# Royal Purple....good or bad



## totalchevy1 (May 12, 2008)

Checking to see if we can use this stuff. I checked their website with no luck and all the list here don't show it, but this stuff is pretty new to the market. Any help would be appreciated.


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## shipo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Re: Royal Purple....good or bad (totalchevy1)*

Royal Purple, new? Uhhh, what do you consider new?
That said, while their oil isn't certified to meet any VW specs, it seems to be fairly decent oil for some engines. The thing is, if you read the UOAs over on BITOG, you'll see that it does very well in some engines and not so much in others.


_Modified by shipo at 4:44 PM 6-20-2008_


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## totalchevy1 (May 12, 2008)

What is UOA and BITOG... is there a way to see what results are for vw motors.


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## shipo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Re: (totalchevy1)*

UOA = Used Oil Analysis
BITOG = Bob Is The Oil Guy http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...s.php
Over on the BITOG site they have a forum that is effectively a database of UOAs posted by the users, and by now there are roughly 5,000 UOAs in the database.
Keep in mind that there are no Royal Purple oils that are certified to meet any of the VW oil specifications (i.e. 502.00, 503.01, 505.00 or 505.01 for U.S. cars); so if your car is under warranty and suffers an oil related engine failure, you can kiss your warranty goodbye.
That said, if you've already driven through the warranty period, and if you find that the UOAs look pretty good for your engine, you might want to give it a try as any failure at that point is on your dime anyway.
Keep us posted, especially if you have a couple of UOAs performed.








http://www.blackstone-labs.com/


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## d1rty2.0 (Jun 16, 2008)

*Re: Royal Purple....good or bad (totalchevy1)*

I used it for several changes... and then stopped because the last time it burned about 70% of it in about 3500 mi..!!!! When I've used it in several cars before with excellent results. That time the dipstick came out rather dry. As much as I love the brand, for my Jetta (138k) I now use high mileage mineral...


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## R32R1 (Jul 1, 2008)

Bad


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## robb. (Feb 28, 2007)

i use it on my subaru, which is a 2.2L NA (naturally aspirated, i.e. non-turbo). that engine doesn't require much, and a bunch of subaru people have used it to good effect.
i use ELF/total in my 1.8T golf. between the turbo and the extra performance, i'm allowing myself to be over-the-top tweaky about the oil.
robb.


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## Mr-X (May 16, 2007)

do NOT use royal purple, or mobil 1.
RP and M1 xW30's have a low High Temp High Shear to meet energy conserving requirements and are less shear stable.
Meaning the film that the oils have to protect from high temp friction tends to shear which can cause excessive wear over a short period of time.
I use castrol, works for me.
(I use 5W50, yeah I know it isn't exactly recommended, but thats what i use, i may be switching to 5W40 here soon as its cheaper and meets VW reqs)


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## shipo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Re: (Mr-X)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Mr-X* »_do NOT use royal purple, or mobil 1.
RP and M1 xW30's have a low High Temp High Shear to meet energy conserving requirements and are less shear stable.
Meaning the film that the oils have to protect from high temp friction tends to shear which can cause excessive wear over a short period of time.
I use castrol, works for me.
(I use 5W50, yeah I know it isn't exactly recommended, but thats what i use, i may be switching to 5W40 here soon as its cheaper and meets VW reqs)

Too funny, you use a non approved oil that can have significant implications vis-a-vis your warranty and in the same breath you recommend against using Mobil 1 which has one grade that IS VW approved (i.e. Mobil 1 0W-40) and will keep your warranty intact.
Hmmm, I suppose you recommend Slick-50 and Lucas Oil Treatment as well.


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## Seanathan (May 1, 2002)

*Re: (Mr-X)*

yeah that seems a bit contrary. Depends on what you're running inbetween changes too. For 5,000 miles they both should be just fine. They're not going to shear down to a 20W in 3k miles. My UOA's from 0w-40 on my 1.8T show that it won't..


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## JohnMartin (Dec 7, 2006)

*Re: (shipo)*


_Quote, originally posted by *shipo* »_
Too funny, you use a non approved oil that can have significant implications vis-a-vis your warranty and in the same breath you recommend against using Mobil 1 which has one grade that IS VW approved (i.e. Mobil 1 0W-40) and will keep your warranty intact.
Hmmm, I suppose you recommend Slick-50 and Lucas Oil Treatment as well.









Good call-hahaha. 
I've used Royal Purple for the majority of my oil changes(2002 VW GTI 24v VR6) and have had great sucess. The engine friction is very noticeably reduced, this can be easily felt by an articulated driver. 
I have also had the opportunity to experiment with some weight variations on the track. My favorite so far is 15W-40 for summer events. 
I do however use Mobil1 in the winter and stick to the factory recommended 0W-40; for the obvious viscosity characteristics.
But staying on topic...I'm not sure what you mean(Mr-X) when you claim "excessive wear over a short period of time." Does the wear occur at high temperatures or at start up? What kind of damage are we talking about? I'm just curious what you've heard. 
Oh yeah, and wear did you find this out?


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## shipo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Re: (JohnMartin)*


_Quote, originally posted by *JohnMartin* »_I've used Royal Purple for the majority of my oil changes(2002 VW GTI 24v VR6) and have had great sucess. The engine friction is very noticeably reduced, this can be easily felt by an articulated driver.

An articulated driver?








Hmmm, last time I checked, most drivers were able to bend at least 45 degrees at the waist, and spend most of their time so bent when inside of a car.


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## jakub28 (Jul 27, 2008)

Not sure why people choose to go against what Volkswagen engineers have put endless amount of analysis into. :/


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## beenthere (Jul 29, 2008)

*Re: (jakub28)*


_Quote, originally posted by *jakub28* »_Not sure why people choose to go against what Volkswagen engineers have put endless amount of analysis into. :/


For some unexplainable reason many car enthusiasts buy into the baseless oil advertising hype. These people believe they will gain something from using an oil that is not specifically designed for their VW engine vs. the oils VW has actually tested and confirmed to meet VW engine requirements. 
This consumer illness had made many a snakeoil company very wealthy, even after they have been prosecuted for fraud.


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## golfa89 (Sep 6, 2007)

*Re: (beenthere)*

i gues for the same reason they change the turbos clutches tires and prety much all in vw cars to get more fun jeje


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## R32R1 (Jul 1, 2008)

*Re: (golfa89)*

BAD


_Modified by R32R1 at 2:25 PM 8-4-2008_


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: Royal Purple....good or bad (shipo)*


_Quote, originally posted by *shipo* »_That said, while their oil isn't certified to meet any VW specs, it seems to be fairly decent oil for some engines. The thing is, if you read the UOAs over on BITOG, you'll see that it does very well in some engines and not so much in others.

I agree and the only thing I would add is that "newer" oils such as RP tend to get beat up on BITOG because they are "new" or "boutique" oils. Until lots of UOAs are posted and people have had more experience the jury is still out on this oil IMO. So take the BITOG opinions with a grain of salt and look for objective analysis.


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## shipo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Re: Royal Purple....good or bad (saaber2)*

Why do folks keep suggesting that Royal Purple is "new", I mean come on, I've been running into that oil (at retailers and in shops) since the mid 1980s. Given that the automotive market for synthetic oil isn't much older than that, I'd say they're one of the older companies in the segment.


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: Royal Purple....good or bad (shipo)*

I think it is new to many people in the sense of wide distribution so you don't have a lot of users who have used it for a long time in comparison to Mobil1 etc. That is why I put quotation marks around "new", because it is perceived as new (and it is new to a lot of people who never heard of or used it before the last couple years when it started having wider distribution/marketing), even though it is not really a new product.


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## jakub28 (Jul 27, 2008)

which motorsports does royal purple participate in?


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## PhReE (Sep 16, 2004)

*Re: (jakub28)*

I think the thing is a lot of people see it as, well just because an oil hasnt been tested and shown to meet VW's specs doent necessarily mean that the oil itself doesnt meet the specs. However, with that being said, I will be running some official VW oil in my VRT from now on. (I have been running several different oils over the past 4 years in the GTI, mainly Royal Purple lately)


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## d1rty2.0 (Jun 16, 2008)

*Re: (jakub28)*


_Quote, originally posted by *jakub28* »_which motorsports does royal purple participate in?


"from NASCAR and NHRA to the World of Outlaws and Bonneville Salt Flats." (quoted from one of RP websites)
RP brags about being the number one choice by far of racing teams across the nation, and the results are real. It works for them. But when you look into lubrication for your daily driver... it doesn't always work for all platforms. What I'm sayin' probably makes little or no sense, but I had to learn it the hard way. I used Royal Purple and it didn't worked for my healthy, mostly stock VW (cai, exhaust system, ignition sys., etc.)
I used RP for a while(eeeee) I just had to stop using it for the reason of my other post above. What I use now and actually was surprised with both the tech sheet online (v.s. leading motor oils i.e M1) and the actual results (for my Jetta as is now) is Pennzoil high mileage. 
aaaahhh I know, big diff.
It works for me!







l8r
*EDIT* 
I'm talkin 'bout AZ where our average temp. is over 100 degrees F everyday I used the proper weight for this climate. Shouldn't good oil be good oil whether on the strip, the street, Mexico, or Canada? Thank gosh for multi-grade ...I guess. 



_Modified by d1rty2.0 at 2:51 PM 9-19-2008_


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## franz131 (Apr 13, 2008)

*Re: (d1rty2.0)*

22 posts and not 1 shred of technical information.
UOA is a forensic tool, not a predictive one. Using UOA as a reason to use an oil is like saying pulling out is 100% effective because you never got a girl pregnant. 
Use European spec oil in European cars, there's plenty of it around. ACEA A3/B4 is the second recommendation from VW for 502 00 applications. If Royal Purple lists that spec on their bottle, VW says it's good if you can't get an approved 502 00 oil.
0w30, 5w30, 0w40, 5w40, 5w50 et al, are oil GRADES, not oil standards or specifications. Look for the standard/spec first, then the grade.


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## d1rty2.0 (Jun 16, 2008)

*Re: (franz131)*

It doesn't matter if there's no real data here, its just a question whether its good or bad. People share what they know, others learn and make a judgement. UOAs do help you get an idea, even though (I agree) they're not 'reliable'... About using other oils... I mean, who will ever know what we're missing? At least you're changing the oil within the specified time, and that's a plus. To not take it to the lube shop and/or buying your oil at the dollar store (they do sell it lol) that's even better! And I think that 90+ percent of the people clicking so many times and finding this thread have at least a decent idea of what oil grades are. I was being a little sarcastic, but oil grades are to my appreciation an understatement here. We're all friends here, I mean everything I say in a good way! Hope it helps others. 
Ok, anyway it is kind of hard to find info on oils, specially RP and I do get the feeling that some companies may be trying to hide something for reasons that could affect their sales. On a lot of other oils the specs are easy to find and pop out on Google like fireworks on the 4th of July. Those are always there, people interested should think outside the VWvortex box and do a little research every now and then. 
Hey! we could post some links! I'll start...
http://www.enhancedsyntheticoi...L.htm
Even though its biased, it has more info on RP that I've seen so far.
Maybe I need to look better.


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