Why aren't there any store brand full synthetic oils?

jgmilberg · October 2001

Murray's Discount Auto Stores in Metro Detreoit, MI area has a Murray's brand full synthetic oil. It is only $.75 cheaper than Mobile One so why bother?

bidandsell · October 2001

Full synthetic is available.

adc100 · October 2001

No-one knows if "fully synthetc" is really fully synthetic.

sdayalani · October 2001

castrol syntec which is not a full synthetic, or even walmart syn (supposedly made by quaker state) is still better than the best conventional oil in the market.

bretfraz · October 2001

I believe they offer a full synth as well.

amorales · October 2001

brorjace · October 2001

What a silly thread.

--- Bror Jace

adc100 · October 2001

bottgers · October 2001

I suppose you guys enjoy paying $4.50 a quart for name brand Synthetic?

adc100 · October 2001

But to each his own.

Later

bluedevils · October 2001

Seriously adc100, what do you enjoy "knowing" -- what brand/manufacturer of the stuff that's in the bottle you buy? Sure, you can know that if you buy the same brand consistently. What you won't really know is what exactly is in the bottle, what kind of formulation it is, etc.

There is more mystery than fact regarding synthetic oils, so I think it's a bit of a misrepresentation to make it look like you get so much more knowledge when buying a "name" brand vs. a store brand.

I don't think this thread is quite as stupid as some of you other guys. The stupid part is that the question posed in the Topic is actually incorrect-- there ARE several store brands of synthetic oils.

adc100 · October 2001

I think that the reasons I use it are: Used in Army Tanks during Desert Storm, Used in Vette, Viper, Porsh, AMG factory fill., have read two artcles in SAE (951026, 981444), They actually invented syn oil in the 40's. Also and perhaps most important-I have used it fot about 7 years with what I consider very good results. Oh-one other thing. When I was a working stiff- I met an indivudual in their syn research dept. Got lots of good inside information. One other thng-pick up the Mobil 1 bottle and another syn ond carefully read the words. There are no weasel words with Mobil 1 and they meet more specifcations. They actually say "meet" such and such specs.

Later

csandste · October 2001

Several years ago (probably early nineties) I remember seeing an expose on a small parts distributor that was selling "counterfit" oil that failed to meet any specs. and mislabeled as synthetic. Can't remember whether the actual containers were misrepresented or whether they were resealing "name brand" containers and using the good oil for bulk.

At least with Wal-Mart, you know they're using Quaker State (or have been for quite a few years).

bluedevils · October 2001

adc, those are certainly fine and valid reasons. However, to me they don't fall in the "you know what you're getting" category. You still don't know what's in the bottle, really. Yes, you may know that it's the preferred choice for manufacturers of many high-performance cars or in many severe-duty uses. These are probably good indicators of quality.

Maybe you did get some good specifics on what's in the bottle from your inside source (or maybe the source was a bit biased). However, most people don't have, or haven't had, access to this sort of information.

I'm not saying Mobil1 is bad. In fact I use it. But I just don't think that any of the info we have really substantiates that Mobil1 is better than other synthetic oils. It may very well be that Valvoline Synpower is as good as Mobil1 or better, even though Valvoline does not make the definitive statements on its packaging.

armtdm · October 2001

Whether they be Wal-MArt, Pep Boys, NAPA, CarQuest etc. is that they are supplied the product via a contract which expires, can be broken etc and can also alter the specs of the product being purchased. So any of these places can switch suppliers pretty quickly without the public knowing it. Granted that Mobil, Amsoil, redLine can alter the specs as well but I feel comfortable that at least they are formulating the product and not simply re-bottling/re-labeling it from someone else.

So, I use the Pep Boys synthetic in my lawn mower but would never use it in my cars.

adc100 · October 2001

You are certainly correct. I really do not *know* what I am getting. And perhaps you hit the nail on the head when you said: "These are probably good indicators of quality." Thats probably as good as any of can do!! Very good point.

armtdm also sums up some of my feelings.

Truce?..bluedevils??

BTW how did you get the "bold" on the word "probably"

Later,
Al

mrdetailer · October 2001

adc100 · October 2001

I'd vote for Shiftright to end it.

bottgers · October 2001

OK, so maybe I should've titled this topic with the question "why don't all stores selling motor oil sell a store brand or generic full synthetic?" I have seen a few, but almost every store I've been to that sells motor oil also sells some kind of a store brand conventional oil. Why can't they all do the same with full synthetic?

I've also heard that of the few store brand synthetics available, all of them are made by certain brand name companies.

As far as knowing what you're getting, there's an easy wasy to tell. Look at the API rating. The Wal-Mart full synthetic meets or exceeds the "SJ" rating, which is the highest rating in the industry. Any good full synthetic meets or exceeds this rating. Does this mean it's as good as Amzoil or Mobil 1? Maybe. Maybe not. It does mean it's superior to any conventional or blend, as none of them meet this rating. And because it's priced at more than $1.50 per quart less than Mobil 1, The Super Tech is more than good enough for me.

adc100 · October 2001

All "normal" oils on the shelf meet or exceed SJ.

Notice the weasel words here?? "Meets **or** exceeds" this spec. Since it is an "or" they don't need to exceed the spec. Mobil says "exceeds"-period-no weasel words.

This topic belongs under the syn posts.

I say shut it down Shftright

Later

rayfbaird · October 2001

Even though I think this should also be part of the syn oil topic, I have been using Quaker State Syn in one vehicle for about a year now. My oil consumption last time was only about a pint over 6,000 miles. I would have used 1-1.5 quarts over the same distance with dino.

If the Walmart is QState, it's good stuff. It's a PAO.

bluedevils · October 2001

I didn't think we were sparring, adc. Just trying to keep you honest!

As for the bold type, I'm no HTML guru but bold is very easy to do. Just type the letter b with brackets around it to turn on the bold and put a forward slash in front of the b to turn it off.
These are the brackets of which I speak: < >

Good morning

Also, most browsers let you view the source "code" on a web page. On Microsoft Internet Explorer, select "Source" from the "View" menu. You can see all sorts of HTML tags, for bold-face type and all sorts of other stuff.

bluedevils · October 2001

First, a retail store should not be expected to offer a synthetic of its own brand. If this was very profitable, I'm sure they would do it. But my guess is that it isn't. People who buy synthetic are discriminating ("smart") buyers. If you're already spending $3+ on a quart of synthetic oil, wouldn't you feel safer/better/smarter to buy the big-name oil brand (Mobil1, Valvoline, Quaker State, etc.) instead of Murray's Full Synthetic or Wal-Mart's SuperTech synthetic?

These store brands may very well be the equals of the big-name oils, but you really don't know.

bluedevils · October 2001

I don't necessarily believe that store brands change their formulations more than the major name brands. Maybe, maybe not. And how are we to know that a major brand has or has not changed its formula, unless they specifically market that information and make it available to the general public?

Didn't Mobil1 change its formula, fairly quietly, in the recent past? I thought there had been rumblings/grumblings from some of you guys about the new Mobil1's quality being lower than before. Yes? No?

Okay, now we can close this topic and move our discussion to the synthetic oil topic.

brorjace · October 2001

Guys, I think the problem is that when a company like Mobil switches its synthetic formula, they make it obvious by calling it "Tri-Synthetic", etc ... When Castrol surreptitiously switches their Syntec formula, Patrick Bedard writes a high-profile column about it in Car & Driver.

If/when Walmart or Pep-Boys switched their synthetic formula around or cheapens the additive package, no one will ever know.

--- Bror Jace

bottgers · October 2001

Why are you so hot to close this topic?

bluedevils · October 2001

Someone else suggested that this discussion would be better off as part of the Synthetic Motor Oil topic, rather than keeping it as a separate topic.

bottgers · October 2001

It's already a separate topic, so why not just leave it?

csandste · October 2001

I for one am bothered by the digression into K&N filters in the oil filter posts and the transmission fluids in the syn. oil posts. People might be looking for information on these subjects and miss them. Obviously this is closer to the general subject than those posts, but the fact that there's been activity here should show that it's viable.

Why aren't there any store brand full synthetic oils?

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