Synthetic or natural motor oil?

by **fotodad** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 8:29 pm

I was just at my local AutoZone store picking up various detailing supplies. I happened to pause at the motor oil section when a salesperson asked if I needed any help. I asked him if synthetic oil is worth all that extra money. He said it was worth the extra money without a doubt! So, is he just trying to sell me an expensive oil to make an extra buck, or is synthetic (Mobil 1 in this case) oil that much better for the engine? I typically have my dealership do the scheduled changes for me. I have them put in whatever grade Toyota recommends. Is this the route I should follow, or should I buy some Mobil 1 for the dealer to put in next time I get an oil change?

Thanks all you oil experts!

by **Buckeyegirl** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:52 am

My husband has been using Mobil 1 since 1987 in all of his cars and wouldn't use anything else, he swears by it. The biggest misconception is people think because it's synthetic you don't have to change it as often, FALSE. Oil in any internal combustion engine gets dirty. We change ours just like normal every 3K. The cheapest place to buy it is Wal-Mart in the 5 qt. jug or K-mart when it's on sale for $4 a qt.

by **onefiend** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 10:52 am

$4 a quart for synthetic?! wow, thats pretty cheap.

by **fotodad** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 12:12 pm

Dumb question #37:

If an oil is "synthetic" does that mean it contains no natural ingredients? If I can keep a dollar from filling the pocket of a Middle Eastern country, I'm all for it!

by **Buckeyegirl** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:29 pm

fotodad,

All your questions can be answered at www.mobil1.com under the "Why Synthetics" column.

As far as keeping dollars out of the Middle East you don't have to worry about that, President Bush will give plenty of our $$ to them to rebuild. Did you happen to notice how much they gave our country to help rebuild the twin towers?

by **fotodad** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:47 pm

Buckeyegirl wrote:As far as keeping dollars out of the Middle East you don't have to worry about that, President Bush will give plenty of our $$ to them to rebuild. Did you happen to notice how much they gave our country to help rebuild the twin towers?

Good point, Buckeyegirl! I say we help Americans first!

by **impactX** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:22 am

Mobil1 is not fully synthetic anymore.

Dino oil breaks down a lot faster due to heat compared to synthetic oil. When oil breaks down, there isn't enough lubrication and that puts stress on the engine parts. (Ever had sex without lub? haha)

Get synthetic if you can afford it.

by **kubi** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:01 am

I use Royal Purple synthetic. I have no reason to be unsatisfied with it. Plus the oil is purple

by **fotodad** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:57 am

impactX wrote:(Ever had sex without lub?

It's synthetic for me! :wink:

by **Jai_Jai_Binks** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 8:21 am

fotodad wrote:If I can keep a dollar from filling the pocket of a Middle Eastern country, I'm all for it!

So i assumed you bought that theory not to buy SUV's a while back cus' driving them helps middle eastern counties. Not wanting to start an argument here..but that was truly an ignorant comment! cus' most of the bucks' goes to texaxo, exxon, BP, shell (none of which are middle eastern!!).

by **fotodad** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 8:54 am

jhbhatia wrote:Not wanting to start an argument here..but that was truly an ignorant comment! cus' most of the bucks' goes to texaxo, exxon, BP, shell (none of which are middle eastern!!).

You're kidding, right? This is a joke, right? You're trying to make me and probably everyone who reads your post laugh, right? Wow, I hope so!

How wonderfully nice of all those oil-rich Middle Eastern companies to simply hand over, free of charge billion and billions of gallons of oil to Texaco, Exxon, BP, and Shell. Sure, some of these oil companies refine oil drilled from the US, but most oil is not.

Don't call my comments "ignorant" and then have the audacity to say, "Not wanting to start an argument here..."

Ever hear the term "imports"? Ignorance is thinking the companies you listed don't import foreign oil from, of all places, the Mideast. Why do you think when the oil cartels limit oil production your precious Texaco, Exxon, BP, and Shell gas stations raise the price of gas?

Yes, a lot of those gas bucks go to American companies. But a strong percentage of that gas money goes to foreign countries, specifically countries in the Mideast.

by **kubi** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:14 am

Here is the list:

Top 4 companies that import middle eastern oil (for the period 9/1/00 - 8/31/01). By the way, 86% of all middle eastern oil comes from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Shell 205,742,000 barrels of oil
Chevron/Texaco 144,332,000
Exxon/Mobil 130,082,000
Marathon 117,740,000

If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to about $18 billion. That's a lot of money.

Here are some large companies that do not import much Middle Eastern oil:

Citgo 0 barrels of oil
Sunoco 0
Conoco 0
Sinclair 0
Phillips 0
BP Amoco 62,231,000

by **Jai_Jai_Binks** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:21 am

My work formerly entailed detaining pool margins from corporate owned convenience stores and jobberships (fuel distributorships). If your wanting to teach me a lesson on c-store fuel management...let's talk poolmargins, jobbermargins, etc and you will see who makes the bucks! (lived in the middle east for a good portion to know who is rich over there too, so i'm talking first hand experience from both worlds - extrators and distributors).
I'm sorry if i called your comment ignorant....since i'm a badger from WI...PEACE to another WI person here...cus' i don't want this to become a flame thread. :bday:

by **fotodad** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:06 am

jhbhatia wrote:
I'm sorry if i called your comment ignorant....since i'm a badger from WI...PEACE to another WI person here...cus' i don't want this to become a flame thread.

Apology accepted. Peace!

by **fotodad** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:54 pm

impactX wrote:Mobil1 is not fully synthetic anymore.

Wow! I didn't know that. What brands out there are fully synthetic other than the one you mentioned?

Synthetic or natural motor oil?

Synthetic or natural motor oil?

Who is online