Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Guest RedLineGTR

The problem with oils like that is that they are a mix/blend of what i dunno?? Different doses of specific lubricants, elements, chemicals etc...It’s more of a semi-synthetic and for 10-20bucks you can get a oil that is more based on a full sythetic oil such as mobil 1 or motul etc. It’s usually worth the money especially in a turbo based car which experiences high temperatures. My 2 cents

Yeah, I've used it a coupe of times. Not too impressed, I feel my fuel economy etc is a little less. Before I was using valvolvine 10-40 semi synth something, I felt that was better. But this time Im going to try a full synth, see how that goes.

nah.. its fine.. changing the oil regularly is more important than what you use as long as its not too shithouse.

I don't think they're as high as 85% mineral.. they're rated for turbo engines. It wouldn't say it on the bottle unless it was safe to do so. In fact there is probably **** all difference i reckon, other than the name and marketing associated with the expensive stuff.. but of course I'm not a chemist so couldn't determine that empirically..

Been using it for 18 months or so in mine, no problems. Doesn't seem to break down and go black that quickly, so i assume its doing its job reasonably well.

Makes perfect sense RedLineGTR. However, your better off getting say, a bottle of Shell Helix Synthetic ($45) and keeping that for 10,000ks than say, Castrol GTX Magnatec ($25) and keeping that for 5,000ks.

You dont need to buy stuff like RP/Redline for good oils. Mobil 1, Castrol R, Shell Helix Ultra etc are well suited to a daily driven GTST and dont cost the earth. Redline/RP are overpriced IMO and only is worth it if u drive ur car hard on a regular basis.

I dont want to sound like an arse, but you guys dont know what you are talking about!

Semi synthetics are not made up of a mix of synthetic and mineral, in most cases they are a mineral base thats been hydrocracked to perform like a synthetic. Base oils come in 4 different groups 1, 2, 3, and 4

Group 1 = Basic oils like chain lubes.

Group 2 = Most Oils like engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic oil, industrial oils

Group 3 = Highly Refined mineral oil (Semi Synthetics) High performance Lubricants, Engine oil, gear oils and other high performance lubes

Group 4 = Polyalpholefins or POA (Fully Synthetic) (Man Made) Extreemly high performance lubes for high temperatures or extended drain intervalls

Group 3 oils are sometimes listed as synthetic because the chemical structure of the base has been changed by man so therefore its man made and hence called synthetic.

I hope i haven't up set to many people but i had to explain how it works or im going to go nuts reading some of these posts.

Any Semi synthetic or fully synthetic is going to perform well above what you guys are going to put it through, so long as you change it at regular intervalls.

kingscorp, some of your information is kinda wrong. So dont say we are completely wrong! Hehe Im not going to retype out the info so just go here for a real rundown of the API Grp listings.

Grp I- solvent refined petroleum base stock.

Grp II- hydrotreated petroleum base stock. More refined, with less gunk in it. More stable, and usually with a higher viscosity index. Chevron and pennzoil oils use nothing but this group in their oils.

Grp III- "hydrocracked" or severely hydrofinished base stock. Castrol won the right for oil blenders to call this group "synthetic". Most OTC synthetics are made from this base. I think they use the same process to make it as GII, but take it a step further.

Grp IV PAO base stock. Chemically produced from ethelene gas. True synthetic oil, and primary basestock used in mobil, amsoil and most top tier synthetics. Much more stable and has higher VI index than GIII. Can handle more extreme temps.

Grp V ester base stock. used in most synthetic oils for miscibility, and is primary base used in redline and a few others. Extreme natural detergency and cleaning ability. Strong attraction to metal. Can withstand more extreme temps than PAO.

FYI, a classic semisynth like Castrol Magnatec, Valvoline Durablend IS a mix of a Grp I and III oil altho the percentages can vary. It can be only 1 drop of synth per bottle and they can label it semi synthetic.

Castrol GTX/2/3 etc are Grp 1 oils, and arent just chain lubes. Grp 2 oils are oils like Penzzoil Purebase, Group 3 includes Shell Helix Ultra, the cheaper Castrol R 5W-30. Grp 4 is Mobil 1 Supersyn, Castrol R 0W-40 etc and Grp 5 is Motul 300V, Redline etc.

If you wanna know more about oils, go to this excellent resource;

www.bobistheoilguy.com

Guest Moses

What you have said is pretty much the same as I described. But if Shell found out that you reckon that their top tier product Helix Ultra was a group 3 product they wouldn'e be happy.

Oil companys use the different base stocks just in different applications. To say that 1 particular brand only uses one type of base stock is incorrect. I work for one of the major oil companies and we use all of the different Bases in different percentages in many different products.

Your last comment is completly wrong

(note this post is from Kingscorp note Moses, I was on Moses computer)

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • So, I started this repair and got as far as "fixing" the holes with some fibreglass. God all those years working on boats came back quickly. I decided I'd reach out to some rust guys just to see what they would say about it. I came across a guy about 40 mins away and went to see him. He said the windscreen needs to come out, that there might be some more bits around the windscreen and he'd quote them at the time. But his quote was $300 to remove and replace windscreen and $3k for the damage he can see. He said he could respray the roof for $1200 and the bonnet for another $800 (somebody has previously rattle canned it, its horrendous). This is $5300 + any small additional bits. It's a lot, I get that and the name of one of my fave youtube channels 'Not Economically Viable' comes to mind.  I'm not being financially rational, but I've taken him up on the quote. He's opening a new shop in November with more room, so we're waiting for that. I'll leave the currently missing headliner out until then. I'm looking forward to it being fixed and having the paint looking nice again (lots of clear coat issues on the roof too). / flame suit on.
    • Oh and some up-and-comings; New rear drivers wheel bearing. I'll do that this weekend while the diff is out. The car is already up and the d/c axles and missing exhaust will help with space. This is the last bearing for me to do and I've been dragging my feet on it. I also have some new EBC blue stuff pads for the car and some new brake fluid. I haven't ever flushed the fluid in this car and looking forward to it. I have 600 degree fluid to put in. Not exactly "race fluid" but better than the typical stuff I have been using.
    • A proper clutch/plate type mechanical diff with quite a lot of pre-load and high locking % is better for drifting. Much more consistent in its behaviour. A helical can be annoyingly vague and inconsistent in how it responds under the sorts of abuse found in drifting.
    • Some updates here. I pulled the entire interior out, minus some trim to respray the seats with Colourlock dye. It turned out really nice though I accidentally let the dog in the car after and she scratched up the front seat.  This is what it looked like before, the colour was just washing out everywhere but thankfully the leather was in good nic. Then after the respray   And after the bloody dog jumped in The headliner is out waiting to be retrimmed, but it will stay out now until Nov - see why below. I replaced the stereo/headunit with a period-styled Android headunit. I have no after pics, but I'll get some. This is because of the missing pixels. I tried to fix this twice with replacement ribbon cables but couldn't. Also the bluetooth interface I'd bought for this was crap. Then there's the rusty roof. Pics and info in this other thread. I have decided to get this repaired professionally, but I'll update that thread. This is why the headliner will stay out for now. I'll be getting the roof and bonnet resprayed at the same time the rust is fixed. I also had an interesting issue with my drivers door lock.  For a small period I was having issues getting any 12v power to the car - I mean *any*. It would have no dash lights, nothing. It happened while I was at the shops and I couldn't get in the car. So, we had 2 problems. The most pressing here is that I was locked out. I have only a single physical key hole on the car, the drivers door and no amount of turning would unlock the car. Surely it doesn't need power for this? The second issue is why am I losing all power periodically, The battery isn't dead, its almost like the battery isn't even there. Two issues that were surprisingly easy to fix. You fellow BMW over-engineering lovers will appreciate this. The lock in the door has 5 states; mechanical lock, electric lock, neutral, electric unlock, mechanical unlock achieved at -90 degrees, -45 degrees, 0 degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees. Although, the unlock is towards the front of the car, so opposite for LHD countries. Sticking the key in and turning 45 left or right is what is used 99% of the time. It activates the central locking etc. 90 degrees is for dead battery access and, obvs, only un/locks the one door. But because the mechanical lock is never used and is 27 years old, it seizes up. I was totally unable to turn the key far enough to get to the mechanical unlock (At the time of locking myself out, I didn't even know this was a thing). I eventually did it with some vicegrips and teflon spray.  I made a quick vid for other E39 peeps.   The battery issue is totally new to me also - It wasn't making sufficient contact between the post and the terminal. The terminal was bolted on tight, but the car wouldn't have power. After checking the battery with my multimeter I accidentally contacted the terminal and the battery post and the car got power. The battery was only a few years old and in good condition. I cleaned the post and the terminal with a wire brush, bolted it back on tight and never had the issue again. I'm still surprised that despite having solid contact it didn't work. Also, the car was getting Warragamba sized pools of water in the back when it rained. My initial concern was another rust problem. But when I went out on Weds while it was raining and while I had no headliner in I could see a steady stream of water coming through the roof mounted aerial. As this aerial is for the (now removed) car phone I pulled it out and whacked a blanking grommet in the hole. It seems fine now. I'm thinking I might get the hole permanently filled when the rust is fixed. Moving forward and things in progress; The tailgate needs some attention. I have taken all the trim off to clean it all and address some small rust spots. I have partially done all of this but I'll finish it up hopefully this weekend. As all the trim are now entirely devoid of trim clips I have bought a heap of strong velcro and I'm hoping it does a good enough job as any of this trim in good condition is super expensive and usually in Europe as we dont have many of the wagons here. Suspension and brakes!!! This is exciting. In the front; New control arms New sway bar links New lower Eibach springs (the only modification I'm planning on this car) M Sport shocks (these came with the car and will replace the longer shocks in the car) New top mounts Used 540i calipers (stock brakes suck!) New 540i disks and pads (22x296 mm for 528 and 30x334 mm for 540i) New front wheel bearings (thank all that is holy for bolt on bearings!) Annnnd in the back; New control arms New sway bar links Adjustable air suspension arms (fool the car into what the current height is so the self levelling suspension can match the new front ride height) New ball joints I'll also be doing a brake fluid flush while I'm in there. I'm planning on switching the car over to the 16's that came with it so I can clean up and respray the M Sport 17's. They've lost a lot of colour over the years and have some gutter rash. None of this will start until the E90 is back.
    • You mean you will regret it for drifting duties? I don't quite follow.
×
×
  • Create New...