Quote:
Originally Posted by FollowMyLine
5W-50 seems to be the magic elixir. It’s heavy enough to add the additional protection needed in higher-G loads (but not quite SC3R or other high-grip tires) and as long as the car isn’t being driven in cold climates, it will work just fine. In the rare instance you may be running a cold track day (think less than 40°F) you just need to let the oil warm up for 5-10 minutes first.
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Thank you for taking time to share this video and info!
The 5W-50 DexosR Supercar oil is factory fill in the C8 Corvette Z06 like you mentioned in the video. The Z06 has an available option for 140 treadwear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R ZP tires. Those tires should have a similar grip level to Supercar 3R from the info I can find (see below) although there don't seem to be any direct comparison articles/videos. Therefore the 5W-50 should offer a similar level of hot protection as the 15W-50 with the added benefit of faster "cold" startup flow (cold meaning the oil is at ambient temperature, not specifically winter level temperatures). API 1509 mandates
specific viscosity requirements to be met to advertise an oil as -50 so even if one is slightly better they are both significantly better than a -40 oil.
This video says
Cup 2 R tires are 1.5 seconds (2.5%) faster than Cup 2 tires on a 1 minute lap. I don't know if the Z06's ZP (run flat) version has different performance compared to the non ZP version of the Cup 2 R but I'm assuming the performance is the same.
Throttle House found the Camaro SS 1LE lap time with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires was only 0.04 seconds different than Goodyear Supercar 3 tires although these tests were 2 years apart so conditions might have been more favorable during one test. Personally my best lap time is about 1.9% faster on Supercar 3R tires than Supercar 3 tires in my SS 1LE averaged across 5 different tracks. (Note that I had less sessions on the 3R tires every time so there was probably more performance in them that I didn't manage to take advantage of since I generally try to increase my pace gradually each session.)
For those who are still in warranty, it is worth it to buy the Dexos2 (2022 and earlier) or DexosR (2023+) oil as specified in your manual to cover yourself in case you have engine warranty work and the dealership requests receipts to prove that oil change(s) were done meeting the requirements in the manual. It is great if other brands meet/exceed those Dexos requirements but if they didn't go through the process to get certified then that is a technicality a dealership could use to void your warranty and force you to pay a lawyer to fight such a decision or pay for thousands of dollars of repairs yourself.
In my case I ran the old ESP 0W-40 oil (now rebranded as Supercar 0W-40) and switched to 0W-40 ESP X3 when it came out because AutoZone had a single product page with mixed inventory of both when X3 first came out. I have a Blackstone used oil analysis report with a lot of track time from both of these oils and most numbers are similar plus no concerns were noted on either report.
I had the new ESP 0W-40 X3 oil in my car when it required engine warranty work due to a misfire which seemed to be caused by a failed lifter (non AFM in my case but the AFM lifter actuation doesn't happen on 6 speed manual cars like mine anyways). I was running Supercar 3 tires at the time. Surprisingly no oil/filter receipts were requested (I did my own oil changes for a few years leading up to this point) and there was no mention of a used oil analysis being done by the dealership.
I have continued running the 0W-40 ESP X3 after the warranty repairs and so far so good (knock on wood) after visiting 14 different tracks since then. I used 3R tires for 7 sessions total (at 3 different tracks) during this time without issues but it seems like a good idea for me to switch to the Supercar 5W-50 oil going forward.