Blackstone Laboratories has performed oil analysis on hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Recently they decided to take all this data and figure out the one question every auto enthusiast wants to know, “Which motor oil is the best?”
The answer is… they’re all interchangeable so long as they meet the oil weight and certifications for your vehicle. Mobil 1, Pennzoil, Valvoline, even the discounted brands such as Walmart’s Supertech and Peak will not wear your engine out any quicker than any other brand that meets the basic standards for your vehicle.
Travis Heffelfinger, who is employed by Blackstone, had a recent conversation with a customer where he highlighted this decades old fact.
Him: “So, I’m using Rotella in this engine… is that the best choice?”
Me: “It certainly seems to be doing a good job. You’d probably get good results with whatever oil you used, but this is working fine.”
Him: “Would I be better off if I switched to Mobil 1?”
Me: “Well, you could, but I wouldn’t expect much change in engine wear. We find that the type of oil typically doesn’t matter when it comes to wear metals.”
Him: “What about Amsoil? I’ve heard that’s the best oil out there.”
Me: “That’s a good brand as well. We just don’t tend to see much difference in wear metals between different oil types, so whichever one you want to use is fine.”
Him: “Okay, but what about that new Pennzoil Ultra stuff? I’ve heard that’s a much better product. Is that better than Amsoil, or not?”
Me: [sigh…]
If you want to find your inner geek and take a deeper dive into the data and the analysis click here. Otherwise just wait until a brand goes on sale and couple it with a rebate. Life’s too short for spending big money on a commodity.