Ok, I know there are a lot of posts on engine oils but I'm doing a change tomorrow and not sure if I should go synthetic or not. I used Valvoline maxlife for vehicles with over 75,000 miles(the red bottle) and thought it was part synthetic but it looks like it's not. Theres also one that comes in a white bottle thats Maxlife synthetic which on there site it recommends for my vehicle. Should I go with this? Or go for an all out synthetic performance oillike royal purple or mobil? I'm partly worried about the life of my engine, but also want as good of performance as I can get. I've got 117,000 is this too early to worry about engine wear, or does it really not matter the kind of oil you get as long as it's syntheticor your car doesn't leak oil at all?

 

it all depends on how you drive. obviously, if you push your car hard more, then you should probably go with synthetic or else your oil will thin out and be useless quite quicly. but if you're running a stock car, then conventional will probably also be fine.

with oiils, you can never really know if it is synthetic or not, because oil refinery processes are becoming more advanced so some companies just label them as synthetic even if they're not, but they should still be good quality if it says synthetic.

otherwise, it all depends on price. i say just buy synthetic because it's only a couple dollars more per quart, so it's not a big blow to your wallet. i'm a calm driver, with a stock 96, and i use mobil one synthetic anyways.

 

cool, thanks for the advice.

Some people say certain synthetic oils are better than others, some say it's mostly hype. Just wanted some more opinions especially for the oil supposedly made for engines with higher mileage.

 

Can synthetic be bad for your engine at any point? Or is the money that people worry about.

 

synthetic oil will be fine. and no, they are usually the same mixture from different companies. Q and Royal Purple are two good names in the industry.

 

Alright just got done changeing my oil, I used mobile one 5w-30 and a K&N oil filter .

I'm not expecting a huge difference but since the old oil in my car was jet black and low, should be nice now. I was going to get 3 quarts but the guy persuaded me to get 4 saying my car would need 3 and a half. Well I put in 3 quarts started it up for a minute, after the oil circulated through and I checked it again. It only needed a little bit more, actually it waspretty close to the second dot and I only added a little bit of the fourth bottle. I dunno maybe after a good drive it'll need a bit more.

 

yep, q and royal purple are really good brands, but i don't think you'll be needing to go that far with a stock car, even if you have a few bolt ons. if you want some more info, the current issue of modified magazine has some great info on motor oil if you want to buy it and check it out.

 

I use royal purple and i will never use any other kind of oil, i still change my oil every 3,000 miles but i have had so many compliments on how well my car runs with how hard a drive it. ( i drive my car like i stole it) but others say it still feels like it is running like it is brand new....I put all of royal purple's products in my car and it shows.