S2WOOOW

I haven't read the article yet, but did email a question to Castrol USA. I worded the question for general info on Syntec, but the response I get refered to the article by Bedard in Car and Driver. I don't want to push Castrol on anyone (cause I'm outnumbered by Mobil 1 and Redline users), but I hope no one will not consider Castrol because of the article. The response stated that there were alot of miss-informantion in the article, and was summed up by saying a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Bottom line is Syntec has always been full synthetic and always will be.

Sounded like a legal ****ing contest between Castol and Mobil, but the National Advertising Division of the BBB resolved the issue in favor of Castrol. Castrol changed their manufacturing method. The old method used a base stock that Mobil is a prime manufacturer of. So Mobil complained that the new method was not a "sythetic" method. Well, they lost. I don't think Bedard will be getting a Christmas Card from Castrol this year.

wickerbill

Try reading the article. Castrol is only going to give you their spin on it and try to make it sound positive. I have no vested interest in Mobil or Castrol; I just hate to see misinformation.

In the article it plainly says that the base stock (which makes up 70% of the oil) of Mobil 1 and other "true" synthetics are created 100% in the laboratory and use no crude oil. Here's a quote from the article "The synthesizing of polyalphaolefin (PAO) starts with ethylene gas, a simple two-carbon molecule, and builds till it gets 10-carbon molecule, then combines three of those to form PAO. The result is a fluid more stable than the usual base oils derived from crude. It keeps flowing at low temperatures. It's more resitant to boiling off...etc".

Castrol's base stock is made from refined crude oil. It is very heavily refined crude, but it still starts as crude oil, which doesn't sound too synthetic to me. The article quotes Lubricants World saying that these refined oils "provided properties similar to PAOs but cost only half as much."

If the base stock only costs half as much, why does Castrol cost the same as Mobil 1? That was one point of the article. Also, keep in mind that the board that ruled that Castrol could still call their oil synthetic was the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Not exactly a bunch of petroleum engineers.

I would guess that both oils would work equally well and I'm not trying to start an oil argument. I just wanted to get the facts straight since I have the article right in front of me. Personally, when I see 100% synthetic oil on the side of a bottle of oil and I'm paying a premium for it, I expect it to be 100% synthetic whether's it better or not. I guess the National Advertising Division feels differently.

Mark

[This message has been edited by wickerbill (edited October 18, 2000).]

S2WOOOW

I plan on reading the article asap. I agree with your last paragraph. But I would tend to beleive the technical info from a Castrol person rather than a journalist, even from a reputable mag. I tried to filter out the sales pitch, but botton line is Syntec infact uses a sythetic base (not based on crude oil), just not a PAO base. Also, Bedard (sp?)and Lubricant Worlds does not have price information on the base, because it was proprieterily developed by Castrol. So his price argument is invalid.

The NAD may not be technical, but like any judgement body, they listen to testimony from chemists and engineers brought in by both sides.