Interesting Oil Testing article
Interesting Oil Testing article
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Original Poster:

5,330 posts

229 months

motco

16,705 posts

262 months

Monday 7th February 2011
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I saw this test here a couple of years ago and, being a suspicious sort, I sent it to the Opie Oils chap who sometimes posts in various motoring forums. US advertising standards are, in my experience, very poor compared with ours so all claims have to be looked at carefully. He replied:

Opie Oils expert said:
That test has been floating around the net for a few years now and to be honest take it with a pinch of salt. From all the tests I have seen there is always a bias for one reason or another no matter how "independent" they claim to be.

My problem with this test is the method used to test them; the Falex machine which, in reality, does not test the oil in the way it is going to be used. As you can see from the report the machine just tests a bit of wear on these metal bearings, however it does not take into account, temp, pressure, combustion by-products, longevity, shear stability, fuel dilution... The list goes on. In away it does not test anything really in relation to what goes on in the engine.

Chemists over the years have proven this test is not good (great for marketing though!!) and have used milk, beer and even urine to prove on these test machines they lubricate better than oil! The ones that work best on this machine are cutting/milling coolants/lubricants which makes perfect sense.