What did your Autozone put in place of NextGen?

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The $1/quart clearance is over at my AZ. Just checked, all Valvoline White Bottle in the former Nextgen racks, and some MaxLife left, although not much. What about yours?
 
I worked at AZ while I was in school. Started in June 2011, not long after the NextGen arrived on the shelves. Valvoline did all they could to promote it - putting up displays in the store with test tubes of NextGen purportedly showing its "purity," gave away cups, hats, etc.

Comprised of 50% recycled, used motor oil and the other half new oil, Valvoline claimed it was just as good as 100% new oil. That may be true, but, even though I made an effort to promote the product, in the end, not many of the other counter guys & gals did, and it was hard to convince the customer that he should buy a product that he saw as "half used oil" when he could get brand new oil for the same price.

Bottom line is, most guys who change their own oil aren't that concerned about the environment - at least, they aren't willing to roll the dice on their own engine.

Valvoline should cut their margins a bit and re-introduce the oil at a lower price point; then maybe it'll sell.
 
Originally Posted By: Subdued
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
So the NextGen experiment has ended?

It certainly looks that way


There's nothing out there that would suggest it (outside of this), no press releases, no news, and it is still shown on Valvoline's website.

???
 
Sure hope it isn't discontinued. I liked its concept and a product overall. Recent pqia result is interesting, but not fleshed out yet.

At $16.15 for 6 qts on amazon subscribe and save, it was a good deal.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: Subdued
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
So the NextGen experiment has ended?

It certainly looks that way


There's nothing out there that would suggest it (outside of this), no press releases, no news, and it is still shown on Valvoline's website.

???


Walmart and AZ have dropped the stuff.

What retailers even carry it anymore? I've been in advance and carquest as well, and didn't see it there, either.

It seems the retailers have spoken...
 
Meijer still sells it. It's constantly on sale.

When I bought a 5 quart jug of Maxlife NextGen there in October, most of them on the shelf had an attached $1 off manufacturer's coupon that had expired in December 2012. Fortunately, the cashier at Meijer still honored it.
 
I think the same can be said about Defy. I use it, and think it's a solid product, but even when it's on sale the price isn't a strong point. I think it is slowly finding it's customer base, however, and so is NextGen. We used some NG last year in a customer's vehicle, and if it hadn't said so on the bottle, you'd have never known it was half recycled.
 
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
..............

Valvoline should cut their margins a bit and re-introduce the oil at a lower price point; then maybe it'll sell.


That is a "Catch 22". Price it cheap and people will perceive it as cheap. When you have a expansive product line, introducing a cheaper alternative dilutes the value of the remaining product line.

Valvoline went for the Prius hybrid hug a tree crowd with their marketing. Doing a cheaper price reboot will screw up the brand imaging even more.
 
We won't buy the stuff because we know the kind of garbage we return as used oil. In the Q&A they wouldn't tell us where they get the used oil. What if some used transformer oil gets in the mix that's laced with PCB's.

You can't refine that stuff out. I won't take a chance even at $1 a quart or even free for that matter.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
We won't buy the stuff because we know the kind of garbage we return as used oil. In the Q&A they wouldn't tell us where they get the used oil. What if some used transformer oil gets in the mix that's laced with PCB's.

You can't refine that stuff out. I won't take a chance even at $1 a quart or even free for that matter.



We'll the facts of refine recycled oil do no bear out your ignorant staments. Do some basic searching around the board on refine recycled oil and nothing comes close to the tripe you uttered.

If I have not already p!ssed you off, this probably will. You have less than a month on this board and while most here will help or welcome newcomers, to spew a unfounded bias and falsehood is not well received here.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
We won't buy the stuff because we know the kind of garbage we return as used oil. In the Q&A they wouldn't tell us where they get the used oil. What if some used transformer oil gets in the mix that's laced with PCB's.

You can't refine that stuff out. I won't take a chance even at $1 a quart or even free for that matter.




Really?

Do tell then. Considering that a refinery can turn that mud we call crude oil into various petroleum products,and the Canadian oil sands can be refined into high quality petroleum products why exactly can't used oil be re-refined into its pure state again.
If you had any clue whatsoever you'd know that re-refining used oil is less intensive,cheaper and the finished product better with less waste than refining crude in the first place,so unless you've got an expert witness or some actual data to prove the bovine excrement you are spewing I suggest saving your expertise for a forum that might believe you,because here we know better and with all the easily available info it's very sad that you don't.
The wal-mart branded oil here in Canada is re-refined oil made by safety-Kleen iirc. If there was anything wrong with re-refined oil I'm positive there would be a flood of Canadian vehicles and equipment with failed engines and I'm pretty sure safety-Kleen has contracts with the Canadian government as well as many municipalities to supply oil for their fleets.
So if there was any problems with the stuff there would be some info somewhere for sure.
The only problem with re-refined oil is that there are uneducated consumers out there who feel as though there is something wrong with it and because they are completely clueless to the process they choose to shut the door and not buy the stuff.
Oil never breaks down,only the additives wear out so in theory you could run the same oil forever if it could be kept filtered properly and the additives replenished.
Some day very soon all petroleum products will have some recycled content mandated because the world only has a finite amount and at some point we are going to have to everything possible to re-use everything out there.
So turtlevette I suggest informing yourself instead of fooling yourself and looking foolish to everyone here. You've succeeded stupendously in the latter. I'm hoping you'll educate yourself in the future and reflect that education in your comments or I'm confident the minor flaming you're getting here is only the beginning of a train wreck which I promise I'll be watching for and laughing at.
 
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
..............

Valvoline should cut their margins a bit and re-introduce the oil at a lower price point; then maybe it'll sell.


That is a "Catch 22". Price it cheap and people will perceive it as cheap. When you have a expansive product line, introducing a cheaper alternative dilutes the value of the remaining product line.

Valvoline went for the Prius hybrid hug a tree crowd with their marketing. Doing a cheaper price reboot will screw up the brand imaging even more.


You may be right about the branding.

You're definitely on-target about the tree-huggers. I don't know about in California or Vermont, but here in Tennessee, the guys who walk into Auto Zone aren't too worried about the green aspect. They all bring their used oil back for recycling, and that's good enough for them. The most important thing to them is getting the best bang for their buck.

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
We won't buy the stuff because we know the kind of garbage we return as used oil. In the Q&A they wouldn't tell us where they get the used oil. What if some used transformer oil gets in the mix that's laced with PCB's.

You can't refine that stuff out. I won't take a chance even at $1 a quart or even free for that matter.



We'll the facts of refine recycled oil do no bear out your ignorant staments. Do some basic searching around the board on refine recycled oil and nothing comes close to the tripe you uttered.

If I have not already p!ssed you off, this probably will. You have less than a month on this board and while most here will help or welcome newcomers, to spew a unfounded bias and falsehood is not well received here.


Whoa whoa whoa, why the hostility?

As far as I know, fractional distillation can remove all impurities from oil. Or, I guess I should say, remove the OIL from the IMPURITIES. I mean, after all, they're using it to make motor oil out of the nastiest stuff you can imagine - crude oil! And, according to Valvoline, and, this makes perfect sense to me, used motor oil is a better starting point for refinement than crude. It should actually be easier to make the product they're looking for out of used motor oil than from crude. BUT I'm willing to give him a chance to prove his point, if he can.

Hootbro is right about one thing - no one's allowed to throw around statements around here without being able to back it up - that's a "no-no."

Turtlevette, you say PCBs can't be refined out. Are you just saying that, or can you actually back that statement up with hard scientific data?

Let's hear it.
 
What's funny is the recycled oil is a mix of synthetic and conventional oils which at the very least makes the finished product a blend.
The technology exists to make the returned oil into a hydrocracked "synthetic" and had they done that or tried to market the oil in that way I think the consumer would catch on.
In the end basically valvoline would have to mount a huge campaign and educate the public which even here on an oil site we see is difficult so trying to educate a consumer who's grampaw and paw told them that recycled oil is inferior than new oil can be very tough.
If anything it's a superior product because the shorter molecule chains have boiled off leaving the longer chain left which lubricate better.
I remember a marketing campaign by a well know syn company stating that's why syns are better than conventional,because of the more consistent and longer molecule structure so if we consider that truth then next gen is the best of both worlds,the performance of a syn and priced like a conventional.
At the end of the day educating the public is not easy. You can't fix stupid no matter how much fact is staring someone in the face. (I'm not calling anyone in particular stupid)






turtlevette said:
We won't buy the stuff because we know the kind of garbage we return as used oil. In the Q&A they wouldn't tell us where they get the used oil. What if some used transformer oil gets in the mix that's laced with PCB's.

You can't refine that stuff out. I won't take a chance even at $1 a quart or even free for that matter.



Exactly what can't be refined out exactly? And please provide a link or some form of data backing up your position.

Antifreeze and common contaminants can be removed. Why can't pcb's be removed.
And why exactly would transformer oil be mixed in with used engine oil from a typical shop. I doubt very much that transformer oil would have any channel into the chain as far as picking up oil from auto shops for recycling.
How many auto repair/oil change facilities do you know of that work on transformers as well?

Your entire argument is absurd. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. I feel the system has failed here. Let's hope there are only a few that have slipped though the cracks and that we can help educate them and show them the way,recycling oil doesn't mean pouring it down the well in the hopes the ground will filter it and it will find its way back to the oil patch.
Advancing technology means a refinery can break it down into its basic parts,and remove impurities as well as contaminants.
Nothing you put into that used oil drum at your ahem "shop" can be any worse than what it comes out of the ground with.
Educate yourself then come on back with a rebuttal. I'm all ears
 
I work in the power field and that's why I know something about PCB's. There's a very low chance that something like PCB contamination would ever happen and the dilutions would result in less than 50ppm which is rated for landfill disposal, ie not that toxic.

Yes, I am ignorant. Ignorant of what kind of poisons can get into used oil. Is there other stuff I don't know about? I'm sure our engines will run fine with it. I just don't want to take a chance with my health.

There is level of trust that has to be there. I trust vendors I shop with to keep my credit card info safe. I trust oil & gas companies not to pollute my ground water etc, etc.

There is a thread on this site which talks about PCB contamination of a city used oil reclamation site.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2889121/Searchpage/1/Main/189979/Words/pcbs/Search/true/Re:_Public_oil_drop-off_site_c#Post2889121
 
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