or do they?....My neighbor just got himself a new ride. An older Pontiac Bonneville with 286k miles. He showed me the record book and a bag full of receipts. Every oil change we saw was done at Walmart using their SuperTech dino oil and SuperTech filter. Most oil change intervals were at about 5k miles......The old car still runs like a top.

 

I think from what i heard out of the mouths of oil co. reps when i worked at a auto parts com. that most oil and filters come out of a handful of manufactiring companies and slap a different name on them...Some filters like K&N and AMSOIl and a select few probably made to better specs but for most part if you actually change your oil at 3 or 5k mile interval and use a new filter every time and drive you vehicle like you have some amount of sense then your vehicle will last. How many people actually keep their vehicles long enough to find out how many miles they will put on them nowadays...they usually trade. I am def.not an oil expert or motor expert but i do change my oil on regular intervals like my manuals say. I use different oil brands and different filter brands because i have been told by people with higher pay grades and a lot more education that it really doesn't matter as long as you change it.

 

i just scraped my 96 intrepid that had 502,000.kms. father in-law gave it to me years ago after he used it to deliver ***** food. changed oil religously after every 5000 kms. the motor still had tons of *****, squeeled at a stand still! everything else was falling apart though. tie-rods snapped on my way to work, so that was it.

bought a 2000 pontiac bonneville ssei. thats a nice car!

 

That's about 300000 Miles for you Yankees...LOL

 

I thought I was a yankee until I saw where he was from. He out yankee'd me.,,

 

Air cooled motorcycle engines are very different from water cooled automotive engines. They need a stouter oil that can endure lots of heat and hande much more loose tolerances. So, oils in your bike do make a difference. But not much. You could run a HD engine on 15w40 HDEO all it's life and notice no real measurable difference in engine life.

Filtration in a HD engine is important because of the cam tensioner shoes that shed plastic throughout their life. So a 5 micron filter is important. If you convert to gear driven cams you could use any 10-15 micron filter with about the same results IMO.

Changing oil regularly is the most important thing.

But, I still use synthetic oils because I do many short trips and want an oil that can handle lots of fuel dilution.

 

when I think back to the old days, I used to drive a company van where it was my responsibility to get the oil changed. When it was convenient I brought it to my buddys Texaco station for the changes. He would use bulk oil from a drum and whatever cheap oil filter he had. I would get there anywhere from 3k to 12k. the van had 168k miles on it when I bought it from the co, put 25k more on it, then sold it to my bro in law who ran it until it had 260 k on it and was falling apart. Never had the motor apart or any oil related issues.So I guess my point is, the oils of today are worlds better the 25 years ago and just about any brand you can find in the correct spec for your vehicle will keep it on the road a long time. When it comes to Harley's lots of people feel the motor is so fragile that you need to take extradinary measures to keep it going. I don't get why people change their oil every 2-3 k miles for "longevity" then sell it two years later with 5k miles on it?.,,