# Oil showdown



## pturner67 (Dec 27, 2002)

I was reading through these threads the other day and it got me thinking about what oil is "best" and why...then I see oil commercials on speed channel all claiming theirs is the best...but who is right? or are we just dazzled by cool marketing?
I did a search on Yahoo for mobil1 versus castrol...there were a few opinion threads out there in other forums...and, of course, Amsoil distributor pages always seem to get mixed in there...most opinions basically said "I use this oil and have never had problems"
currently, I am using mobil1 0w40 in my 2006 Jetta 2.0T and have about 62k miles on it
so if you can actually do it....using actual numbers (flash points, etc and other real data), please show me some proof that one oil is better than the other...not an arguement as to one being true synthetic by a specific set of rules...comparing Castrol Syntec and Mobil1...0w30, 5w30, 5w40, and 0w40...and assume that oil is changed at least every 5k miles
actually let's add Valvoline, Havoline, Quaker State, Pennzoil...I am not including Amsoil or Motul mainly because it's hard to find those at retail shops like AutoZone or Advance...my guess is, though, that it won't matter anyway
I am not looking for advice on whether an oil is 502 approved or not...I think there are oils out there not approved (shut up amsoil guys...lol) that probably exceed the vw specs
let's actually make this even more interesting...let's include non-synthetic oil as well (unless non-synthetic really just cannot survive a turbo engine)...the reason I say this is due to 5k oil changes and non-racetrack driving for 99% of us
so...there you go...have at it...remember, use real data...not oil analysis from your individual engine...engines differ....I am looking for something concrete that shows one oil is better than another
this should be interesting...but I'm hoping it's actually informative




_Modified by pturner67 at 9:00 AM 8-5-2008_


----------



## f1forkvr6 (Jun 10, 2002)

*Re: Oil showdown (pturner67)*

You'll find all of this information and more if you spend some time (hours if you can spare it) going through VOAs and UOAs at BITOG http://www.bobistheoilguy.com

__
Image uploading. Refresh page to view









edit: I'll get you started ... VOAs in this forum: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...age=1
UOAs in these forums:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...age=1
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...age=1
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...age=1


_Modified by f1forkvr6 at 2:05 PM 8-5-2008_


----------



## pturner67 (Dec 27, 2002)

*Re: Oil showdown (f1forkvr6)*

thank you...I think the virgin oil analysis is probably more helpful than the used oil analysis...engines are different and produce different used oil qualities
will give it a lookover and see
thanks again for the links


----------



## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: Oil showdown (pturner67)*

Mobil1 0W40 is a great oil and is perhaps the best on the VW-approved list. It has wide manufacturer acceptance. My research shows that the two complaints you hear most about M1 0w40 is that it shears down to a 30 weight oil fast and it returns somewhat higher iron numbers than some other oils. But that has to be weighed with tons of positives for this oil, including keeping you engine clean.
My own experience with my boxster s is that the iron readings were a bit high and it did shear with mobil Ow40. I switched to redline 5W40 on that car and it cranked over faster on startup and definitely ran quieter and it seemed smoother, especially at high revs.. Redline is widely accepted in the racing community and I have had saabs go over 300k miles and running as new that were always on redline. Do a search for "barkerman" and redline on BITOG also as he has posted some good results with redline. One post is of a toyota motor at over 500k miles that still looks as new inside the engine. One of my biggest concerns with the 2.0T motor is to minimize cam/top end wear. Redline has high levels of zinc, phosphorus, and moly (one of the few oils that uses lots of moly, read about moly here http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/moly.html) which should give good cam protection. It is also a group V oil and uses polyolesters as base stock which makes it very shear-stable.
Other oils that aren't on the VW-approved list which I think will perform better than anything on the list on this engine are renewable lubricants 5W40 and amsoil 5W40.
I am hearing lots of interest in lubromoly also. Another oil you hear a lot about for vw's is german castrol, which is syntec 0w30 that is made in germany. These are ones along with M1 that have been jumping out at me on the approved list.
So, person opinion only, I see three tiers of oil for this engine:
1. Redline 5W40, Renewable lubricants 5w40, amsoil 5w40 (note that none of these are on the approved list, most likely because the phosphorus (anti-wear additive) levels are too high to meet the vw spec.
2. Mobil 1 and german castrol
3. Everything else (synthetic I mean), including north american made syntec
I'm unsure where to put lubromoly because I don't know enough about it yet and there are other oils such as shaeffers that I have not used but people say good things about so I wouldn't know where to put those


----------



## f1forkvr6 (Jun 10, 2002)

*Re: Oil showdown (saaber2)*

Different engine than the 2.0T, but my 12v VR6 has had excellent UOAs' with Lubromoly Voll Synthese 5W/40. M1 TDT (was T&SUV)/Delvac 1 formulations, also in 5W/40, have given me given me great results.


----------

