XPost: alt.home.repair   
   From: this@address.is.invalid   
      
   On 25-03-2021 13:08  wrote:   
      
   > Once it gets in the bottle it is the same as far as API is concerned.   
      
   I agree with you that oil is a commodity which people obsess about.   
   Mostly because advertisers want to give people something to obsess about.   
      
   Every brand is different but those differences won't matter much to us.   
      
   What matters mostly is how often we change it (IMHO).   
   Which itself matters mostly based on our weather & driving patterns (IMHO).   
      
   And even that is subject to a lot of personal opinion (IMHO).   
   Everyone makes their own assessment of what to use & when to change (IMHO).   
      
   (My personal opinion is twice a year for dino & once a year for synth).   
   (My personal opinion is a filter change roughly about once a year.)   
      
   For me the motor oil buying choice is simple.   
   1. Price (about $1.50/qt for good dino juice, about twice that for synth)   
   2. Quality (any API that meets or exceeds the spec in the owners manual)   
   3. Viscosity (any SAE range that meets the spec in the owners manual)   
      
   In practice you'd have to go out of your way to find an oil that doesn't   
   meet the spec in the owners manual so it eventually boils down to price.   
      
   Price changes over time but currently it's $2.50/qt for Costco fully   
   synthetic (API SP, SAE 5W30, Dexos 1 gen 2) in sets of two five quart jugs.   
      
   It's harder to find a spec for oil filters but like oil it matters less when   
   you change often (defined by me as being about yearly which is ~12K miles).   
      
   I've seen many oil filter teardowns so I avoid Fram and STP oil filters and   
   I know that only a few manufacturers likely make most oil filters anyways   
   and I do know that the Napa Gold (also Wix) are usually the best in those   
   teardowns and that the Purloators at Toyota turn out to be reasonably good   
   too (as do the AC Delcos).   
      
   The Walmart K&N, SuperTech, Mobil 1 and Fram often come out differentially   
   as do the Bosch at times.   
      
   Mostly I look for 30um at 99% or even 20 micron if I can find it but not all   
   boxes say and there's no spec that I know of for oil filters like there is   
   for oil that help compare them (they're all good enough for my cars except   
   maybe Fram).   
      
   If you know of a spec that's printed on all oil filter boxes for comparison   
   sake like there is for oil that would be helpful for sure.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)