Quote:
Originally Posted by N Camarolina
I'm not a conspiracy type person, but in this case with GM recommending the Dexos R oils that they sell almost exclusively at their dealerships, it does look awfully suspicious. I say this because:
1) The "old" 0w40 ESP, which was Dexos2 compliant was rebranded at Supercar, which was suddendly Dexos R compliant. What is the Dexos R specifications? I wasn't able to find it on the internet.
2) The 0w40 ESP x3 (Euro formula for Porsche) has almost the same specs as the "old" ESP version from point #1 and is not only Dexos2 compliant, but has seems to be better than the Supercar version because it has a better high-temp shear value. Yet somehow it's not listed as OK to use in 2023+ LT1 engines.
3) The 5w50 Supercar is also rated as Dexos R compliant, yet has considerably higher zinc and phosphorous content than the Supercar 0w-40, and unknown sulphated ash levels. I think if there is indeed a Dexos R standard, it's consistent with however the 5w50 is formulated.
The Supercar 0w40 isn't so much matching Dexos R formulation, but rather it's SAPS levels are just lower than the 5w50. But they put the Dexos R designation on it and say in the manual that you have to use it so that you can't buy the other Dexos2 oils (ESP x3 and the offerings from companies other than M1). All of which serves to funnel more money and profit to dealer's service departments.
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The "conspiracy" part of it comes down to GM making money. Any of the dexos certifications come at a cost to the oil company that wants to put it on their label. Not only do they have to ensure that their oil meets the actual technical standards, they have to submit it to a GM lab for testing to prove that (not bad so far). That test, however, comes with a steep cost which the oil manufacturer passes on directly to you on each quart of oil PLUS they charge more simply because it carries that label.
GM then "sunsets" the various certifications requiring that the various labels no longer be used on marketing the products and the manufacturers have to submit another sample for another test with the new label. Changing from dexos1 to dexos2, or dexos2 to dexosR (or whatever else they come up with going forward) makes it seem like the oils are getting better and better while they aren't really changing. They "learned their lesson" with dexos1 by shifting first to gen2 and now gen3 for that cert line...
I'd love to see the actual specs for the oils instead of BS marketing crap labels that are specifically set up to expire over time (making it harder for folks to find the correct oils going forward).