Pacific Fisher

Yes, another oil thread. Not sure if a link to this oil expert's site has been posted. His site features some very good discussion and testing of major oil brands. He dispels a lot of faulty opinions about oil by doing rigorous testing.
Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5w30 was the highest protection oil of all he tested.
Interesting that NASCAR engine builders sent him oil and he found that the oil they thought was good was not protecting their expensive engines from premature wear.
Not sure if the Quaker State is VAG approved, but it sure looks like it should be.
Link below

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/201...-test-ranking/

ex-quattro PETE

The main concern i've read with his testing methodology is that it is not very representative of what actually takes place inside an engine.

Think of it this way, if testing oil performance was this easy, manufacturers would not be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars doing actual engine tests.

The QS 5w20 oil he tested could never pass the vw spec because it doesnt have high enough ht/hs viscosity. Thats one of the parameters that many euro manufacturers care about, but 540rat apparently doesnt. Most 5w30 grade oils dont have high enough ht/hs viscosity either because they are resource conserving. These are mutually exclusive requirements.

Pacific Fisher

I was referencing his test results of the Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5w30 not 5w20. If you reread the testing he did provide temperature effects for both breakdown and protection.
The guy must be pretty qualified and respected to have major Nascar engine builders looking to him to figure out why highly touted oils are not protecting their engines. His engineering education and credentials indicate he has the knowledge of how to properly test and analyze results concerning motor oils. The discussion on his site is the most comprehensive I have seen. He also is not in any of the oil companies pockets.

ex-quattro PETE

QSUD 5w30 carries ILSAC GF-5 rating, which means it is resource conserving (focus on fuel economy), so again, it could not meet the VW spec.

Look on some other oil related forums. His so called 'test' is ripped to shreds. Sure, it gives some data point, but personally I'd rather stick to VW spec.

http://www.pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/quakerstatesyn.htm

QSUD 5W30 is a great oil, if you have an application that calls for such oil.

Also, nascar requirements and street requirements are not quite the same. Our oil has to last for 10k miles. It does not get changed after a week or one race, and our engines do not get rebuilt that often either.

Pacific Fisher

By summarily rejecting all oils (no matter how well they perform) that have anything less than a 40w at one end, the Volkwagen engineers may have missed a good one in the 5w30 Quaker State. I know, I know no one should question Volkswagen engineers.
Volkswagen may well have not even tested it.

Concerning NASCAR. Of course I was not in any way implying that the oil they need applies to our Audi cars. I mentioned it to demonstrate the trust and respect they placed in the Engineer doing the testing.

ex-quattro PETE

Like it or not, should your engine develop a problem, it is VAG that is going to stand behind it with its warranty. If you run one of 540Rat's oils, will he pay your repair bill, should anything happen? QS will certainly not pitch in either, because QSUD 5w30 was not the correct oil for the application. With that said, there are some QS oils that do meet the VW spec.

Just to clarify, VAG does not test oils. They just define the test criteria. The oil's manufacturer commissions a lab to carry out the tests and then submits the results to VAG for review and approval. And this was done for Quaker State Ultimate Durability Euro 5w-40, for example, as well as for some other Shell and Pennzoil oils that belong to the Shell family.

uberwgn

Pacific Fisher

Thanks,

Good discussion here.
Again I am reminded we have the luxury of so many high quality oils.

Has anyone seen the testing/ranking on the Quaker State 5W-40 Euro Ultimate Durability Synthetic Motor Oil ?

ex-quattro PETE

More importantly has anyone seen QSUD Euro 5w40 for sale anywhere?

Pennzoil Euro 5w40 is much easier to find. I run it in my BMW.

uberwgn

Pete, I think Amazon has it.....$17/quart