Date: 12 Jun 1999 17:50:33 GMT From: saab85900nopsamcom (Saab85900) Subject: Re: Engine Oil
Robert L. Davis w rote: >Or, more specifically, >why isn't there more independent testing of oils going on? Why doesn't Road >and >Track or Car & Driver do an exhaustive test of oils? Other than Consumer >Reports, I don't recall ever seeing one by a mainstream magazine. To run actual fleet tests, comparing a bunch of different oils, would be incredibly expensive, To run bench tests is not nearly as expensive, but to what end? >"Independent" tests may be suspicious if they are commissioned by one of the >oils in the test. Any decent independent laboratory would not begin to compromise it's reputation by putting out skewed test results. It may well be that a company would opt not to publish such a report because it doesn't show their product in a good light<g>. I suspect that, in most cases, a company which is willing to publish "indpendent lab reports" already knew the answer, from in-house testing--but wanted the non-biased documentation. The Falex wear test was designed to test for extreme pressure, such as in gear boxes. The one-armed bandit, or pressure testing machine with a torque wrench and spinning bearing, was intended for the same purpose. Impressive, but flat coke will usually give the same type result--and I wouldn't recommend using Coca-Cola in the engine as a lubricant. The tests done at independent labs are standardized tests, reproduceable by any other lab. As far as the test comparing RP and AMSOIL 20W-50, at that time AMSOIL only made one 20W-50 oil, which happened to be labelled as a racing oil. Since then, they have come out with the Series 2000 20W-50 which is labelled as a racing oil (retail $7.95/qt). The other 20W-50 has been reformulated and is now labelled as high-performance oil (retail $6.25). >The RP sample was/is priced at >half the Amsoil price, but performed almost as well "almost as well" can mean a lot of things. A Yugo can perform "almost as well" as a BMW to drive 3 blocks to the Metro station<g>. >I have seen Amsoil's comparisons >on their labels, but not against a comparable Royal Purple sample. I don't think AMSOIL considers RP to be a major competitor-- If your RP rep is interested enough, he can have that same test run using his oil and show you the results. (I doubt he will)
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