A Few Words About Synthetic Oil
Permission for reprinting courtesy of Baverian Auto Sports

We’d like to clear up some of the confusion we have heard about synthetic oil. Some common questions include: Are all oils the same? What is synthetic? Our friends at Bavarian Autospot recently wrote a very good article that clarifies many of these questions.

“Which engine oil should I use in my car: BMW’s 5W-30 or Lubro Moly’s 5W-30?”

In our catalog, we say Lubro Moly is the best oil you can put in your BMW’s or MINI’s engine. This invariably generates questions from our customers: “BMW says I should use their Castrol 5W-30 oil. The label says it’s ‘full synthetic’ but Lubro Moly’s lable says ‘synthetic technology.’ And Lubro Moly is more expensive. So why do you say Lubro Moly is better.” First of all, the only wrong choice you can make when it comes to engine oil is not changing it often enough. BMW says you can go 15,000 miles between oil changes.

That certainly makes BMW’s “overall cost of ownership” look better and it reduces how many oil changes a dealer has to perform during the $0 BMW Maintenance Program, but after 35 years of working with BMWs and MINIs, we don’t think it’s in the best interest of the engine. We believe you should change your oil approximately every 7,000 miles if you use an oil that meets BMWs Longlife-04 standards and more often with an oil that does not.

“Full synthetic” does not mean better protection.

Both BMW and Lubro Moly 5W-30 are “hydrocrack” oils (restructured mineral oil with synthetic materials added for extra protection and longer life.) Castrol is made in the USA where, under a 1999 ruling, it can legally be labeled as “full synthetic.” In Germany, these words are reserved for oils that are 100% man-made material (i.e no mineral oil). As a result Lubro Moly 5W-30, which is made in Germany, must be labeled “synthetic technology” even though it contains higher-quality additives and provides better protection than the BMW/Castrol 5W-30. How do we know it’s better?

● Lubro Moly 5W-30 has been tested and approved by BMW in Germany under Longlife-04 standards. It has an API (American Petroleum Institute) rating of SM, and it’s rated by the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Assoc.) as A3-04/B4-04/C3-04. This is all on the Lubro Moly label. (And we know how the Germans feel about accurate labels.)

● We tried to find ratings on BMW 5W-30, but the Castrol web site refers you to BMW, and the BMW web site* offers no data – it simply lists a few oils that meet the old BMW Longlife-01 standards. No mention is made of BMW 5W-30 meeting Longlife-04, on either the site or label, and there’s no mention of ACEA ratings. Interestingly, BMW does say, “Use only oils with an API rating of SM or higher,” but the label on the BMW 5W-30 bottle says its API rating is SL (which is lower). We suppose it’s possible they haven’t updated the oil. Does that make BMW 5W-30 a poor choice for your engine? Not at all, but its certainly not better than Lubro Moly 5W-30. *

Fast times the newsletter of Bavarian Autosport, Fall 2009 edition www.BavAuto.com, 800.535.2002

When Bavarian Autosports refers to mineral oil they are referencing to the “traditional” petroleum based lubricants, what we at Pacific Motorsports call “Dinosaur oil.” You will note that both BMW’s Castrol 5W-30 and Lubro Moly’s 5W-30 oil, as well as many other brands (most, actually) including Mobil One, Valvoline, Kendall, Pennzoil and Quaker State are hydrocracked petroleum based oils. While they meet the legal U.S. definition of “synthetic oil” they are not 100% synthetic. They start with petroleum base stocks and blend chemicals in until they reach their goal, and the minimum threshold to be legally labeled “synthetic.” Redline oils are 100% synthetic, no dinosaurs are killed in the making of their lubricants. They use only chemicals, eliminating the need for blending to reach a legal definition. Their blending is only to reach a goal, superior protection. For these reasons, as well as our years of successful experience on both street and track, we believe that Redline products are the ne plus ultra on the market today.

Note: While Total and ENEOS products seem to be good full synthetic lubricants, we cannot endorse them at this time because they are relatively new to our market and we do not have a decade plus of positive, reliable experience using them, as we do with Redline.