^Well said, Blackheart. That's why I tend to avoid brand name-dropping; all it does is turn into a pissing match which becomes more about loyalty to a brand, than understanding of the science.

 

Every now and then you run into a civil discussion where good info is posted. "I use brand X and it never fails" isn't very useful. "I use brand Y because of what it contains, because this is my application, and here's my UOA" gets my attention. My goal it to get my cars to 200k miles. That's when I usually dump them. I am very tough my cars. I've had 2 that lived on the cheap stuff from Walmart. For bikes I'm looking for an oil that can take the type of abuse a particular bike will get. Name brand "Z" may be the greatest stuff on earth, but I don't need it for my applications. I'd rather do multiple low cost oil changes than 1 high price oil change for the same mileage interval. In the end its your money and your motor. Do your research and come up with a plan... no one will agree with it.

 

I disagree, because I agree with your plan!

Staying within designed viscosity ranges is pretty important with combo engine/transmission systems. And, MOST oils lose viscosity very, very quickly (relatively speaking)...even the expensive ones. UOA's don't lie.

 

viscosity loss quickly yes, but there also this thing called oxidative thickening of oil exposed to high temps.

so an oil oil that was flagged as being below grade in a UOA sample (then blasted on the net) could have come back as "in grade" if the oil was left in the motor another period of time (then praised on the net),

Point being the chemist play a fine line in balancing breakdown and shear against thickening in modern oils. Waayy more consideration than posters to oil forums even begin to understand. I'm an old member of NORIA and took interest in the stuff for years, came to conclusion the more I learned about oil formulation the less I knew and the more I trusted the guys who formulate it.

 

I'm sorry, you're wrong and way off base with your uninformed decision.

 

Excellent point. More than one novice has been burned by not checking the oil until the viscosity began to thicken, and, not being able to read the other markers that showed poor protection, thought they had found something magic about the oil not shearing.

Tribology really is a science. There isn't a need to rely upon so much conjecture, guessing, and going by uniformed opinions.

 

Off base as in Oil base? Ha