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SFCP: There always seems to be a portion of the BITOG crowd that seems to firmly believe that thicker is better. Why, exactly that "old school" concept often comes up leaves me clueless. Why someone would go out and pay a small fortune for a nice normal street car that calls for a 5W-20 oil; and how that same someone who lives in maybe, Bozoville, LA where it is hot but ain't the Sahara, can convince himself that he needs a 20W-50 oil in it beats the holy logic out of me every time!
Of course, I'm exaggerating a good bit here, but the point is that I'd bet a lot of those same people here on BITOG of the ardent "thicker is better" persuasion really haven't read much, or any, of Dr. A.E. Haas epistle on the virtues of thin engine oils. A highly logical and convincing article. Even if they did read it, they probably couldn't accept the message very well. Not withstanding other points of view, I follow what my owner's manual says about oil selection as the compromise position between BITOG ideas, the vehicle's engineers, and what I "feel" is best.
Bozoville, is that near Ponchatoula?
One thing a lot of y'all are forgetting is that there are plenty of folk here who use thicker oil b/c they've found nothing in their grade that prevents consumption. Additionally, there are still plenty of cars like Euros that spec the thick stuff. My SAAB specs 5W30 or 5W40 but allows up to 60 weight. I'd love to use only 5W30 but given design problems with the oil pump, it seems 40 weight is the better bet. What I don't understand is why people care so much about people using thick oil. If they want to, who cares? People have been doing it for many years before AE Haas enlightening discourses. If engines can survive knuckleheads pouring whole bottles of STP in because RIchard Petty says so, I doubt a 40 weight synth is going to be a real dealbreaker.
Not saying anything is wrong with a 20 weight. If I could ever find any on sale, it'd be all my Honda would touch. But this bang you over the head attitude that everyone has that someone is an idiot if they don't use the thinnest oil possible is getting a tad old.
Of course, it goes both ways, and no one is an idiot for using 20 weight oil....
But if we let people live and let live, this would be a boring forum, wouldn't it? All we'd be able to discuss is group III Mobil1 and whether or not it cures or causes cancer, increases/decreases s-exual stamina, and feeds/kills starving people in Africa.