Pennzoil Ultra Platinum worth a slight premium over the Pennzoil Platinum

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Aug 18, 2019
Messages
11
Location
Ontario, Canada
Every couple of weeks, there is a sale of Pennzoil Platinum oil. They are sold in 5 Litre bottles.

  • $29 CAD for the Platinum ($21.85 USD at current exchange rates)
  • $33 CAD for the Platinum Ultra ($24.87 USD at current exchange rates)
  • Not relevant, but the Platinum Euro is $31 CAD ($23.36 USD at current exchange rates)


Pennzoil also has a $10 CAD a bottle refund that all 3 of the above are eligible for.

I'm wondering, is it worth it to buy the Ultra Platinum?

A quick search and I see the following, which doesn't really answer the question:

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4977071/pennzoil-ultra-platinum-enigma
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4990292/pennzoil-ultra-platinum-5w30


What I'm not sure about is what is in the Ultra Platinum that sets it apart from the ordinary platinum.

In my case, the oil must meet API Service SM / ILSAC GF-4 and that is it. It does not appear to be strict. A Hyundai tech told me that 5w-30 is the best oil to use (the cap says 5w-20, but he says that is for fuel economy and 5w-30 is a better choice for engine wear).

What I am interested to know is, would it be best if I was using the Platinum or paying extra for the Ultra Platinum?
 
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Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.

01237853-A56B-4E3C-BD97-190D058C82F8.jpeg
 
If you're doing 6k'ish drain intervals, i don't think there's an appreciable difference. I took advantage of the Pennzoil rebate and opted for the "regular" Platinum as I didn't see a reason enough to justify the extra dollars for the "Ultra".

The most I'm going to run the regular Platinum will be 6k miles. Btw, my Kia oil cap says 5w20 (for "best economy") but like you I run a 5/30 year round. Although recently I have given more thought to running 10w30 in the summer months.🤔
 
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Originally Posted by Jimmy_Russells
What's the OCI?


6 months or around 810,000 km (that's about 5,000 miles).


Mileage will be 2/3s city and 1/3 highway.


Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.



Thanks.

It looks like the additives are a bit higher on the Ultra Platinum.
 
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I've faced this choice many times and I've just bought the regular one. I haven't seen enough evidence the PUP is a substantial upgrade like say, M1EP is compared to M1. Truth be told I actually prefer QSUD but the rebate is only $7. I run it about 7.5k miles in my wife's Jeep. PP is a good choice to go to 5w30 though because it's a really thin 30.
 
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Originally Posted by CrazyElf
Originally Posted by Jimmy_Russells
What's the OCI?

6 months or around 810,000 km (that's about 5,000 miles).

Mileage will be 2/3s city and 1/3 highway.

Is that whichever comes first?🤔..Pennzoils good but not THAT good.....‚
 
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We have a 2.4 L DI Tuscon and the first time I used a synthetic was PP 5Wx30 and my wife said the car is quiet ... First time she had ever made a comment about the engine noise!
Next time for the summer I used M1 EP 10Wx30 and the oil color stayed cleaner the longest ... Maybe due to summer higher temps. idk

The car is depressed now since I wanted to get rid of some of my dino and it's now running with Chevron Supreme 10Wx30 full dino
shocked2.gif
back to its dino roots.

Want to try PP Euro L or Ultra and see what happens. iirc, ultra is good for longer oci which I don't do anyways so i may stay with the regular platinum.
If wife makes one more comment about the engine noise, I will stay with that oil.
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
If you're doing 6k'ish drain intervals, i don't think there's an appreciable difference. I took advantage of the Pennzoil rebate and opted for the "regular" Platinum as I didn't see a reason enough to justify the extra dollars for the "Ultra".

The most I'm going to run the regular Platinum will be 6k miles. Btw, my Kia oil cap says 5w20 (for "best economy") but like you I run a 5/30 year round. Although recently I have given more thought to running 10w30 in the summer months.🤔



My owner's manual allows 10W-30 as well, but only above freezing.

As I live in Canada, I"m not sure that's the best option unless the oil changes were timed in spring and fall.



Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by CrazyElf
Originally Posted by Jimmy_Russells
What's the OCI?

6 months or around 810,000 km (that's about 5,000 miles).

Mileage will be 2/3s city and 1/3 highway.

Is that whichever comes first?🤔..Pennzoils good but not THAT good.....‚


Oops 8000 km (5000 miles). :p

Looks like I"m out of the edit window.



Originally Posted by Jimmy_Russells
I've faced this choice many times and I've just bought the regular one. I haven't seen enough evidence the PUP is a substantial upgrade like say, M1EP is compared to M1. Truth be told I actually prefer QSUD but the rebate is only $7. I run it about 7.5k miles in my wife's Jeep. PP is a good choice to go to 5w30 though because it's a really thin 30.



The VOA says that there is only a slight upgrade. Hmm ... it is only about $9 with taxes for the oil change and it does give some peace of mind.

I'm wondering, has anyone tried to contact Shell directly about the differences?
 
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Occasionally NAPA has the Pennzoil sale of PP for 4.99 and has MIR. Usually the PUP will be 5.99 qt with MIR. If its 1.00 more and nothing drastically more than sure why not.
 
Originally Posted by CrazyElf

Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
..the most I'm going to run the regular Platinum will be 6k miles. Btw, my Kia oil cap says 5w20 (for "best economy") but like you I run a 5/30 year round. Although recently I have given more thought to running 10w30 in the summer months.🤔

My owner's manual allows 10W-30 as well, but only above freezing.

As I live in Canada, I"m not sure that's the best option unless the oil changes were timed in spring and fall.

It doesn't get as cold here as where you're at but it's not unusual to see a week or more at a time at/below 0c. And yeah, I've pretty much have it dialed right now where I do a change in October/early November just before we start to see freezing temps overnight.
 
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As a rule of thumb when considering a more expensive "better" oil I always consider the trade off of oil change interval (OCI). If you're going to pay more for an oil...get a better oil...you should be considering going longer on the interval. And that has to be the deal maker/breaker. And that for me is why I almost have never done it (bought the Amsoil, the Ultra, the Redline, etc), because I just don't like the trade off. I don't feel comfortable about longer drain intervals to justify it - I have experimented with it in the past - right or wrong I blame some of the wear I experienced on my engine because of it (and maybe it would have happened anyway, I don't know?), but I just stay away from it now.

And I do realize that some people are just going to want the "best oil" for their engine regardless of anything else...and for those people I say, go for it. If it makes you feel good, then do it. However with my philosophy if I'm doing 5,000-6,000 mile intervals, any brand name Synthetic on sale at Walmart will do (and Rotella Gas Truck is on sale right now, with a rebate...so that's what I've been running).
 
Originally Posted by Railrust
As a rule of thumb when considering a more expensive "better" oil I always consider the trade off of oil change interval (OCI). If you're going to pay more for an oil...get a better oil...you should be considering going longer on the interval. And that has to be the deal maker/breaker. And that for me is why I almost have never done it (bought the Amsoil, the Ultra, the Redline, etc), because I just don't like the trade off. I don't feel comfortable about longer drain intervals to justify it - I have experimented with it in the past - right or wrong I blame some of the wear I experienced on my engine because of it (and maybe it would have happened anyway, I don't know?), but I just stay away from it now.

And I do realize that some people are just going to want the "best oil" for their engine regardless of anything else...and for those people I say, go for it. If it makes you feel good, then do it. However with my philosophy if I'm doing 5,000-6,000 mile intervals, any brand name Synthetic on sale at Walmart will do (and Rotella Gas Truck is on sale right now, with a rebate...so that's what I've been running).

Well said.ðŸ‘
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.


Looking at that sheet we see that the PP and PUP 5w30s are thinner (cst @100*C) than the rest of the SOPUS synthetics.
Would it be a good assumption that a better base oil is used which allows this or is it just a SOPUS peculiarity?
 
Originally Posted by littleant
At a lower price point QSUD Looks good. With rebates for me easy choice.

It was on Rollback at Wally's for like ~$18... which is a steal IMO for that oil.
 
So I did a bit of shopping.

It seems Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy 0w-30 is often on sale for $30 CAD, so about the same price as Pennzoil Platinum. It comes in slightly smaller bottles though.

Castrol EDGE seems to be the same price at Costco as Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and every now and then goes on sale for the same price as Pennzoil Platinum.



Originally Posted by Marco620
Occasionally NAPA has the Pennzoil sale of PP for 4.99 and has MIR. Usually the PUP will be 5.99 qt with MIR. If its 1.00 more and nothing drastically more than sure why not.


It's pretty much that - $1 extra per litre (or quart).




Originally Posted by Railrust
As a rule of thumb when considering a more expensive "better" oil I always consider the trade off of oil change interval (OCI). If you're going to pay more for an oil...get a better oil...you should be considering going longer on the interval. And that has to be the deal maker/breaker. And that for me is why I almost have never done it (bought the Amsoil, the Ultra, the Redline, etc), because I just don't like the trade off. I don't feel comfortable about longer drain intervals to justify it - I have experimented with it in the past - right or wrong I blame some of the wear I experienced on my engine because of it (and maybe it would have happened anyway, I don't know?), but I just stay away from it now.

And I do realize that some people are just going to want the "best oil" for their engine regardless of anything else...and for those people I say, go for it. If it makes you feel good, then do it. However with my philosophy if I'm doing 5,000-6,000 mile intervals, any brand name Synthetic on sale at Walmart will do (and Rotella Gas Truck is on sale right now, with a rebate...so that's what I've been running).



Fair enough - although in my case, after the rebate is taken into consideration, the price of the Pennzoil Platinum (non-Ultra) is pretty much the same price as the Supertech, which if I'm not mistaken is Wal-Mart's in house brand made by Warren Oil.

I don't think that Wal-Mart has rebates do they? When I go to Wal-Mart, what they do have are the big signs that say "Rollback", which I assume means that it is on sale.

I guess though you do pay a bit extra for piece of mind. I bought my car used, although looking at the reports, the previous owner was pretty good about changing the oil frequently. Likely my car was a lease return.




Originally Posted by pbm
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.


Looking at that sheet we see that the PP and PUP 5w30s are thinner (cst @100*C) than the rest of the SOPUS synthetics.
Would it be a good assumption that a better base oil is used which allows this or is it just a SOPUS peculiarity?



Hard to say.

They seem to be advertising the "made from natural gas" part pretty aggressively. No idea if that affects the characteristics though.
 
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.

So, I joined this site to learn because I don't have a ton of knowledge about oil, so bare with me and my question. Looking at the UOA wouldn't QSUD actually be better than PP and PUP since it has a higher viscosity number at those temps and has more moly? Also, PP and PUP don't look very different at all, so why is PUP more expensive or rated as the "higher end" oil of the two? Serious question because I don't know at all. Just looking at the numbers it doesn't make any sense to me.
 
Originally Posted by Coastie05
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.

So, I joined this site to learn because I don't have a ton of knowledge about oil, so bare with me and my question. Looking at the UOA wouldn't QSUD actually be better than PP and PUP since it has a higher viscosity number at those temps and has more moly? Also, PP and PUP don't look very different at all, so why is PUP more expensive or rated as the "higher end" oil of the two? Serious question because I don't know at all. Just looking at the numbers it doesn't make any sense to me.

You can't take one or two criterion and say "xyx is better", that's like looking at a single pixel on a TV and saying "this one's better". It's about how all the constituents perform together. A lot of criteria come into play...Type of viscosity index improvers (low quality v. high quality). The lubricants ability to resist evaporative loss. The lubricants ability to resist shear at high temps. The lubricants flow characteristics at both high and low temperature. The lubricants ability to form a sufficient film thickness and strength. Remember the purpose of additives is to aid the lubricant in preventing metal to metal contact (wear). The chemists formulating the lubricant take into consideration everything like the quality of base stocks, expected loads/temps etc. when considering how much of an additive to add. It's a balancing act and more doesn't necessarily translate to better and can even throw off the balance and have detrimental effects inside the engine. For example, anti wear additives will compete with corrosion inhibitors for metal surface area. So too much of a AW additive can actually lead to increased corrosion. The quality of the base stocks is also important. PP/PUP use GTL so in theory they're more "pure" than mineral based oils like a Grp2 or 3... Less impurities in the base stock, the better.

I am by no means the oil guru here (read: this is not my day job...‚) but this is just my take so don't take it as gospel, so if I'm off here anyone please feel free to chime in/correct.
 
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Originally Posted by Coastie05
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Here's a sheet with them both on it. There also might be some differences in base oil that a VOA can't detect.

So, I joined this site to learn because I don't have a ton of knowledge about oil, so bare with me and my question. Looking at the UOA wouldn't QSUD actually be better than PP and PUP since it has a higher viscosity number at those temps and has more moly? Also, PP and PUP don't look very different at all, so why is PUP more expensive or rated as the "higher end" oil of the two? Serious question because I don't know at all. Just looking at the numbers it doesn't make any sense to me.


There hasn't been a ton of information posted on the difference between them, which is partly why I have never tried the PUP. It just comes off as a marketing thing to me. At least with Mobil 1 EP compared to Mobil 1 or with Edge EP vs Edge there is a distinct difference between them.
 
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