Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by TiredTrucker
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Additives help the base oil, not take the place of it. Using quality additives with a subpar base oil(s) is akin to putting lipstick on a pig...it will always be a pig.
A good performing finished lube starts with quality base oil(s) (the foundation) and builds off that.
That would be true if one can quantify what is a sub par base oil. I know of no major brand or major blender that is using a sub par (sic) base oil. Seems everyone is getting the same base oils from the recognized suppliers.
I was speaking broadly, for starters..Does "lower quality base oil" work, or is that still to nebulous?... if we can't quantify good v. bad, better v. best, mediocre v. poor in re to base stocks on at least some level, than just what the h-e-double-L is this board for?
What's next, handing out participation trophy's to all base stocks?...‚...."good job barely a grp2 base stock"...‚
Whether a base oil can be quantified as "lower quality" it must be shown that it doesn't do the job equally compared to a base oil that is "higher quality". It is purely subjective, based more on perception than reality, depending on the application.
To wit, I now have 1,030,560 miles on a Detroit 60 12.7 engine. It still uses only 1 quart of oil in 11-12,000 miles, has 22,000 mile OCI's (50% longer than the OEM recommended interval), and wear numbers are no higher than when it had 50,000 miles on the engine. Engine is all original (except for water pump) and has gotten a Schaeffer Group II (75%) / Group IV (25%) blend.
What would a base oil of 100% Group III or 100% Group IV offer that would deliver any better results than the "lower quality" Group II that has been used?
Likewise, a Cummins N14 I had previous. 1.4 million miles and all original except 1 injector. Still was fully functional, used only about 1/2 gallon of oil every 10,000 miles, got 30,000 mile OCI's (again, 50% longer than the OEM recommended drain interval) and it went right to work for the next owner. All on a Group II Kendall. Again, how would a Group IV have delivered any better results? So then is the Group II still a "lower quality" base oil than the Group IV? On paper is may seem so. In real world situations, not so much.
It would seem, that the base oil is not so much the real determinate in the results, but that in both cases a quality add pack is more in play.