XPost: alt.home.repair   
   From: ron@null.invalid   
      
   On May 01, 2023, Ed P wrote   
   (in article):   
      
   > So are you buying some exotic oil not available at an oil change shop?   
      
   You really need to learn about what you're talking about.   
   Costco also sells Mobil 1. It's just not currently on sale.   
      
   Besides, people who say you have to buy the brand name almost always, if   
   not always, know absolutely nothing about the product they're buying.   
      
   Clearly you do not.   
   Do you have any idea who makes most oil that is on the market in the USA?   
      
   > I used Mobil 1 as an example, but there are many other brands.  Heinz   
   > ketchup is the same no matter what store I buy it from.  Oil no different.   
      
   Of course. To you, since you don't know anything about motor oil, you'd buy   
   only the brand name because you don't know any better. You don't know   
   anything about oil, so, you're afraid to buy anything but a brand name.   
      
   There's nothing wrong with you not knowing anything about motor oil.   
      
   What's wrong is when you tell others, who DO know something about motor   
   oil, that your way of blindly buying motor oil is better than buying oil by   
   the specifications of the oil (which are printed on every can of oil).   
      
   People like you are why brand names cost so much more than the others.   
      
   > Do you have specs comparing your exotic juice to the brand names?   
      
   Everything you say shows you don't know anything about motor oil.   
      
   You don't know anything about oil so most of the information would be   
   meaningless to you, such as the longevity under test which you can dig up   
   for most motor oils. I've done that in the past but it's too much effort.   
      
   Now I rely on the API and SAE specs alone, and even then, the viscosity   
   doesn't matter in the summer and in the winter, it depends greatly on where   
   you live. Anyway, they are the same for almost all motor oils out there.   
      
   When we were kids, there was SB (there's really no such thing as SA,   
   although you'll find it out there, but not for vehicles), SC, and maybe SD,   
   and then year by year, they went to SE and then SF, and then little by   
   little they went to SG, SH, & on & on to the new fangled variants of SP.   
      
   If you never change your oil, that's when it really matters what oil you   
   use (e.g., Castrol has always fared well in the longevity testing), but if   
   you change your oil, it doesn't matter what oil you get as long as it's the   
   right spec for your car (which is in the owners manual for that reason).   
      
   The "right oil" for your car is what the owners manual says is the right   
   oil, and that won't mention a brand (although BMW does that on their oil   
   filler caps).   
      
   You'd have to go out of your way to find a bad oil. It's almost impossible.   
   The reason you buy by brand name is you don't know anything about oil.   
      
   And that's OK.   
   Just be true to yourself before you try to tell me how you buy motor oil.   
      
   It's fine that you buy motor oil by brand name alone.   
   But don't look down upon someone who doesn't blindly buy motor oil like you   
   do because you're afraid to look on the container to find almost all motor   
   oil meets (and usually exceeds) the specifications that the OEM stated.   
      
   Note that the OEM cares about emissions so they purposefully specify a   
   lower-weight oil (viscosity) than they would normally do, which they do to   
   lower friction - so you can make your own viscosity decisions, as it's not   
   really all that important except in cases where the weather is extreme.   
      
   Ron, the humblest guy in town.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)