Oil Suggestions and other fluids

[thedog85]

I have been researching different types of oil and transmission fluids. Which would you recommend? I have 2 vehicles, one is a 2015 Camaro and one is a Ford Explorer, I want to swap out the oil for something that is higher quality or better than whatever the dealership has been using (some no name certified brand?? can't remember)

ok so this is what I found , the are all 5w-30 and ready to buy one of these, the dealership is getting kinda expensive!!

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...rmance-synthetic-oil-5-quart-51530/11150912-p
and
https://www.searchforparts.com/oil-change/chevrolet-2015-camaro-7.0l-e
and
https://www.redlineoil.com/5w30-motor-oil

or you can suggest what oil you are using?

Thanks!
The Dog

 

[muscl car]

I'm using Kendall GT1 max full synthetic 5/30wt in my 75k mile old 02 Toyota Tacoma Pre Runner that has a Supercharged 3RZ 4cyl

 

[Gary S]

I'm using the Amsoil Signature in my daily drivers. It is a group IV synthetic which is true synthetic. Most of the oils on the market in the US that say synthetic are actually petroleum oil so are group III. The three you list above should all be true group IV oils. Pick your favorite.

I like the Amsoil because it is rated for 1 year or 25,000 mile changes. Group III oils aren't likely to last that long because petroleum breaks down faster than the synthetic based oils.

 

[EatMyDust]

I have been researching different types of oil and transmission fluids. Which would you recommend? I have 2 vehicles, one is a 2015 Camaro and one is a Ford Explorer, I want to swap out the oil for something that is higher quality or better than whatever the dealership has been using (some no name certified brand?? can't remember)

ok so this is what I found , the are all 5w-30 and ready to buy one of these, the dealership is getting kinda expensive!!

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...rmance-synthetic-oil-5-quart-51530/11150912-p
and
https://www.searchforparts.com/oil-change/chevrolet-2015-camaro-7.0l-e
and
https://www.redlineoil.com/5w30-motor-oil

or you can suggest what oil you are using?

Thanks!
The Dog

Hands down, Amsoil is the way to go. I concur with Gary S.

If you have a drag car and rebuild your engine weekly running 6's or 7's on the 1/4 mile. If you use your Camaro (or Explorer) as a daily driver, which I'm probably sure that you do, then nothing beats Amsoil. That web site makes picking everything so easy. If you're going to use the OE oil, you can go with their WIX. (I see no savings benefit to this since you have to change the oil more often, unless you put like 7,500 miles per year or something.) If you drive 15,000 miles or so, I highly recommend their Amsoil EA filter. It makes doing oil changes a BREEZE. I've can go on and on about my friend's fleet of F150's that used it. Nearly every time I got him on the phone, he keeps telling me how his accountant is telling him how much money he is saving after he switched all of his trucks off of Mobil 1. I think he said he had over 60 trucks on the road. He said they used to each do 5 or 6 oil changes per year. That's 360 oil changes per year. HUGE headache. After switching to Amsoil, now he only has to worry about 60 oil changes per year since now each truck is lucky to do one oil change per year. He said the accountant is reporting much higher earnings due to the less downtime and more people on the road doing service. Most people don't think about that kind of stuff I guess. Business owners obviously do. And when stuff just WORKS and doesn't break down, that means this oil is GOLD. He got me on it years ago and I concur with everything this guy said. He said he's tried every oil under the sun and Amsoil has come out the cheapest and most profitable for him to use over any other conventional or synthetic oil he's ever tried. He said he has trucks that are between 20 and 30 years old all running with the original engine and transmissions, some of them pushing 500,000+ miles all running perfect. He said the only things he replaces pretty much are water pumps, alternators and A/C compressors. He said that's minor compared to overhauling an engine or transmission. The nice thing about Amsoil is they have all of those nice looking bundles on the web page. So you can get the transmission fluid, oils, filters or whatever other fluids they got going on. I can think of dozens of other people that I know who all have similar stories. This is just one guy from many off the top of my head. Good luck with it! Enjoy cheaper maintenance from this point forward if you decide to use it. Use it as they say. One thing I recommend... if your car takes Flex fuel... NEVER put E85. If you do, then you can't do the extended drain intervals and they recommend changing the oil at the normal maintenance by the book. If you use the Signature Series and EaO or Ea15k filter, then just use regular or premium fuels.

 

[Lowend]

I've done some very deep-dives on oils in the last few years both for myself, and to help clients build out maintenance programs.
I agree that in a given category, there's nothing better than Amsoil. Torco and Redline are strong competitors, in lab tests, you really can't tell them apart.

HOWEVER
I can say, with confidence, that in stock, modern streetcars, there is no benefit to using the high-end oils.
The engineer's design engines around specific specs, if you meet those specs, you're good. If oil has the API rating the manufacturer requires (like SN+) keep the viscosity they recommend and be done with it.
Are the Amsoil's of the world better on paper... sure. But at the point in time, a modern car is getting near those limits we are talking about fractions of a second before the engine grenades.

Race cars, older cars, and stuff with highly modified engines are a different story. But that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[EatMyDust]

Race cars, older cars and cars with modified engines are less than .05% of the cars on the road. When I'm driving to work every day, most all cars I see on the road are 10 years old or less. There's no benefit to using Red Line or other synthetics. People end up using those with cheap, OEM filters, requiring way more oil changes. If we're all wanting to save money here, nothing beats Amsoil and their 15,000 and 25,000 mile oil drains. If you're a realtor or an Uber driver, Amsoil is an absolute MUST. I was looking at many used cars sold in VA up near the DC area and I was noticing that many cars there were averaging 20,000 miles per year. Why spend more on maintenance in a 5 year period than needed? If you change your oil every 3,000 miles, that's 33 oil changes in 100,000 miles of driving. Not to mention all of that downtime. Everybody I know complains that they "have no time", yet they are pinching pennies and wasting time at quick lubes or the dealer or doing it themselves. When I'm on the road 4 hours and want to get home, BELIEVE ME, do you think I want to be pulling over at some quick lube wasting 30-60 minutes every few weeks? This Amsoil has been a GODSEND to me. When I was using Mobil 1 and Royal Purple, I was doing oil changes all the time. Who was I kidding? They weren't saving me a dime. I never heard of Amsoil anywhere else until my friend with his truck fleet told me about it. I told him that I don't own a truck fleet and why would I need that oil? That's when he sat down telling me it's not all about the money, it's about the time. That's when it finally dawned on me. In the beginning, I was arguing with him. After sitting down and thinking about it, that's when it started to make sense. Then I started doing the research and saw the benefits. I had no idea that those people were the pioneers of the first synthetic oil in this country. A friend of mine who worked as a lubrication engineer at the Ford plant also said that Amsoil was the best there was. They sell that Motorcraft crap and they've had lots of customers complain about having sludge with that oil. I went to my local Ford dealer and asked him, "If this Amsoil is so good, why don't you sell that instead of your Motorcraft?" He told me, "If we did that, then all of our service bays would be empty." PROOF that the dealer is NOT looking out for your best interest. All they care about is their pockets and not yours. In my book, that makes them a BIG TIME SCAMMER. They want you to have problems so they can sell you expensive solutions. The Motorcraft garbage gets you just passed the warranty. And that's when the problems start to happen. It took me decades to figure all of this out... little by little. I used to go to the dealer all the time thinking they knew best. Yep... they sure did know best! What was best FOR THEIR BANK ACCOUNT... sucking it right from mine. Well, I gotta get ready for work. I was just giving my words of wisdom.

Ya'll have a nice day, ya hear?

 

[CorkyE]

Wow, where can I buy Amsoil?

 

[Gary S]

I order direct from Amsoil rather than find a local dealer and have him order it for me. I can sit at my computer and put in an order to Amsoil and it is at my door 2 days later. If you use enough of their stuff, you can buy a preferred customer ticket so you get the same price as dealers get so the price of the preferred customer ticket comes back to you.

Also, a couple of the local speed shops here sell Amsoil, but they don't keep enough inventory that you will find exactly what you need much of the time.

 

[Lowend]

I'll also note: I tend to avoid Amsoil, because despite their quality they are a multi-level-marketing scam, like Amway.
The difference being that Amsoil corporate than undercuts its own dealers by selling directly on their website.

I say this having worked at one of the largest stocking dealers of Amsoil in the western US, and watched as the company changed in the early 2000's.

 

[GoldenOne7710]

FWIW, I've put well over 200K miles on every vehicle I've ever owned. Had a couple that went over 300K miles. Never used synthetic oil/lubricant in any of those applications unless they specified it....such as the differential in my Silverado.