Cost Considerations Aside Is Redline A Great Oil?

[JSRT4]

I only drive my car about 3,000 miles a year (summer driving season ), and I usually run a UOA at the end of each season. My driving is pretty consistent - street driven only. The car is a 2002 Honda S2000. My wear has been consistent between running Amsoil , and Castrol Edge Titanium. In 2014 I ran Redline 5w30, and most wear metals were consistent with previous runs but I had a significant drop in aluminum wear. I kind of liked the lower aluminum which tends to be pistons or cam journals on our motors. I plan on running Redline 5w30 again in 2015, I probably would have given the new Amsoil 0w-40 a try but I bought my 2015 oil supply already prepping to do a run on the Dragon in Deals Gap, NC in April.

Cost is not an issue with the oil as I only do one oil change a year. I've always been attracted to their high moly anti-wear additive, you just don't find that in too many of the other oils. Warranty and emissions issues are not a concern. Barring cost considerations is Redline 5w30 still regarded as top notch oil ? If not what oil would you prefer if cost was not part of the decision making process ?.

p.s.- I also like the dark look of Redline on the dipstick, lol. Some of the other oils are really hard to read these days (with my aging eyes), and this car has dipstick reading irregularities on top of it all, so I tend to check the oil frequently. Darker = better in that regard

. Thanks for reading and any replies on this.

 

[901Memphis]

Yes Redline makes some awesome oils they just aren't ideal for long drains with their TBN retention, but for your case only running 3k a year they sound about perfect.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Yes Redline makes some awesome oils they just aren't ideal for long drains with their TBN retention, but for your case only running 3k a year they sound about perfect.


That is good to hear, thanks for the quick reply on this !

 

[Revving2Redline]

Yes,I would run rl 5w30 without a doubt for the miles you drive. I would probably run pennzoil platinum or ultra prior just to give it a nice cleaning. Otherwise I think redline will treat you well.

 

[slo town]

JSRT4, you will be good with Redline 5W-30. I used to use it in my garage queen E46 BMW and was happy with it. But for no other reason than wanting to change brands I changed over to Motul 300V 5W-30 about 15K miles ago. If you have a garage queen, you may want to consider the 300V stuff. It's even more expensive than Redline so it has to be better. That's a joke...

I like Redline oil, in particular their transmission/transaxle gear lubes (MTL, MT-85, MT-90, D4ATF, D6ATF). IMO, Redline's best products are their transmission lubes. If they show a fit for your S2000 transmission, use it. IMO the best gear lube on the market.

Keep babying that S2000. More and more, the ones I see on the road are looking increasingly beat up.

Scott

 

[JSRT4]

Thanks for the replies Marco620 and Slo_Town.

I always regarded Motul as having a similar approach to oil chemistry with the group 5 and high doses of moly. It is a bit harder to find in my area compared to Redline.

My 2002 S2000 is pristine, and I hope to keep it that way and keep it forever if possible and leave it in the will for my son, lol. It is a garage queen as I don't daily drive it, and it is only practical in the summer driving season.

Thanks for the opinions on this !

 

[donnyj08]

I had an 04 S2000 for a while, i love those cars and the engine and 6-speed are both phenomenal. Redline should treat you well. I used to use Castrol Edge TI 10w30 in mine. I ran honda MTF in the tranny and Synpower 75w90 in the diff. I miss that car.

 

[virginoil]

Besides having no formal approvals it might be useful in correct application and use.

Overrated as a passenger car motor oil when compared to offerings available from Shell/Pennzoil Mobil and Castrol main line suppliers and to the OEM approvals these suppliers have.

 

[Oil Changer]

Most of your responses will be fanboy talk. RL won't do anything to prevent a mechanical breakdown. Totally unnecessary, but it's your money. Don't those things call for 10W-30?

BLACKSTONE REPORT

 

[Greasymechtech]

Redline is a too notch oil. Use it without fear.

Naysayers base most of their decisions simple on budget only. I don't see Redline as overrated. But, it is definitely under utilized in the no-frills transportation of the majority. S2000 is not boring or utilitarian.

Since your engine responded to the typical thicker Redline oil, you could consider the other Euro oils... M1 0w40 or 5w30ESP, Castrol 0w30 or 0w40...

Or, maybe your engine likes the Redline slug of Group V esters and moly. Stick with it.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: virginoil
Besides having no formal approvals it might be useful in correct application and use.

Overrated as a passenger car motor oil when compared to offerings available from Shell/Pennzoil Mobil and Castrol main line suppliers and to the OEM approvals these suppliers have.


+1

When the more aggressively built cars from AMG, Porsche, and models such as the Nissan Skyline spec other oils from the main line as their service fills, for a garage queen I cant see dealing with some of the other downsides. For a track car seeing extreme load and conditions I might think different.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: donnyj08
I had an 04 S2000 for a while, i love those cars and the engine and 6-speed are both phenomenal. Redline should treat you well. I used to use Castrol Edge TI 10w30 in mine. I ran honda MTF in the tranny and Synpower 75w90 in the diff. I miss that car.


Thanks Donnyj08. I have always used Honda MTF in the tranny, last fall I switched to Amsoil MTF, both fluids seem to work well for me. I run LE1605 in the diff. I had good success with Castrol Edge Titanium as well, I would probably run that as my first choice if I was going to pick an over the counter oil, it worked well and the price is certainly right.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Most of your responses will be fanboy talk. RL won't do anything to prevent a mechanical breakdown. Totally unnecessary, but it's your money. Don't those things call for 10W-30?

BLACKSTONE REPORT


The S2000 does recommend a 10w30, but that recommendation was formed in 1999, and they stuck with it over the years despite improvements within the oil industry. Lots of guys are running 0w-30 in these cars now.

I chose the Redline's 5w30 over their 10w30 as it had a higher HTHS number, and a bit higher viscosity, with the same NOACK number. On the other hand the low temp improvement of their 5w30 doesn't seem that obvious to me, Redline seems funny about their published specs ?

Thanks for the link to that UOA, I have seen that posted on s2ki.com. I also have one of those nasty UOA reports, which was followed by a lost engine on my S2000. Very similar circumstances. I am on my second engine now and I don't ever want to go through that process (engine replacement) again. When I suffered damage on the engine I was running Amsoil 5w30, the engine let go just after I changed to Castrol Edge Titanium 10w30, though I do not blame either fluid for the cause of the issue. In all of my UOA's Redline seemed to provide good protection, so I wanted to run it a second time this year and continue monitoring things.






Thanks for the reply.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: virginoil
Besides having no formal approvals it might be useful in correct application and use.

Overrated as a passenger car motor oil when compared to offerings available from Shell/Pennzoil Mobil and Castrol main line suppliers and to the OEM approvals these suppliers have.


+1

When the more aggressively built cars from AMG, Porsche, and models such as the Nissan Skyline spec other oils from the main line as their service fills, for a garage queen I cant see dealing with some of the other downsides. For a track car seeing extreme load and conditions I might think different.


With my car being well out of warranty I don't worry about the approvals, I think differently on my daily driver. I guess everyone is looking for the holy grail to some extent, however we may be searching in vain , lol. Thanks for the the replies.

 

[K23Turbo]

[censored]. Miss my old AP2. Never tried RL. Used M1, CE, PP all with good results.

 

[d00df00d]

Red Line is good stuff. Not sure about "great;" I'd imagine that'd depend on the oil and the application. You can tell they know how to make a solid oil because they sponsor legit race teams. You can tell they must be making at least decent products because their reputation doesn't come from nowhere. Whether they're better than anyone else is harder to discern.

My personal experience with Red Line has been underwhelming. In my old '95 Maxima, I used Red Line MT-90. In my old '96 M3, I used their MTL in the transmission and their 75w-90 gear oil in the diff. In every case, the Red Line product was very good when fresh, but there was an alternative (Amsoil, Motul, or RLI) that was as-good-or-better and didn't degrade as quickly.

That seems to be the general trend based on the other feedback I've heard and read, too. A lot of people love the stuff for sure, but most or all of them change it fairly early.

There's something to that, of course. Anyone who's going to use something like Red Line is probably the type to change their fluids pretty frequently anyway, so any early degradation wouldn't really matter. All I can say is, if there's an alternative that doesn't have that downside and costs the same or less... why not pick that?

Similar story with engine oils, IMO. For my old M3, I could have gone with any Red Line product in xw-30 or xw-40, and I'm sure it would have been great. Or, I could have used Mobil 1 0w-40, which carries BMW's seal of approval for that car (as well as a bunch of other high-performance approvals). Why pick Red Line and forego BMW's endoresement unless there's solid evidence that it'll be better? Maybe that evidence exists, but I haven't found it.

As an aside: Anyone know if Red Line is using more modern additive packs these days? Their additive packs always looked so old-school in VOAs. Nothing wrong with that per se, just nothing particularly right with it either.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: Greasymechtech
Redline is a too notch oil. Use it without fear.

Naysayers base most of their decisions simple on budget only. I don't see Redline as overrated. But, it is definitely under utilized in the no-frills transportation of the majority. S2000 is not boring or utilitarian.

Since your engine responded to the typical thicker Redline oil, you could consider the other Euro oils... M1 0w40 or 5w30ESP, Castrol 0w30 or 0w40...

Or, maybe your engine likes the Redline slug of Group V esters and moly. Stick with it.




Thanks for the opinion. I've been trying to figure out how Euro oils differ from their North American variants, I wasn't sure if it is all about viscosity or reduced additives and long drain ?.

My engine seemed to run well with one OCI on Redline, so I think it is worth running a second run and having it tested again.

 

[d00df00d]

The main difference is that "Euro" oils on average have higher HTHS viscosities and tougher additive packages.

Serial UOAs are a very good idea. One-offs tell you very little of worth.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
The main difference is that "Euro" oils on average have higher HTHS viscosities and tougher additive packages.

Serial UOAs are a very good idea. One-offs tell you very little of worth.


Thanks , I've seen Amsoil make Euro versions of their other oils and I always wondered about the differences. I always thought Euro oils were mainly low SAPs as Amsoil did with their 5w40.

I will be running Redline for a second driving season, with me putting so little miles on the car I pretty much have to wait for one full driving season for UOA results. This season I'll have about 4 days of driving around the Dragon at Deals Gap NC and surrounding roads, so it will have some more aggressive driving on it, so it should be interesting to see the results.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I have AP2 and it's my daily drive with mostly short city trips, it had various brands dino 10W30 and occasional syn, the engine didn't care if it had dino or syn.

I think I will keep it forever and pass it on to 1 of my 2 daughters. There is no better driving 2-seat convertible for the value of the car now(about $10-15k), especially we can drive with top down 355 days or more a year in So Cal.