Loud vs Quiet Oils

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MPosey

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So I know this doesn't really mean much in terms of oil performance but for me noisy oils just bother me. Super subjective too, I have never taken decibel measurements or anything like that...

I have a 2004 LS430 that has about 125k on it, I've put the last 12K on it since I bought it, it is an amazing car. But it has perhaps the most sensitive/oil dependent tappet-y sound of any car I've ever had (I've had A LOT of cars) but it got me thinking over my past cars and what oils I've tended to notice are nosier than other oils.

I've also been playing with oils to see what is really quiet in this particular car since it has seemed to be the most different from oil to oil. I've only done a few oil changes on this particular car but I've thought back on some of these oils I've run in other cars that also have been somewhat noisy on certain oils (S2000, Miata, Z06) and once I thought about it, these have proven true in most of my cars, so I figured I would share to see if anyone else has kind of landed where I have on these.

So these are the loudest to the quietest i've used (mostly 10w30 or 5w30):

- Mobil 1
- Castrol GTX
- Ford Motorcraft synthblend
- Amsoil (I only ran it in a 1.8T passat but it was pretty loud compared to whatever came out of it I recall firing it up and really noticing it)
- QSUD
- Redline
- Pennzoil Ultra (it was super quiet in our Honda Fit)
- Pennzoil Platinum

Now I don't know if there are specific things in these that make them quieter or if its car specific but its something I've always seemed to notice.
 
Engine noise was quite noticeable with Mobil 1, which is one of several reasons why I stopped using it. I'm quite happy with PZ Platinum D1G2 and found it to be even quieter than Ultra Platinum. No experience with the boutique oils.
 
Looks like they are ranked about as I'd expect.

Within the xW-30's I have played with, Chevron Delo 400 15W-30 SD (severe duty) is the quietest I have seen so far
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by MPosey
I have a 2004 LS430 that has about 125k on it, I've put the last 12K on it since I bought it, it is an amazing car. But it has perhaps the most sensitive/oil dependent tappet-y sound of any car I've ever had (I've had A LOT of cars)


I've kind of noticed that with the 05 Matrix so interesting to hear what you said about the top of the line car from Toyota. In the 12 Camry that takes 20 wt oils I can't tell any difference btwn brands. It's had TGMO 0w20, PUP 5w20, Idemitsu 0w20. I've noticed a big difference in noise going from 5w20 MC syn-blend and 5w30 MC syn-blend in the Matrix.

From other reports on here Formula Shell at Home Depot 5w30 and 10w30 are pretty quiet. Many reports about Magnatec being quiet. I had a bunch of 10w30 that I scored on clearance but sold it off before using. Kind of wish I had tried it in retrospect.
 
In all of the cars I've changed oil on, with all the different brands and weights of oil, synthetic or conventional, I've NEVER heard a difference in how an engine ran switching oils.
 
Of the oils I've run in my 4Runner, I've found that PYB and Redline are the most quiet. I'll likely stick with PYB for time being.
 
Subjective. But I have found M1 to be noisier than PP, Synpower or Magnetec in my 07 tacoma/sienna and 14 sienna.

Its not alarmingly noisier but noticable. Doesn't stop me from using M1 when I can get it at a good price.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
In all of the cars I've changed oil on, with all the different brands and weights of oil, synthetic or conventional, I've NEVER heard a difference in how an engine ran switching oils.

The Castrol Magnatec I used was 10w30 Syn Blend
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Get away from those synthetics. Try dino oils. Especially pz and Q's. Gotta give warren oil a try also.


I should probably try PYB in this LS, I swap it mostly at 5k (so kind of wasting money on synth but I am curious and want to try different oils), with this latest PP I'm going to go to 7500 this time to try to see if I can get through the winter on that mileage before I have to change it again (I of course do it myself and MN winters... ) also the oil coming out of the LS always seems to in great condition (Unlike that passat I had, that oil would come out and just be all used up from the 2 times I had samples tested), the car is just super easy on the oil (I haven't had this one tested but the Honda Fit was the same way, it would come out about like it went in, sent a sample of the PU I ran to 10k miles to blackstone and it came back and b'stone said it was good for another 5k or so and then re-test) I also run/ran WIX or OEM filters on these cars.

But PYB in the few cars I've run it in has been very good, I used it in some older EF Hondas and miatas that I autox'd as they would burn some oil and the PYB would magically fix them (I suspected the rings were a tad older and the add pack would seem to let them reseal or lubricate an older seal somewhere or something, don't know why but they'd burn a tad and once I ran PYB or HM it would magically just stop burning oil) also they always sounded less tappet-y.
 
I've never noticed a difference between brands but I believe those that have noticed differences.
 
Originally Posted by danez_yoda
Subjective. But I have found M1 to be noisier than PP, Synpower or Magnetec in my 07 tacoma/sienna and 14 sienna.

Its not alarmingly noisier but noticable. Doesn't stop me from using M1 when I can get it at a good price.






Yeah one of my buddys who has run M1 in 6 of his cars at the same time (a few autox cars, tow vehicles/daily), the entire time, has had zero issues and the few samples have all come back about perfect so its a fine oil for sure.
 
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.
 
Originally Posted by Propflux01
I think you might notice the viscosity on these oils goes from thin to thick in its order.

The OPer didn't give us a time range and exact grades for each oil brand, but if we're talking 5W30s M1 is 11 cSt at 100C and 62 cSt at 40C while PP is 9.8 cSt at 100C and 54 cSt at 40C.
To be fair, PP changed quite a bit with the d1G2 reformulation and was probably a little thicker before that while M1 doesn't seem to have changed much. The OPer could have also been talking about 10W30s for these brands.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.


I feel the same way, in my mind friction = noise, so less noise means less friction so the engine is working less hard and is getting less wear. Probably has zero real world data or issues but in my mind that is how I think about it. It could literally be one thing in the oil that makes it less noisy to my ear that does nothing to protect the engine any more than any other slightly noisier engine but I just feel slightly better when it isn't quite a metallic-y noise I hear...
 
From my fleet of cars and over 750k miles driven:

Mobil 1 is loudest, especially in cold -30 mornings.

Redline is the most quiet.

High mileage oils tend to be quiteter than non high mileage oils.
 
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