"Motorcyle" vs. "Car" Motor Oil

[osubeaver]

I am just curious to see what people are running for oil (synthetic or not). It seems there are a lot of arguments saying that the inflated prices we pay for "motorcycle specific" oil is really just a marketing ploy. We run Amsoil synthetic motorcycle oil, but I am wondering if regular synthetic, such as mobil 1 would work just fine. I realize there is the whole wet clutch issue, but it is really hard to find information saying actually what the motorcyle oils have in them to do anything better for your wet clutch than a standard oil.

[osubeaver]

I am just curious to see what people are running for oil (synthetic or not). It seems there are a lot of arguments saying that the inflated prices we pay for "motorcycle specific" oil is really just a marketing ploy. We run Amsoil synthetic motorcycle oil, but I am wondering if regular synthetic, such as mobil 1 would work just fine. I realize there is the whole wet clutch issue, but it is really hard to find information saying actually what the motorcyle oils have in them to do anything better for your wet clutch than a standard oil.

[Garlic]

Friction Modifiers are harmful for clutches (but generally good for everything else). Motorcycle oils won't have friction modifiers, but other ingredients to try and establish the same protection. If you run car oil run cheap stuff that does not ave friction modifiers.

[Agent4573]

A main difference between car and motorcycle oil, besides the friction modifier already mentioned, is that motorcycle oil is designed to be run through a gear box and physically beaten up pretty badly where as a car motor oil is not. It is designed this way to allow motorcycles riders the ability to go 2 or 3 thousand miles on thier bike and not completely destory the viscosity of the motor oil. Because most SAE cars have thier oil changed every 100 miles or so, you can pretty much run any crappy oil you want to run. Like stated before though, friction modifiers will hurt your clutch, so just make sure you find an oil without them.

[osubeaver]

OK, so the friction modifier part sounds technical, but everything else that has been said sounds just like what the oil companies say. It's usually something like "it is designed work with your bikes motor and transmission", but they never tell you exactly what they do. We (the uers of motorcyle oil) could easily be taken advantage of if the oil companies sell us 10W-40 "motorcycle" oil, but for twice as much as "car" oil. How would we be able to tell the difference?

[Agent4573]

There would be two ways to tell the difference between the two. One, have a viscosity test done. Take two samples, one fresh out of the bottle, and one thats been beaten on for 1000 miles. Car oil will have almost none of its viscosity properties left at this point, where as the motorcycle oil will still retain most of its initial properties at only 1000 miles. Two, have a spectrum analysier go through your motor oil and tell you exactly what is in it. Motorcycle oil has a different makeup than car oil does.

[JoeLansing]

Check out this link.

Cycle oil Vs car oil (http://www.xs11.com/stories/mcnoil94.htm)

[IttyBitty]

Right now, we're using Castrol Syntec 5W-50 which was recommended to us by a very knowlegable person. Mobil 1 15W-50 was also recommended to us. Our friend actually ran a few tests with their engine using different kinds of oil and found these two to be the best giving them more HP than other oils. He told us that Castrol and Mobil 1 are the two that definately would not cause engine failure due to oil problems...so we listen to him. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

-Nika

[Cement Legs]

Then that further supports the article Joe Lansing put up a link for. BTW, very interesting article. In our society that is so typical. If you needed to spend extra money on motorcycle oil before but dont now, why would the motorcycle oil producers ever claim otherwise when people will spend 3x more for a sometimes inferior product..... I hate marketing..... I think I'll go to the business education building and make fun of people....

[Agent4573]

Itty bitty, did your friend tell you which mobil one to use? When you buy mobil one be careful because the ones with a green cap have the additives that can hurt your clutch, only use mobil one red cap.

[IttyBitty]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Itty bitty, did your friend tell you which mobil one to use? When you buy mobil one be careful because the ones with a green cap have the additives that can hurt your clutch, only use mobil one red cap.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>


The Mobil 1 suggested to us was the Extended Performance 15W-50...it's got a yellow cap. I don't think Mobil 1 makes 15W-50 with a red cap.

-Nika

[osubeaver]

Well, mobil 1 makes one specifically for motorcycles, so I assume you're not talking about that one (i cant remember what cap color it has). I went to a bike shop this weekend and the guy charges $10.50 a quart for mobil one motorcyle oil http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif. That is just insane. Our dry sump system holds around 5 quarts - there is no reason why an oil change should cost over 50 bucks. Does anyone here happen to have a list of what car synthetic oils dont have the additives that will thrash your wet clutch? I have some valvoline full synthetic 20w-50 and i'm wondering if it will be OK.

[raska]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by IttyBitty:
[QUOTE]I don't think Mobil 1 makes 15W-50 with a red cap.

-Nika </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I use red capped 15W50 in my car.

[Marshall Grice]

We also use the mobil 1 15w-50 car oil, it has a red cap. If we use anything else we tend to blow motors.

[IttyBitty]

oh, well thanks, good to know...I didn't see any when I went to buy our oil and I didn't see it on their website...so I thought they didn't make it.
http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_Clean_5000.aspx

-Nika

[Agent4573]

A safe bet on whether or not a car oil will hurt your wet clutch is by looking for this seal on the bottle, front or back. If this seal isn't there, it means the additives that hurt wet clutches aren't in the bottle.

http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~mantegna/bottle.jpg

[Alexandre D.]

We use Motul 300V... Extremly expensive, it's made for superbike... Considering the stress of an FSAE engine, i don't think that spending an extra 20$ is a problem.

Why spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on an engine and buy 5$ oil... Even if it's only 0,1% more reliable, it's worth it.

Local bike shops will be pretty happy to make a big discount on high performance oil for an FSAE car. If you're lucky their distributors might have a sponsorship program for products.

[osubeaver]

I agree that it is worth spending extra money on an engine that one has spent tons of hours on, but only if it is justified. No matter how much you love your engine, you're still "taking it in the butt" if you're buying something for $10 a quart that is essentially the same thing that sells for $5 a quart.