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Who blends the Driven oils?
"More Zinc = More Wear?" with Lake Speed Jr
- Thread starter RDY4WAR
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Who blends the Driven oils?
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dnewton3
Staff member
To make a distinction, his videos may be well polished in terms of production quality, but his CONTENT is muddled and scattered in presentation.
This isn't a question of good quality cameras and decent audio.
His videos are akin to a poorly written article; they are haphazard and disorganized. His points are often lost in his ramblings, and he does a poor job of making the assumptions and conditions well known, nor does he summarize things well.
I don't object to a long video. I object to a long video that only has perhaps 20% of real discernable content, with the rest being his repetitive ramblings and tossing jargon about.
This.
Not flinging arrows just at Lake, seems like 90% of automotive videos are just TOO LONG. They need solid editing. I think we are learning something from YouTube, good editing can be more difficult than actually recording a video. Lord knows I can't make a video, nor do I try. But somehow, by the grace of the Big Guy, if I made one that seemed OK, and went on for 30 minutes..............man I can't get rid of that, need to see this, have to include that...........everyone wants to see this part...........etc and we end up with overly long, disjointed videos.
Welcome to YouTube.
It's very hard. You finish then realize you forgot this/that and just accept "it's good enough" b/c most folks watching aren't going to care/need all the details.
Lake Speed Jr. is good for the average person with questions about oil. Lubrication Explained is for those more seriously dedicated to the topic. Both sources are provided for free, so I never understand the hate. There are others on YT that blatantly spread false info.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
That has nothing to do with a guy who can’t stay on point …
Adios - you bring but trash talk here anyway …
Exactly.
This is most likely why I can't stand watching more than 2 mins of it. I've watched more amateur YTers with worse equipment get their point across better.
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How is Valvoline a marketing show? I'd love to read more details from an insider such as yourself.
What do you know about Motul? Who are their upstream suppliers? Are they owned by Infineum?
wemay
Site Donor 2023
Bitog is not the center of the universe. Lake is not gearing his productions to this crowd.
At one time it was LZ but now I'm not sure.
I asked about their DI30 (5w30 oil). Like Torco, they don't publish product data sheets. I can sort of understand why too because a lot of people don't know enough about oil and make decisions based off of false ideas about specific properties.
They sent me this:
dnewton3
Staff member
I would politely disagree...
He's not "good for the average person" because he does not do a good job of explaining the nuances buried in his ramblings. As I said before, many of his titles are clickbait that would lead the uninformed to a faulty conclusion. Much of his experience and professional thrust is based on racing, etc. Not all racing knowledge translates well, if at all, into the typical Camry or F150. Hence, his video info, often convoluted and disjointed, is ever more difficult for anyone to understand, let alone for a noob.
I would agree that he does provide good info. Unfortunately it's buried in LONG videos that wander aimlessly at times, and do a crappy job of defining where and when the info is relevant, and where/when it's not. All this leaving the "average person" to make some really poor conclusions relative to the vehicles in their driveway.
If it were "good for the average person" it would be primarily focused on typical "normal" applications, and be well-edited for content, and done in 5 min or less.
THAT's the mark of a good YT presentation.
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With YouTube, you get what you pay for.
Valvoline, before Motiva/SA purchase, was a marketing company. They had a few R&D / Lab techs of their own, but they primarily relied on additive suppliers. Specifically one. And a specific base oil company for all their technical expertise. The R&D team was primarily focused on the coolant side of the business, as they do a large amount of that, and they’re one of the “big 3” I would say in that business.
That being said, their primary market place was PCEO. DIY and quick lubes - both company owned VIOC’s and branded Valvoline stores.
It’s a bit different than say, Chevron who has Oronite. But even Shell / Mobil / P66 all of whom have large internal R&D staffing.
Valvoline did/does an excellent job promoting their name out there. Getting shelf space in the retail world, and promoting the brand image. As well as promoting the VIOC’s. But, their products historically have been “good” - meaning, they meet / exceed specifications. But they’re not going to be changing the world, as they didn’t have control of their additives, or base oils.
Now, with the Motiva/SA purchase, the split off of the VIOC business, and probably an alignment with Motiva base oils - we could see significant changes - and in my market, we already have seen, significant changes in their distribution.
As for their marketing smoke show - the Restore and Protect, their “advanced” - 40% less wear! Vs… what? Or they’re extended - 10x stronger! Like, they put words on bottles that don’t mean anything. Which is fine, it’s marketing, act accordingly. But like LSjr, I hate all oil marketing. The more you know, the more you realize it’s all BS.
As for Motul, the only place I’ve ever seen them is trade shows. I’ve never really engaged with them, or dug into who’s supplying them or where from. As outside of a few online questions, I’ve never had to. I don’t consider them a player in the market outside of some online / retail sales. They’re a European brand that’s probably trying in the US market. But Total already has tried and failed 3 times in my career. Euro brands tend to not make it here simply because of the cost / distribution disadvantages.
It’s going to be interesting with Idemitsu making such a strong play in the U.S. right now. Or are they going to face the same issue as Total / Motul and even to a point, Castrol, which is facing a steep fall off in the U.S.
Why is that happening?
