pslewis

Just been looking at a can of Carlube Triple R 10W-40 Engine Oil and it says its designed for Rally cars .......... its £12:99 for 5 Litres.

Sounds good ....... but, is it??

My car has always had Shell Helix put in by the main dealer

Pete

scooby-si

use to put it in my old wagon uk turbo never had a problem

Jiggerypokery

You'll waste hours trying to find if it has actually been used in a rally car. "Designed for" and "used in" are two different things. Anyway, I'm not even sure if an oil used in a rally car is what you would want to use in a road car - two very different sytles of driving and servicing.

jfrf

ive seen the carlube before
amazing cheap

usually has tvr and lotus motorsport sticker on em so surely cant be that bad

corradoboy

Two of the most unreliable cars on the road wonder why

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

It still baffles me why some people will buy a performance car and then feed it with cheap/crappy oil. I have never once heard a scooby owner (or any other performance car owner either) recommend 'carlube' products.
I have however heard many good things about the likes of mobil 1, castrol, silkolene etc.
Sure, chuck in whatever cheap oil you can find, just don't expect it to be quality oil that actually protects your 'TURBO', aswell as your engine.

pslewis

So? Is Carlube crappy oil then?

I am one of those who is not willing to pay more than needed for what I need.

I am sure the Mobils and Silkolenes are good - but, were is the evidence that they are better?? It's generally heresay on a BBS, thats fine - but remember that people pay money for a 'NAME' whilst not gaining any benefit whatsoever. (except a nice warm feeling in an empty wallet)

Now, if the Carlube stuff meets the requirements as laid down by Subaru ... why pay more than needed?

Pete

corradoboy

THIS should shut you up for a while. Read & digest, then come back and dismiss all the technical justification about shear stability, poly-alpha olefins, hydrocracking, base stocks, polaric esters and VI improvers. Then fill your car with that $h!t and feel smug in your ignorance.

pslewis

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

Yes, I have come across Oilman on many, many Car Related Forums ..... he does the rounds selling his oil (yes, thats right!! Its a marketing ploy!!) and I, for one, am too long in the tooth to fall for it!

Interesting words, written by someone who knows and sells oils (EXPENSIVE oils!) ...... does lend it some 'imagined' credibility.

I will always base my choice on what Subaru say, after all - they designed and built my car investing £millions in the meantime.

Now, carlube might be crap - might be perfectly ok? Hence my thread here.

Pete

corradoboy

Funny though, I've always found his prices to be very competitive, marketing ploy or not. You have to accept that quality costs, and his quality costs less than many others. I now do my own oil changes for the princely sum of £38, and 1 hour of my time. I used to pay £85 for it with the same oil, and a dealer would liberate me of IRO £120 for the same privilege with a lesser oil, and not follow the **** procedure. How many times have you paid a dealer to do such a simple task ?

Maybe you are just being suckered by a marketing ploy yourself. Take some total $h!te mineral base stock, add 2% esters to justify calling it synthetic, stick a non-copyrighted picture of a TVR on the bottle and watch it fly off the shelves

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Subaru, Mr Lewis? The same subaru that was asking you to bend over for an extra year of warrenty cover? The same subaru that has forced you into this position of servicing your owner vehicle.

Come on Pete, even you must realise that manufacturers do make **** ups from time to time, and that some people on here that have worked on scoobies for years, may have a bit more credible knowledge with regards to servicing. And if your car has run fine from new on Shell Helix, why changed it??

Yes, I would use carlube in my Fork Lifts if I had to, because their engines are not over-stressed, but in a turbo-charged performance car?? I don't think so.
As Corradoboy said, 'Quality costs'.

pslewis

Quality Costs, but so does some clever marketing!! Be careful what you get!!

Just because Subaru want a stupid amount for a Warranty doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about when it comes to Oils!

And if you want to pay £38 for 5Litres of oil, just because some 'Oilman' scares you silly, is entirely up to you. I know that you don't NEED to spend that much for 100% protection!

I am guessing that £20 for 5 Litres gives you a great oil??

Remember - its changed every 6 months ........ what concerns me more is that my car has been fed Shell Helix Ultra for 10 services - thats 5W-40 I think??? According to Oilman my engine is now utterly shagged

Pete

corradoboy

32 quid for the oil, 6 for the filter

I think you'll find that 5W40 is the recommended grade for your Scoob, and Shell do make good quality oils. Just not the best. I can handle an extra 24 quid a year (oil changed every 5k) knowing it's good stuff. I have to spend my cash on something, I don't drink, smoke , gamble, play golf, fish or pretty much anything else except rag the @r5e off my car occaisionally. I may as well spend some of my financial reserves on good oil, petrol and rubber.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

10w40 semi synthetic is the minimum grade for a scoob (turbocharged) and the 5w30 fully synthetic will just kill your engine as its too thin to bear up to the temps these engines get up to, now STi use a 15w50 oil (motul 300v comp) as their own grade oil, that should tell you something
Personally, i put the best oil i can into my cars, though the pug is quite happy with a 10w40 grade semi synthetic as the journeys i do are long distance, the scoob gets the 15w50 treatment

Tony

pslewis

Where do I get 15W-50?? REDLINE??

And doesn't that drain a lot of power ......... it seems really thick!!

Pete

A warning from REDLINEs website, before anyone puts thick oil in their cars!!:-

15W-50....

"Not recommended for use in cold climates where temperatures are at or below 10°F or -12°C. Not recommended for street use in production engines that see sustained oil temperatures below 225°F (those engines should use Red Line 10W-30 or 10W-40)."

scooby-si

pete it will be fine in your car m8,but if you want some better stuff i can get you silkolene pro r for £25

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Or Mobil 1 15w50. Change my oil every 3k (sti 4), it has just passed 70,000 miles, 20,000 covered by myself. The car isn't mapped for uk fuel, but I do use optimax. I have had no problems with the engine whatsoever (touch wood!).
I do not recommend what other's tell me to. I have always used mobil oils and will continue to do so.
No oil man on my Christmas card list either!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Pete,
I had performance runs on a rolling road with 10w40, pushing 312bhp, then having changed to 15w50, 315bhp, is it really loosing power? and considering 3 of the runs i did over 9 months rated within 3bhp on the same rolling road and the highest figure was 15w50 oil......

Tony

oilman

iTrader: (9)

Carlube.

Yes it's cheap and you'll get what you pay for inferior basestocks, shorter life and a lower level of protection over the life of the oil.

I wouldn't put cheap oils in a scoob, you're asking for trouble, use proper synthtics not cheap petroleum based ones.

Unfair comments about "marketing ploys" I feel, perhaps you should read some of the technical threads I have posted here (do a search on my name) then consider your decision.

If you change the Carlube every 3000 miles and do 12000 miles per annum it will cost you £51.96 per annum. If you use a proper synthetic and change every 9000-12000 miles it will cost you the same sort of money for better protection.

It's a false economy, synthetics last longer, that's why they cost more.

Cheers
Simon

stza

mobil 1, castrol, silkolene all marketing hype, just pour water in from the river then u know you're not getting ripped off......

oilman

iTrader: (9)

Ignorance is bliss!

Cheers
Simon

pslewis

So? they are better because they last longer?

How long is longer?

This is exactly what I mean about misleading info. .........

I can assume, safely, that they BOTH do the SAME job for, what? 12 months/12,000miles? then the Expensive oil shows its colours?

Therefore by changing every 6 months you are never getting any benefit out of the 'special' oil?

Lets cut the crap - over 6 months/6,000miles a good quality oil will be of equal benefit compared to an expensive synthetic ................ if, however, you wish to run your car for more than 12 months/12,000miles without changing then the expensive oil comes into its own and starts to repay its massive mark-up.

Regarding the 15W-50 oil ............ REDLINE (quite knowledgable in oils) state that its too thick!!!

Pete

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

They (redline) also state now (after a few knackered gearboxes) that their gear oil may not be suitable for the impreza. And with regards so knowledge about oil, Redline wouldn't even be on my list. Try Shell, Mobil, Castrol, Elf etc etc. They are the ones that have been around many years before Redline.

I'm just curious pete, why buy an impreza and then try and save afew quid ( and thats all it is) on engine oil?
'mmm, its cheaper, so it must be as good or better than the expensive stuff.'
If you are worried about cost Mr Lewis, buy a kia!

Graz

If you want cheap why not use cooking oil, you may even be able to get a batch of second hand stuff from you local chippy for pennies. It's oily / slippery, can handle high temps, what more could your Subaru need It'll be fine



I'm praying his fecking car blows up soon, doubt he would ever admit it though. Never known anyone so tight, cheap oil, brake pads made to last 60k+, refusal to acknowledge MAF sensor problems despite having had audiable det on his own car , wonder what tyres he uses? An 'Economy' option no doubt. Unless he's still on the original tyres as well?

BTW I used to work for Mobil and they don't spend millions of £ in R&D into synthetic oils for no reason. I've read how they racked up 250k miles on a 325i BMW on a test rig with the manufacturer specifed oil changes using Mobil 1. The engine was stripped and measured at the end and was like new, still within manufacturing tolerances. It's good enough evidence for me.

Trashman

From the handbook:

Jiggerypokery

Oilman's posts do have some marketing speak, but they nearly always contain technical information for the intelligent, whereas Carlube's "designed for Rally cars" quote is a marketing ploy for the cheapskate dumbass. I, for one, am too long in the tooth to fall for it!

It's only £12.99, so just go and buy the damn stuff. We'll have a whip-round if you're hard up. No one cares about your engine anyway.

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

Well done Pete, you've done a great job of winding this lot up
Whilst there is no doubt that some oils (and grades) are better than others for use in the Subaru (AKA Cadburys by a few unfortunate people!) engine, it is also a fact that there is a lot of "snobbery" when it comes to oil? The old adige of "If it's expensive,it must be good" is alive and well and living here! I'm all for feeding my engine with good quality stuff and admit I wouldn't pour Carlube in it even though it's endorsed by Lotus! However I'm sure you don't have to spend 50 quid for 4 litres to protect your engine to a perfectly adequate degree?
JohnD

oilman

iTrader: (9)

HHhhmmm.

Interestring debate here chaps.

I see lots of talk about expensive verses cheap.

However good quality synthetics are not expensive, not in the bigger picture.

Mineral based oils are very cheap for the manufacturer to make so the margins are huge, in theory you should change mineral based oils every 4-5k or so, less if the car is driven hard ir heavily modded, making the manufacturer more more money as you buy oil more often.

Good quality true synthetics are better in every way (other then bedding in, which relies on poor lubrication!) and cost more to make FACT!

Why do we have them? well why do we have the light bulb and not candles these days, because light bulbs are better last longer and all the rest. So oil companies make and develop these oils to remain ahead of the game in oil devlopment and compete against one another, but that does not mean they you want you to buy it, remember its all about proffit.

So, mineral based oils changed every 4k and poor lubircation compared to top quality synthetics that can be changed at 10k+ and you have all the bells and whistles that come with those properties.

1 x 5ltr Average hydrocracked mineral oil £20
1 x 5ltr Top of the range PAO/ESTER synthetic £35

Its up to you to take advantage of the technology.

Cheers

Simon.

pslewis

Ok, what about this then:-

1 x 5ltr Top Quality Semi-Synthetic £13
1 x 5ltr Top of the range PAO/ESTER synthetic £35 (what other oil in the range do you offer?) ... if there is no range then it can't possibly be the top of it can it?

At a 6,000mile/6 Month oil change they are both as good as each other - FACT

Now, I don't want crap in my engine, but I'm not a half-wit like some who have posted above who can be hoodwinked because they are in IT/Banking/Estate Agents and know NOTHING about Mechanics of Machines .... I do!!

And I ain't about to pay £35 for some dream oil

What is the make of oil you sell oilman??

Pete

oilman

iTrader: (9)

Pete,

You dont have to pay £35 on oil, thats why we have the cost option semi synthetics, I am afraid these days thats all semi synthetics are, a cost option and ok if you drive Miss Daisy around but is not comparable in performance or quality to a true pao/ester synthetic, they are in very different leagues.

I sell 6 different brands of oil, of all different sorts to suit all budgets and applications, I am sure I have something to even suit your budget.

Can you back that up?

Cheers

Simon.