VOA of "new" orange-label GC 0w-30

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
23
Location
Houston, TX
Okay, now that I have your attention, I haven't actually done the VOA yet. I did however purchase a few quarts of the "new" orange-label "Made in Belgium" 0w-30 for testing since I wasn't able to find any of the older "red label" 0w-30 on the shelves in any Houston Autozones anymore.

New on the right, old on the left:
SkaNuWu.jpg


New on the right, old on the left:
lEDtqWn.jpg


This is the "old" Made in Germany 0w-30:
9XXcxMW.jpg


This is the "new" Made in Belgium 0w-30:
071jhMV.jpg


I also spent a few hours scouring the internet to see if anyone has definitively tested to see if the new stuff is the same as the old stuff. Couldn't find any information.

I would really really appreciate it if I could get some people to chip in for the VOA of the new orange-label "Made in Belgium" stuff. If I get enough donations, I'll also mail in a sample of the older red-label "Made in Germany" stuff and have them compared side-by-side.

Use this as my donation URL for Paypal. You don't need a Paypal account to send money via Paypal - just click the "Continue" link to the left of the login-box.

http://goo.gl/3D0bvx

Blackstone Labs is $25 per VOA + $10 for TBN. Target to reach for VOA of both "old" and "new" side-by-side is $70.

Just a little background:
I have 2 Subaru STis (a 2005 and a 2008) that are driven quite hard and a 2006 Volvo XC90 V8 as a daily driver. I use a lot of GC since I use it in all of my cars. There's going to be a 4th car soon, likely going to be some variant of a WRX wagon / Saab 9-2x Aero. I'm also a technical blog writer for FCPEuro and also contribute a lot to the Subaru community on NASIOC and IWSTI.

And here are the money-pits that all use the 0w-30:
IsqhBdp.jpg

wx1wBNy.jpg

XN7puDe.jpg
 
Quote:
Okay, now that I have your attention, I haven't actually done the VOA yet.


hmmm... well you included lots of great pics so your forgiven.

I too would like to see some VOA and/or UOA of the new BC

I like what they did with the label design FWIW.
 
There is already VOA's of the older "red label" GC actually made in Germany not Belgium, I wouldn't waste $ testing an oil that's not being produced anymore.
Are you not going to use the new version if its not the same as the older one? I've used GC and I'm aware of the big following once had on here.
Isn't it still SL rated, what info expecting from VOA. It seems the more advanced add packs get the less shows on VOA.
I'd suggest buying some for couple OCI and get UOA's for better info on how its performing in your applications.
 
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
Quote:
Okay, now that I have your attention, I haven't actually done the VOA yet.


hmmm... well you included lots of great pics so your forgiven.

I too would like to see some VOA and/or UOA of the new BC

I like what they did with the label design FWIW.

To be quite honest, I would be kind of relieved if the new 0w-30 isn't the same or similar as the old one. The 0w-30 never comes in 5qt jugs, and I'm a bit tired of waiting for Autozone deals and buying single quarts! I can use this as a good excuse to switch to Mobil 1 0w-40 which I can get in 5qt jugs any time I want at Walmart!

Originally Posted By: SLATRON
There is already VOA's of the older "red label" GC actually made in Germany not Belgium, I wouldn't waste $ testing an oil that's not being produced anymore.
Are you not going to use the new version if its not the same as the older one? I've used GC and I'm aware of the big following once had on here.
Isn't it still SL rated, what info expecting from VOA. It seems the more advanced add packs get the less shows on VOA.
I'd suggest buying some for couple OCI and get UOA's for better info on how its performing in your applications.

I saw a few older VOAs of the "red label" stuff, but in order for this test to be accurate I would like to test both, at the same time, at the same lab. A "control" sample, and a "delta" sample.

Originally Posted By: Volv04Life
Where did you find the new stuff? Ive only seen the new 0w-40 at wally world.

All of my local Autozones have replaced their stock of "red label" 0w-30 with their new stock of "orange label" 0w-30.
 
Originally Posted By: pengc99
To be quite honest, I would be kind of relieved if the new 0w-30 isn't the same or similar as the old one. The 0w-30 never comes in 5qt jugs, and I'm a bit tired of waiting for Autozone deals and buying single quarts! I can use this as a good excuse to switch to Mobil 1 0w-40 which I can get in 5qt jugs any time I want at Walmart!

Or just use Castrol 0w-40. Its add pack seems to be identical to Castrol 0w-30, and it comes in 5qt jugs - same price as a 5qt jug of M1 0w-40 at Walmart.
 
Originally Posted By: steve20
I don't think I've ever seen a post quite like this one.

IMO, either pony up yourself, or forget it--but that's just my opinion


01.gif
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
No wonder German Castrol notoriously shows the highest wear among all known oils out there.

What?!? Just yesterday you were telling me that it was Mobil 1 EP:

Originally Posted By: Gokhan
M1 EP is the worst in wear protection

Which is it?
 
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
Did you use an SLR?

That's one way to get some attention at AutoZone... walk in with a big honking SLR and start snapping pics as if one of the Kardashians was in the store.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
No wonder German Castrol notoriously shows the highest wear among all known oils out there.

What?!? Just yesterday you were telling me that it was Mobil 1 EP:

Originally Posted By: Gokhan
M1 EP is the worst in wear protection

Which is it?

My comment regarding M1 EP was that it was the worst in wear among all ten oils studied by Amsoil. I didn't say it's the worst oil out there. In fact, I said, it was worst of the best. Also, M1 EP produces good UOAs as far as I know, despite apparently having done poorly in the four-ball wear test.

amsoil_four-ball_wear.jpg


Interestingly, American Castrol FST 5W-30 was the second worst. German Castrol 0W-30 wasn't there but I would expect it to be off the chart, far worse than M1 EP and American Castrol.

Coming back to German Castrol, my comment is from people's experiences. It looks like German Castrol leaves everyone screaming after they get their UOA results. Did anyone ever have any good UOA with German Castrol? German Castrol looks like the oil from hel* to me and I don't understand why some people buy it despite its dismal UOA record and being expensive and hard to find. Mobil 1 0W-40 and Pennzoil 5W-40 produce much much better UOAs. ACEA A3/B4 0W-30 is really 0W-35 and you'll be equally fine with 0W-40 or 5W-40.

Some examples of the people screaming after their UOAs with German Castrol:

Poor UOA German Castrol
Dismal UOA German Castrol
 
You've cherry-picked a couple of UOAs where the oil happened to be GC but the engines apparently had other problems.
How long did it take you to find a couple of "bad" UOAs of GC?
The Subaru showed a silicon spike for the GC UOA, for example, while the ancient Cressida was just plain old and had an unknown maintenance history.
The UOA forum has many UOAs of GC and most look pretty good in those applications that actually require this oil.
Try a run of GC in your old 'rolla.
Of course it doesn't require an oil meeting A3/B4 or any of the German certs but I'd bet you'd be very impressed with how smooth and quiet it would make the old dear.
I've run GC in three different engines that didn't really need a high HTHSV oil and was impressed with the smooth, quiet operation in each case.
No noticeable loss in fuel economy either.
A solid old-school formulation that continues to serve many owners well, with some here favoring it over M1 0W-40 in applications really requiring an oil meeting various VAG, MB or BMW certs.
 
I have another idea.
Send me a quart of the new stuff and I'll sacrifice one of my prepaid UOA kits to have it analyzed.
There's no point in doing the old stuff again, since we already have a very recent VOA of it.
Given the approvals met and that the oil remains API SL, I'd bet that not much has changed, if anything.
PM me if you're game for this.
I've told myself a couple of times that I'd never have a need to use GC again, but I've used it even recently, for a nearly 8K run in the Forester ending in February.
I had the oil and used it because I wasn't sure just how long it would have to be run, and GC is intended for long drain intervals.
I wasn't worried, since this oil meets German OEM certs that involve potentially much longer drains, but I wish that I'd taken a sample when I drained the Forester.
Would have been interesting.
 
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
APL SL???

You know better than that!
wink.gif


Who buys GC looking for a current API specification? Beyond that, it wouldn't qualify for SN, much less GF-5.

The only people who buy GC because of the API specification are those specifically avoiding anything more recent than SL.
 
Point taken Gokhan, if I'm looking for ultimate protection for my 4ball/timken, or need to get back to town when out 4 wheeling, and need to stuff my gearbox with engine oil, I'll avoid edge...
 
Gokhan, GC meets MB 229.5 which has some of the most stringent wear requirements compared to any gas engine oil specification.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top