Boutique (Amsoil etc) vs premium normal (Mobil1 etc)?

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puellarum

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Nov 4, 2023
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Hi: I have done some reading here but I'm still not really clear.

A 5-quart jug of a premium brand like Mobil1 full synthetic is about $30 out the door with tax. Maybe from time to time you can get lucky/cheaper, but that's typically the best you can expect.

It looks like the lowest price for a really fancy brand like AMSOIL SCHAEFFER'S REDLINE is going to be more than double that.

Then there is ROYAL PURPLE, which as far as I can tell has no known or proven difference/superiority vs MOBIL1 etc other than fancy marketing and purple coloring added. A 5-qt jug of purple is about $10 more than MOBIL1 etc.

So does anyone want to tell me why the really fancy oils listed above (AMSOIL etc) are worth more than double the cost? Does anyone dispute that using MOBIL1 full synthetic with oil changes at reasonable intervals, like 5,000 mi, would cause virtually any modern engine to last 250k mi and maybe more?

If that's true, then why would I pay more than double for AMSOIL etc?

And am I wrong about ROYAL PURPLE?

Thanks!
 
No, you’re not wrong. Used oil analysis will tell you if your chosen oil is fit for continued use or not, but (IMO) there’s no real advantage over Mobil 1 Extended Performance for the extra money. Most of mine is from the days of close outs + rebates, so I have $10 or less jugs of RGT & $2-3 ecoboxes of M1 HM to use up first, along with free AR M1 AP & sub $15 AR M1 EP.
 
ANY lube can either be over or under utilized.
The duration of the OCI can be set by one of two methods:
- arbitrary use of some artificial limit
- multiple testing methods (UOAs, PCs, physical observations) allowing a much more accurate use of the lube.

Those lubes you mention are all excellent fluids. To know which is the best value (which has the highest ROI), then you've got to test them to a very high degree using very stringent methods. Honestly, no one here has the time/money to do that.

Also, just looking at the lube is only looking at part of the equation. You also need to take into account:
- what equipment is in use? (are there any historical known weaknesses in the engine series?)
- how does your one unique engine compare/contrast to the macro market averages and STDEV?
- what environment is predominant in the expected use?
- etc

Honestly, if you intend to limit the OCI to 5k miles, and use the lube in a "normal" sense, then all those lubes are also grossly overpriced. You can buy some ST lube and easily cover that distance in all but the most demanding circumstances.
 
Welcome to "Bob".

I don't think you'll get much dispute. The biggest qualifier would be if the manufacturer has some additional specification. In that case, it would be wise to make sure the oil you're using meets that specification.
 
From my understanding, one place where Amsoil and boutique oils tend to shine is power equipment, motorcycles, what have you. Even things like air tool oil. Some things like dirt bikes need top end rebuilds every 25-50 hours, but people document anecdotally using Amsoil they can go 200-300 hours, so you can easily make the money back with a $15-20 quart of oil in that scenario.

But in a car engine, seemingly as long as the oil meets specification, even using cheaper conventional oil in many cases, you'll probably be fine. This is outside of things like racing, or heavily modified cars, etc, though.
 
Puellarum
Start-off by telling us vehicle, model, year, engine specs, city/highway driving habits and miles per year.

In the $30 price range, Mobil-1 EP, Valvoline EP, Castrol Edge EP are hard to beat. Amsoil oils & HPL oils have peaked my interest. I can afford to experiment with them in the next couple of years. You seem to be more price conscious than I.

If I were you and driving a GDI / TGDI engine, I'd lean onto Mobil-EP and ride their SP cert/Dex1/Gen3 wave. It's outstanding oil currently, most notably what's inside their Triple Action formulas. Just as good are 10w30 Triple Action and 0w40 Euro or AFE SP's

Quaker State, Supertech and Fram have their own 20K oils nowadays. More are coming. You could try all of them, over your next several OCIs, I have and it's fun to experiment with these specific, trusted labels I addressed here.
 
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The premium oil market is saturated with expensive brands that are $15/qt. Amsoil has synthetic options in obsolete viscosities like 10w30, 10w40 and 20w50 which would be hard to source anywhere else. Their LV SS ATF is fantastic as well as the synthetic media filters and OAI test kits. IMO Amsoil’s best products aren’t engine oils.
 
Thank you all for the interesting responses. It basically confirmed what I thought. I don't see spending 2x or 3x for boutique oils. Maybe if I had a hot rod or really rare or valuable vehicle or something.

I have a modern Kia 3.8 V6 and then I have an old (1989) Chevy 350 V8, so it's pretty clear that using something like Mobil1 full synthetic (5w30) and switching it at least every 5,000 miles is more than enough for either of those vehicles to keep them running in great shape for a very long time. The Kia is a daily driver and the Chevy is a weekend fun vehicle. Even in the Kia I seriously doubt I drive 10k miles a year.

So the debate ranges on. It seems that some of those boutique oils really do have superior characteristics or whatever, but for most of us I just don't see how that would ever make a difference. Much more critical is frequent oil changes using a quality product.
 
I could understand using Mobil 1 5w30 or a 0w30 depending on your winter climate for the Kia. If your 89 Chevy doesn’t have a built engine since conventional is rare these days probably any off the shelf name brand 5w or 10w30 synblend will do. I’m not 100% but I think even oil labeled conventional is somewhat of a blend.
 
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Rogueman2016s said:
I could understand using Mobil 1 5w30 or a 0w30 depending on your winter climate for the Kia. If your 89 Chevy doesn’t have a built engine since conventional is rare these days probably any off the shelf name brand 5w or 10w30 synblend will do.
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eBay has 12-qt boxes of Mobil1 5w30 full synthetic for $58ish to my door, so probably I'll just be ordering those things and using them in both vehicles. The Chevy tends to leak with synthetic, so if that gets too annoying I'll just go back to dino oil for it.
 
First, welcome to BITOG.

I totally understand what leads someone, such as yourself, to ask this question. I for one have been very pleased with using Mobil 1. I have also used Royal Purple, but only because Walmart had it on closeout, so I got it cheap. It was a good motor oil. The used oil analysis results for the RP was just as good as the used oil analysis results that for the same engine, when I was using Pennzoil Platinum.

There are a few fans of Amsoil here on BITOG. Many of them like Amsoil, because many of their oils are designed for extended service intervals, even up to 20k miles. So they feel that Amsoil can have a lower cost/mile, when compared to normal oil change intervals with products like Pennzoil or Mobil 1, etc.
 
CleverUserName said:
The premium oil market is saturated with expensive brands that are $15/qt. Amsoil has synthetic options in obsolete viscosities like 10w30, 10w40 and 20w50 which would be hard to source anywhere else. Their LV SS ATF is fantastic as well as the synthetic media filters and OAI test kits. IMO Amsoil’s best products aren’t engine oils.
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$15 a QUART?! I had a customer today throw a fit over $18 a GALLON oil. Granted it was $13 pre Carona.
 
puellarum said:
eBay has 12-qt boxes of Mobil1 5w30 full synthetic for $58ish to my door, so probably I'll just be ordering those things and using them in both vehicles. The Chevy tends to leak with synthetic, so if that gets too annoying I'll just go back to dino oil for it.
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As much of an eBay fan i would be careful buying oil on there. You want to save yourself money and aggravation if you have NAPA auto in your area you can shop local or take advantage of their free delivery. NAPA full synthetic is very good oil priced reasonable when they run sales, you could stock up I recently paid 19.99 for 5 Qt jugs of their full synthetic. Valvoline supplies NAPA with their in house brand oil and lubricants. Although not identical to valvoline formula it’s very good oil that’s overlooked.
 
I noticed that some of the eBay oil sellers are in Kenya and vietnam. So no thanks to that. There are quite a few people in the United States selling these 12 qt boxes. Presumably some sort of a truckload deal or something. $58 is a few dollars cheaper than buying the jugs at walmart. And I have done pretty used to things being shipped to my door. So maybe next time I'll just go to Wally world. Actually, Walmart brings things to my door now too : )
 
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