BVCRD wrote:
The M1 was inferior anyway to other oils, like the shell oil Wally sells.
...I'm not sure why people like to say this about Mobile 1, but I see it pop up from time to time.
I used Mobil 1 0w40 during the first 40,000 miles on my Jeep. I've switched over to the synthetic Shell Rotella T 5w40. I didn't switch because I thought the Mobil 1 was bad oil. I did it because the Rotella is cheaper and available by the gallon.
Just an interesting tidbit of information...I was making materials at work and assessing them for ability to be lubricants using the 4-ball wear test. To dash my hopes and make myself feel bad, I used the Mobil 1 0w40 as a baseline in the test.
One of the ASTM methods dictate the conditions for the 4-ball wear test to be done at 167 degrees F with 40 kilograms pressure exerted on the ball at 1200 RPM for 1 hour. For those who aren't familiar, you basically have a jig where 3 steel balls are clamped do so that they are stationary. The fourth steel ball is secured in a rotor and spun on top of those other three balls. After the test is complete, you clean the balls and measure the wear marks on those that were stationary.
I can't see the wear scar on the balls from the Mobil 1 test with the naked eye...and I have excellent vision. Actually, I can't find the scar which is pretty annoying. I'm going to have to spend an hour with a microscope to locate them.
So, while there may be oils out there that are only marginally better, there's little basis for any of us who simply put oil in our engines to simply declare that the Mobil 1 is "bad." Now if someone was doing a lot of lubrication testing with an appropriate number of replicates for statistical significance, there would be a basis. Now the materials I was making myself...they're quite pathetic, but would have potential if additives were incorporated.