[Boost Creep]

Originally Posted by TrackClub

Excellent and i absolutely applaud you. Seriously!

Too many folks wait till the computer says 0 life left on oil...
You gave me this impression by mentioning $100 per year.
My difference is much more than that per single fill between Mobil1 and Motul.

Also agree, i would NEVER use any unapproved fluid in any of my vehicles. Period. Full stop. And i always change oil at 50% life in all my vehicles. And there is a good reason for that.

Cheers!

I ran the Valvoline MST 5w40 until there was no more, then moved onto Amalie 5w40.
Finding a Dexos 5w40 came down to two in my area, the Amalie and Havoline. Amalie was available at a great price.
Also change the oil at 50% life which is about 4000 miles.

I feel better using a 5w oil due to my driving conditions, no "cold start" below 40F, and I don't want to rely on a base oil of 0w.

[TrackClub]

Originally Posted by Boost Creep

I ran the Valvoline MST 5w40 until there was no more, then moved onto Amalie 5w40.
Finding a Dexos 5w40 came down to two in my area, the Amalie and Havoline. Amalie was available at a great price.
Also change the oil at 50% life which is about 4000 miles.

I feel better using a 5w oil due to my driving conditions, no "cold start" below 40F, and I don't want to rely on a base oil of 0w.

Yep, in the same camp here, albeit any 5w is easily certified as completely fine til -20F, so focusing solely on the WINTER spec as the oil "quality criteria" is like focusing on what winter parka to bring on a Florida vacation

Even GM mentions this in the manual when specifying Turbo and V6 oil (suggesting that 0w30 vs 5w30 "may be used" below -20F to provide for "easier cold starting of the engine".
So yeah, if somebody drives their $80k ZLE in winter and happens to live in Alaska, by all means 0w will make a difference (to a tune of 10C).

That aside, any Dexos2 oil will be just fine in those allowed specs, as all of them MUST satisfy this standard's recipe for motor protection, cleaning, cooling, etc, while being friendly to cats. This means that all of them will be virtually identical tech data sheet wise. That's what Dexos2 assures of and frankly takes any guessing out of the equation. And that's great for us, consumers.

The only outlier here is SEA 15w50 and GM's priority to protect the engine on sticky tires, while trying to limit premature cat failure by making it track only oil.

Enjoy your rides folks! Change fluids frequently, avoid short trips, don’t shut her down cold, don't let her sit long with empty tank, don't use crap gasoline...That's the best assurance for a long component life. Cheers!