castrol magnatec

[hardcore302]

I tried the search function, but its not the greatest. Could someone explain what castrol magnatec is exactly. It seems very gimmicky after looking at the website. Intelligent mollecules that cling to this and that. Correct me if im wrong.
Thanks!

 

[Shannow]

It was sold over in the US as startup.

The UMA (Unique Molecular Attractant) is a type of ester, which is supposed to cling to metal and prevent dry starts. The intelligent molecules, and teh scratch and sniff packaging are gimmicky, but the public seem to need gimmicks, not science.

I had a dinner with one of the chemists who was working on it for Castrol Australia, and it's the real deal...how much better ?

 

[earlyre]

key word being WAS...
Originally Posted By: Shannow
It was sold over in the US as startup.

key word being WAS...

 

[uart]

Originally Posted By: hardcore302
I tried the search function, but its not the greatest. Could someone explain what castrol magnatec is exactly. It seems very gimmicky after looking at the website. Intelligent mollecules that cling to this and that. Correct me if im wrong.
Thanks!

Just to clarify that hardcore. Do you have Castrol Magnatec for sale there (NYC) or were you just looking at their ads online? Yeah it's pretty ridiculous marketing, that's for sure. It seems to be a fairly popular choice here and in the UK though. I've used it dozens of times and never had any problems with it.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: uart

Just to clarify that hardcore. Do you have Castrol Magnatec for sale there (NYC) or were you just looking at their ads online?


if he does, it's a "black market" import...
it was sold here as castrol "startup" ( the molecules cling to the metal, and help provide protection at...) but the most recent reference i can find online as to it being on sale was around 2007.

even if it was new old stock sitting on a store shelf for 6+ years, it would be labeled startup(silver-grey bottle), not magnatec.

i know i've seen it mentioned heavily in posts here, and used in Tv shows/youtube videos from folks in, well pretty much any commonwealth country.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Why did they discontinue it here,and why don`t they sell Magnatec here I wonder? If it`s an ester oil,it`s probably some good stuff.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Why did they discontinue it here,and why don`t they sell Magnatec here I wonder? If it`s an ester oil,it`s probably some good stuff.


They marketed it very poorly, and tried (IMO) to dumb the product down with the start-up moniker...In Oz, they advertised the ability of the ester molecules to attract to metal surfaces, which they do, and do well apparently.

Only UOAs that I've posted (2) are from years ago with their 5W-40 GrIII from back in the day.

 

[CharBaby]

~ 4-5 yrs ago, I bought some Castrol Start-Up(IIRC, it was SM/GF-4) on a clearance rack at Pep Boys and used it in my old Firebird. It did well with no startup noises(after the car sat for several months) and allowed the engine to run nice and smooth compared to some older oils that this engine has seen in the past 30 years.

When I bought this car 33 years ago, the SE/SF oils(regardless of brand/weight) caused some light ticking. Over the years, I have noticed as the oils changed their ASE Classification(s),(around the time of SH/SJ), the engine became quieter in terms of the odd noises. Today, I couldn't be happier!

Switching to HM oils such as MaxLife & DEFY(the last 4 years), the engine has been like new and even better/quieter with the DEFY.