

I use regular dino oil and once a year Seafoam my engine and any build-up that is in there either burns out or comes out when I drop the drain plug. I think with how well balanced and engineered more modern engines are these days; a bottle of Prolong is not going to fix the types of issues that might occur in a vehicle's life...

 

[TUD]

I use strictly Redline in the M3. In my older POS I use dino Valvoline.

 

[Super]

Hey Buds

To make an engine last depends on a few factors One: How you drive, Racing or towing a trailer your engine won’t last as long.

Two: Maintenance like change your oil regularly

Three: good running engine that’s properly tuned up. You should @100K do a tune up - new spark & wires, 02 sensor/s and a few other things

Four: size of engine, cars that are under powered work harder wears faster



Cars now days are designed for city and hwy driving and can go to 250K miles on dino oil. Why because the metal in the engines has lubricants and it’s run on a computer. OK @ 250K miles you would want to get rid of the car cause the style is out of date * and just about everything is wore out engine, transmission., diff., seats and hundreds of other things ect ect. So why spend $30.00 on synthetic oil? Only reason why an engine needs synthetic oil is because of heavy work loads like racing towing a trailer. You can run full synthetic oil @ 15k miles but a lot of harmful chemicals develops in the oil that’s not good for the engine so it’s best to change the oil @ 5k. Also it’s best to change your oil filter ever 3K heavy duty oil filters you can do it at 5K miles but it’s pushing it. Also full synthetic oil gives you a little bit better gas mileage then dino oil.

Myself I run full synthetic oil because I tow an enclosed trailer also I have a K&n /w custom intake and exhaust and a 5 button settings for computer engine performance.

I’m not a mechanic or an automotive engineer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.



* Based on the average cars but Autopiains knows how to take care of there cars to make there Exterior & Interior last longer and look better then new so the above rules may not apply?



-------------------

The Internet is so inpersonal; you set behind your Monitor and as far as I know you could be the family dog doing the typing or be as ugly.

 

[Wasatch]

Full synth is excellent for cold starts, which is most likely the number one engine killer. Or should I say, where the most engine damage is done.

 

[wannafbody]

I've seen oil analysis results for a LS1 engine with Mobil1 and only top off of the oil. At 15k the oil Total Base Number was getting low enough to warrant a change. If you are going to change oil at a 3 to 5k range just use dino oil.

 

[imported_Burlyq]

Bump



Never got a chance to reply but this poll really shows how well the public is informed about synthetic oils. There is nothing as good as them, I use Mobil 1 myself but I know there is better out there. If your not using synthetic oil, you are just wrong!

 

[David Fermani]

Yeah, big landslide result for synthetics huh? Probably the reason why several cars request it's (Mobil 1) use. I think Corvette and Mercedes does right?

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Yeah, big landslide result for synthetics huh? Probably the reason why several cars request it's (Mobil 1) use. I think Corvette and Mercedes does right?

Indeed -- actually most of GM's performance cars are using Mobil 1 right from the factory (CTS-V, Camaro SS, Corvette, etc.) as well as Mercedes, Porsche, as well as a few others.



Mobil 1 Synthetic Motor Oil is Factory Fill in 40 Plus Car Models