Castrol vs Havoline

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Without regard to price, based on quality only, which conventional oil is better between Castrol or Havoline if have to choose between the two?
 
You need to try both & see which one your vehicle prefers. They are built differently so only your vehicle knows for sure.

My first choice out of the gate would be the Havoline dino.
Had you questioned both brands in synthetic-blend, then my first starting point would of been Castrol.
 
This is an easy one Havoline no questions about it . With Havoline you get a consistent product,Castrol is made by different blenders all over the USA. For example the castrol i buy in Cal. is different than what i buy in N.J. This is why on the castrol bottle it will say color and ordor will change from time to time. But the bottom line is Havoline has a better base stock and additive package than Casjunk.
 
Even when blended and bottled at one location, the product will only be consistent within an acceptable range determined by the blender. Even the additive pacakge is adjusted to fit a particular base oil run. There's very little chance any two finished oil production runs are ever identical. As long as the motor oil is listed to current API/ILSAC specifications, it's good enough - and "good enough" is good enough.
 
Drums57

Just because a product is made in more than one place (or) a color shift occurs - does not mean there's interferences with quality.

The "real" proof is what your engine will tell you using both. Both oils have ownerships that go beyond 250K. Castrol did not become top-tier/world-wide in sales & advertising selling junk oil.

German Castrol has undergone more than one color change. Yet analysis has concurred it's still one of the world's best oils.
 
Either one is fine. Both have shown good results on UOA's here. My Cherokee had Castrol GTX 10W30 for the first 80K miles before I switched to Chevron. Never a problem with either.
 
I have used them both with good results. It would be hard to argue with the results we have seen from Havoline. I just bought several cases of it on sale. Havoline would be my first choice.

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You asked that we not discuss price, but has anyone else noticed that the price of standard Castrol GTX dino is almost $2/quart now? Even at Wal-Mart it is $9.70 for 5 quarts. I wonder if it is raw material increases or an effort to take advantage of their "anti sludge" formula? I like Castrol products, but this pricing seems a bit aggressive.
 
I would think outselling Havoline at least 3-1 world-wide would manufacture enough profit for advertising. Companies like Castrol do not devote the entire price differences between Havoline & It's own Castrol to advertising.
 
Here in my home province of Canada, Havoline simply isn't available. It was here at one time but that was many years ago. Of course, we do have all the leading sellers, e.g Castrol, Pennzoil, Quaker State, Valvoline, etc.
 
Havoline is my choice. I'm hard on hot rod engines and have used both. Castrol burned off at a faster rate than Havoline. As for wear, they both do a great job of preserving engines. Had a big block Chevy blow using Castrol but, I was extremly hard on that engine. My Neon go without coolant for about 6 miles in the system on night. Had the engine well within the red the whole way but, the Havoline protected the engine till I got the car barely into the driveway. All I had replaced was a blown water pump and coolant. The car runs great even today.
 
ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU AND TO ANYONE ELSE WHO ADDS TO THESE RESPONSES IN THE FUTURE. I AM LOOKING AT YOUR ANSWERS OFTEN. SO FAR IT LOOKS LIKE HAVOLINE IS WELL IN THE LEAD BUT WILL KEEP WATCHING FOR FUTURE COMMENTS.
 
Thanks to haley10 for his comments above. Yes, I am receiving mostly opinion but a lot of it seems to be based on personal experience. How would we determine which has the best additive package?
 
THANKS VERY MUCH TO ALL YOU FINE FELLOWS FOR THE QUICK REPLIES. I WILL GO WITH THE CONSENSUS AND USE HAVOLINE BUT MY TRY CASTROL ONCE OR TWICE TO SEE IF NOTICE ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT AS FAR AS USE OF OIL, ETC. THANKS AGAIN AND I AM HAPPY TO NOW BE A PART OF THIS FORUM!
 
Fish, your getting a lot of "opinion" here with no facts presented. We get some pretty good inside track info here on Mobil and Pennzoil(SOPUS) products, but not so much on Castrol.

Since the recent change to SM formulations, few here have access to enough data to say for sure.

Since both now meet SM/GF-4 any major differences would likely be in the quality of the additive package.
 
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