Synthetic Motor Oil Costs More And Consumers Want To Know Why
Why does synthetic motor oil cost more than conventional motor oil? What makes the $6 quart of oil better than the $2 quart?
If you don’t know the difference the answer to that second question is simply you might be getting ripped off for the $4 difference in the price of oil which amounts to $24 of rip off per oil change (almost $100 dollars a year).
You are actually saving money in the long run when purchasing a high quality synthetic motor oil, one that is a PAO basestock with premium additives. So if you are not being cheated and the cost of the processing of the oil actually justifies the price then here is what you are getting for your money.
The additive package and the basestock or base oil, are the two parts of which engine lubricating oils are comprised. In a more ‘pure’ time for motor oils, only PAO basestocks were privileged with the synthetic label, but as of 1997 that has changed. Now the term synthetic is used loosely.
You might be wondering what PAO basestocks are; they are manufactured from the base hydrocarbon molecules to have a chain length that is desired for specific viscosity ranges. It also means there are no impurities, no paraffins or waxes left over as found in conventional oil. Less impurities means the oil doesn’t break down in your engine from self contamination. It costs more to produce PAO basestock than it does to produce conventional basestock (which are a byproduct of fuel production from crude).
The additive package is also an important portion of the oil as it protects your engine from corrosion, provides protection from metal to metal contact on starts, and has cleaners and detergents to keep your engine clean while helping your oil stay nice and thick as your engine gets hot (known as Viscosity Improvers). As you can imagine some of the additives are liquid gold when it comes to cost. It is quite easy to cut corners in this area and go really cheap. Quality oils have significant cost in this area. If you skimp on the additives then the outcome is going to directly affect the quality of engine protection you’re getting.
When you combine a premium basestock and an awesome additive package you’re going to get an amazing oil that may cost a bit more but is going to save you money in the {big picture.} See, a good oil package can run much longer in your engine while providing better protection the whole time. The bottom line is less oil changes along with time and money saved. There are oils that will run as long as 35,000 miles without special bypass.
But you have to watch out for rip offs. How does anyone know if they’re getting scammed or not if they don’t know what’s really in the oil they’re buying? I don’t know what’s in your garage but I know what isn’t in mine and that’s a mass spectrometer to tell me what’s really in the oil I just dished out a small fortune for. It’s for this reason that I’m making available the lab results for all of the top oils for sale.
Tags: synthetic motor oil