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Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on May 19, 2014 at 17:23

Jim:

Best as I can tell, probably not by very much; I believe the difference (at least according to the video and some digging) is probably going to fall within the realm of tighter controls on reaction intermediates and components of the oil mixture. According to popular sources, the initial dustup between Mobil and Castrol came from the use of the term synthetic as it applied to type of oil. At that time, their synthetics were generally composed of highly reprocessed type III oils (cracked heavier mineral oils significantly treated and separated to largely eliminate undesirable products and then partially resynthesized/recombined to form desirable products); Mobil's synthetic was formed predominantly from polyalphaolefins synthesized from low MW product (type IV oil). Castrol claimed that their process so thoroughly reprocessed the oil that the finished oil bore little resemblance to the base stock so as to essentially be "synthetic". They won. Since the use of essentially "type III+" base oils effectively lowered the price of production and formulation, and the "synthetic" moniker did not really mean what it used insofar as the base oil used, other manufacturers subsequently changed their formulations to utilize the less expensive product and process.

Pennzoil seems to be reemphasizing the PAO-type formulation with some type V additives (the blurb in the video about the additives getting a chance to really shine - paraphrasing) is my basis for saying this. But honestly, I would much rather you put faith in your trusted mechanic or an expert in machine lubrication than me on any point of automotive performance.

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Permalink Reply by jim weyland on May 20, 2014 at 5:44

dion,

thank you, sir.

jim

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