Who is the preferred lab for oil analysis now?

[wbwanzer]

I have a quart of unopened Fram (Amalie) 0W-30 Full Synthetic that I keep in the car as an emergency top off if needed. It meets the specs for my car SP and GF-6. I did a search but the word 'Fram' returns a million results because of all the filters in use. So I thought it might be fun to get a VOA for this and post the results. So who is the lab of choice right now, or does it matter?

Thanks

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

OAI or WearCheck.

Not to dull your enthusiasm, but since it’s a top-off oil, and meets the specs, is it really worth dropping $30+ on a $8 quart of oil, and it won’t really tell you anything other than its viscosity (and TBN if you pay for it)? Acceptable levels of additives all produce statistically similar results; it’s the whole point of standards. Anything you can’t already tell from looking at it will not be forthcoming from a $30 OA, but have at it.

IMHO you’d learn more about it if you did a UOA, at least that way you’d see how well it maintained viscosity after use. Just an opinion.

 

[wbwanzer]

Thanks for your reply Subie. So far I haven't gotten to the point of buying six quarts to do an oil change. If I do, I'll do a UOA. I could try it in the wife's Seltos. What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Thanks for your reply Subie. So far I haven't gotten to the point of buying six quarts to do an oil change. If I do, I'll do a UOA. I could try it in the wife's Seltos. What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

Blackstone has been getting subpar marks by Members here for years. They often are subjected to running a 2nd UOA on what a member may suspect as an obvious wrong analysis on a particular additive or most notably, their Dilution readings. So I would opt for another House to get that done.

Amalie sells good oil and the 0w30 offers more additive goodies than it's counterpart 5w30, which I believe has a Fram UOA or VOA already here in the BITOG Archives. It may be a year-old by now and I don't recall if it's UOA or VOA.

Most-all of the 0w30s are originally out of Europe and thicker / more robust than the typical ILSAC GF6A variety in 5w30. Most everyone in the boutique oil lineup carry two different 0w30s... one Euro and one that's built closer to Dexos guidelines. I know Amsoil and HPL do.

Your wife may turn out to have the best turbo-protection oil in her subdivision, should you surprise her with a 0w30 oil change. The only Fram oil that's close to the 0w30 would be the new 20k variety from Fram in 5w30. Daughter & Grandson have used it. I've monitored this oil during the course of the OCIs..... sound, sight and smell experience covering oil changes since 1970.

If I'm ever in a cost-cutting mood someday, I'd buy it on a good AAP sale. I would buy the 20k Supertech too and I've already used it for 3k in the wife's Kia 18 months ago.