I changed my oil at 3000 miles with mobil1, but now I'm coming up on my 2nd oil change and have been pondering other brands. Obviously, redline was a choice, but the entry price is just out of my league, so I started looking at amsoil since it seems like a popular consensus that amsoil is better than mobil1. Now, I can get mobil1 from walmart for ~$5.75/quart, but I haven't been able to find a good price on amsoil except for it's own website, which is ~$6.75 according to my memory, because I can't find it anymore. Okay, so I have a few questions.

1) Amsoil vs. Mobil1? Better?
2) Worth the price for amsoil?
3) Where do you get your amsoil and at what price? I don't remember seeing it in the store.

 

I had a very similar question. The best information I found on it was from the following site. It's just like NAM, except the focus is oil. It's easier to differentiate between opinions and actual oil analyses because the tests and samples are what back most of the people's posts. I found most of it to be accessable to me, a novice, but some of it certainly goes way over my head. Enjoy:

www.bobistheoilguy.com

mb

 

Thanks for the link. Anyways, Can I ask for the cliffnotes on it? My fiance already says that I spend way too much time on this forum and I tend to agree with her. I'm trying to avoid going through another forum.

I did learn from one of the threads on NAM that it seems that a lot of the supposedly independent websites on the internet about AMSOIL are put up by the company. It doesn't seem like a very trustworthy business practice.

 

Sure enough, here are the cliff's notes, take them or leave them:

Amsoil is a REAL synthetic (if you really want sexy argument, look that topic up on the site, and this one for that matter) and so is mobil 1. To really find out which is better for YOUR engine, you'd have to run it for 3000 miles, take out a sample, send it to a lab (there are a few advertised on the site) and have them tell you the state of your oil. Repeat for the other brand, and decide which is better based on those facts and numbers.

I've read the same thing about amsoil producing the informative sites on the net, so I wouldn't necessarily go by them either.

If you don't want to do all of the above, search the site and find someone who has. They are certainly fans of both oils over there, probably m1 more than amsoil, and they really love GC (german castrol - apparently a REAL castrol synthetic).

If you search this site you'll find heavy support for m1. My innitial question which led me to the research was m1 vs. redline vs. the MINI castrol. What did I learn? Any oil in a healthy engine will do its job as long as it isn't asked to do it too long.

How will I act on it? Sticking with the MINI castrol with 5-7K increments, then once I'm out of warranty I'll switch to redline, which is sure to keep the engine clean. I'm also experimenting with Lube Control, a product I found on the site that you can learn about too. I know I know, snake oil, I thought so too. Then I read and read and read and broke down and bought some to try. Better gas mileage, smoother running, no more oil burnoff - and the kicker is that oil analysis labs support it as the ONLY additive they've ever found to actually meet its claims and help engine oil do its job.

You'll read horror stories over there about m1 and amsoil, the debate is exactly like the debates on this site about intakes, pulleys, etc...

mb

Edit - I wasn't specific with my advise based on my research, so here goes: With your choices, I'd go with Mobil 1 over Amsoil.

 

^^^ I'm with mb on this one.

 

But it looks like for long service intervals, Amsoil can get a little thicker. there are some links to some great test results in this post:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...9&postcount=22

Matt

 

My experience with Amsoil.

I bought a 1995 Audi S6 20v turbo two years ago from the original owner and it has seen Amsoil exclusively since day 1. He used Amsoil 15-50w HD diesel oil. Yes, diesel HD. Since we are a distributor for Amsoil and sell a good amount of the stuff, I just ordered up the same by the case (four 1 gallon jugs) and kept the cycle going every 5,000 miles with Austrian Mahle oil filters. The 20v turbo 5-cylinder engine still sounds brand new and sometimes you can't even tell it's running. It really likes to redline up at 7,200 and hardly burns any oil ~1/2 quart every 2,000 miles. I use this oil year round and I live in Northern Vermont. I've got 160,000 miles on this S6.

I've used Mobil 1 15-50w in both my ex-'83 and '84 Audi ur-quattros [these have oil cooled only turbos] and switched to Amsoil 15-50 HD in the 84 urq for the last year, it just ran better.

Each engine is different and has different tollerances. German engines *usually* like thicker oils. My old Porsche 944 loved the Amsoil 15-50w HD. OTH, My '96 Toyota Tacoma 4WD had to use really thin oil (5-30w) like the MINI.

Since I've only got 428 miles on my MINI Cooper S, and I really have no idea of how this engine burns (clean or not) I'll cross the oil bridge later.

 

mobil1 will do for me.

 

Amsoil.
I used Mobil 1 all last year, but I will be using Amsoil now that I'm track only.

 

Oh man I'm staying clear of this one!

 

What about Royal Purple. Any one using it????

royalpurple.com


Longboard

 

Royal Purple is the choice of Detroit Tuned and Chad really knows his Mini's -
Its the only one that I would use

 

Royal Purple actually got a few more peak HP than Mobile 1! I run it in our MDX, as it's about the same cost as Mobil 1. Red-line wasn't evaluated, and I don't remember if Amsoil was.... Red-Line for the Mustang and Mini.....

Matt

 

That is exciting news! Two highly esteemed technical editors, DrObnxs and Mike Miller, both use RL.

I kind of see this thread tipping (tipping point anyone?) towards an all out opinion war on oil. The original post is asking for a rec. between amsoil and m1.

mb

 

Amsoil, Redline, and Royal Purple seem to be the three outstanding choices among people who know what they're talking about, but Mobil One is still a great and relatively cheap upgrade from the pseudo-synthetic MINI Castrol. I used Redline for my first oil change in my new MINI, and I'll probably stick with it. Amsoil seems to be great stuff, but I find their marketing tactics really annoying.

 

honestly, if you change your oil every 3k miles, any of the above mentioned oils will do you just fine, IMO. They are all quality oils. I run Amsoil and am happy with it. I don't really have a reason (statistically speaking) for using Amsoil other than my father-in-law is a distributor and I get it at cost.

 

I agree with haulinS, all are high quality. Just change them when you feel it necessary. I use Amsoil in two other vehicles with over 100K ea and they run like new (15K changes). I am not a dealer, but you can push synthetic way beyond traditional 3K changes. Hey Exxon/Mobil made $65 billion profit last year.

I did receive back my Syntec 5-w-30 oil analysis today on my 04 MCS with 30K miles. Oil was tested at 5500 miles and every test came back normal. Wear metals, contaminants, oxidation, and nitration were all very low to normal. Additives were also respectable. Viscosity of 12.01 was starting to get high though. 12.50 is low end for 5-w-40. Syntec isn't going to hurt your car. I'm not a scientist either.

 

That's because they sold gasoline at higher prices than any other time in history, not because Mobil One is particularly great stuff.

 

I have read other places using HD is better because of the additives. Would it be of any help in the MINI? Or is using syn oil enough?

 

Amsoil ran approximately 40F hotter in my RX-7 and Ducati than Mobil1 of the same weight. I'll never use Amsoil in anything again, not even my lawnmover.

 

I've used Mobil 1 for going on 15 years now, and I've been happy with it. For a few years I was putting 20k+ miles on my car and switched to Amsoil, and actually sold it for awhile. After we moved and my commute changed and I'm putting less than 10k miles a year on any of our cars, I decided to switch back to Mobil 1. IMO one of the big benefits of Amsoil is the extended drain intervals, which I don't really take advantage of now. I've also used a number of Redline products, but never their motor oil.

 

I was considering Redline Oil, but balked at the price. At ~$10 / quart, I thought it was rather steep for an oil change especially when I change my oil approximately every 3000 miles.

All in all, I'm probably going to stick with mobil1 since there haven't been any negative things posted about it and amsoil has the poor marketing tactics and some negative experiences with others. Redline oil wouldn't happen to be at Walmart, would it? Then, I could just expense it.

 

To add another wrench in the works, you could consider Synergyn which is racing oil.

I went from Mobil1 to 3w30 Synergyn and saw a consistent 7hp on the dyno. We did 3 runs, did the oil change, and did 3 more runs. it was 7hp more with the Synergyn.

www.synergynracing.com

 

I use MOBIL ONE because of availability. I never have to send off and wait for it. It's everywhere 7 days a week. See how you feel if you run low some time and you have to wait for someone to deliver you oil or mix brands so you don't run the engine low on oil.

 

you can run anything! There are more and more studies showing the synthetics are good for well over 10,000 miles. If you want piece of mind, change the filter every whatever, and top off. You can do a total change every 3rd filter change or so.

Matt