Originally posted by delmar:
My brother-in-law (a mechanic) gave me sh!t for running synthetic in my cars, stating that it wasn't needed for street vehicles, only race engines. He said the cost wasn't worth it.
This just solidified my stance as to the benefits of synthetic fluids, because if it's good enough for a race engine, it certainly won't hurt my street motor, and extra cost bedamned! It's cheap peace of mind!
Maybe this has already been addressed, but let me point out some flaws in your logic. (Not a personal attack, mind you, so don't take this personally. After all, isn't this what many advertisers tell us about their automotive products? So I don't blame you.)
Professional racers build their engines for one purpose, the maximum power output over a very short lifespan. A NASCAR or INDY engine only needs to hold together for 500 miles.
In the case of engine oils, many race oils (I'm talking about those boutique race oils and not Mobil1 right now) don't have the additives that fight acids and other bad things that are produced in street driven, smog controlled engines. The race oil is used for 500 miles and drained, along with any acids, fuel washdown or other "things" that find their way into the crankcase.
With any high quality motor oil, designed for street use, there will be an additive package that is designed to mitigate or eliminate these harmful things that find their way into your oil.
So you get less power, but you can drive 5K miles between oil changes and your engine will last well beyond 100K miles.
So just because something is good enough for the professional race team, it doesn't logically follow that it is good enough for your street car. Two very different usage patterns. Well, unless you are going to change your oil every 500 miles.
I hope this is helpful.
BTW, Mobil 1 is better at operating extremes than most conventional oils. However, many of the new API SL rated oils approach some "synthetics" in operating characteristics. So I'd not worry too much if I used an SL rated conventional oil.
TB
