Motomaster Synthetic & OEPlus Synthetic (made by Shell) motor oil, 5L | $27-29

What's the difference between "Import/Domestic/European" if they all have the same API certifications?

Would a Japanese car produced in Alabama be considered a Domestic vehicle? Or a VW made in Mexico be Import vs. European? I don't really get that. Should really just have the brands listed, bit confusing to the average consumer

ProfessorChaos wrote: ↑ What's the difference between "Import/Domestic/European" if they all have the same API certifications?

Would a Japanese car produced in Alabama be considered a Domestic vehicle? Or a VW made in Mexico be Import vs. European? I don't really get that. Should really just have the brands listed, bit confusing to the average consumer

It sounds like just marketing to me.

Is this VW507 certified

Check you offers as well. I went in store on Thursday planning on getting the Castrol. Then saw the motomaster was on sale and I had a 40x points offer on motomaster oils. The sale was not reflected online when I went in.

Also got some air filters and oil filters to hit $80 and get another $20 back in points. The air filters were 10x CT points.

Spent $85, got $29 back.

Rekognize wrote: ↑ Is this VW507 certified

From experience the Motomaster 0w30 European oil has the 507 certification on the container.

Ash9001 wrote: ↑ From experience the Motomaster 0w30 European oil has the 507 certification on the container.

Will vouch for this oil. Have it running in a VW GTI that is usually super picky with its oil. Have had it throw error codes on Castrol and Liquimoly. No issues with the motomaster Eurospec. Have also since switched to 0W30 from the standard recommended 5W30. Better performance in the winter and even on cold starts during hotter months.

ProfessorChaos wrote: ↑ What's the difference between "Import/Domestic/European" if they all have the same API certifications?

Would a Japanese car produced in Alabama be considered a Domestic vehicle? Or a VW made in Mexico be Import vs. European? I don't really get that. Should really just have the brands listed, bit confusing to the average consumer

Yeah that part is nonsense, as is using terms like "import" etc. in most places anywhere outside the 90s*. But that said, oil these days is very specific when it comes to individual manufacturer specs. So the "Euro" oils are mainly meeting specs of manufacturers like Audi/VW, MB, BMW. But there certainly is crossover. You'll notice the OEPlus "Euro" 5W30 grade meets some MB and BMW specs, but is also Dexos2 certified (GM), as well as meeting one Chrysler spec (which itself may be "Euro" due to having much injection of MB and Fiat engineering over the years). However that same 5W30 doesn't meet any VAG specfications.

Disregard what "kind" of vehicle the big name on the front of the bottle says it's for. For any oil, not just Motomaster. There's 3-4 things you should be looking at when selecting the correct oil for your vehicle.
-The correct viscosity/grade (e.g. 5W30, 0W40, 0W20, etc.). Is it within the acceptable viscosities for your vehicle?

-The oil specification. E.g. Stuff like Dexos, BMW "LL", MB 229.xx, VW 50x.yy, etc. Sometimes there is no specific manufacturer number or tradename to look for, in which case your manual will usually tell you to use API SJ/SN/SP, etc. The older the car is the older the API spec. given will be, but each newer API spec supersedes the previous one, and basically any oil worth being called a motor oil will be up to the latest API spec at a minimum.

-Last thing you'd want to make sure of is whether you're buying a conventional oil or a synthetic one, and most manufacturers these days are specifying synthetic oils as mandatory or as part of the aforementioned oil spec. Some specs. basically require the oil to be synthetic before qualifying, so you wouldn't see an oil with the correct spec displayed that wasn't the right type.

*Funny enough if we were talking about the 90s, oil was much simpler back then and the majority of cars you just picked your oil by grade and then made sure it was API whatever, and all was good. These days, not so much. There's very specific requirements in those manufacturer oil specs these days, so you have to be a little more careful unless you have a car that's like 15+ years old.

This better thank Kirkland?

themikewoo wrote: ↑ This better thank Kirkland?

Buy whichever fits your vehicle's specs and whichever is cheaper. I've used both for my vehicles and have zero issues them. Walmart Supertech is made by the same company that makes Kirkland.

Used to be $22 on sale only a few months ago . This is still not a bad price in the era of JustinFlation.

I think Walmart Supertech and/or Pennzoil Platinum (with rebate) now have the crown for best deal on synthetic oil.

iflyplanes wrote: ↑ Used to be $22 on sale only a few months ago . This is still not a bad price in the era of JustinFlation.

I think that's correct though I'm not sure the OEPlus hit too much lower? I think the last sale it was like $27.49, making it only $1.50 cheaper than it is now. Someone feel free to correct if mistaken.

I bought some on the weekend as an experiment in a couple of older higher mileage cars.

I didn't think it was deal-worthy as this is the regular oil-sale-rotation price....

holeechow wrote: ↑ Just curious as to who makes their synthetic oil filters? I normally get the fram synthetic ones.

TIA

Champ Labs.

Everyone over at BITOG usually agrees that Fram Ultra or Tough Guard is better than Champ Labs.

Can you mix oil of different brand?
For example, I have been using Pennzoil and have about 1/2 jug leftover. can i mix the Motomaster and the Pennzoil?

Yes. Not an issue at all. A lot of people even do this on purpose to make custom grades of oil (like 50:50 0W-20 and 0W-30 to make 0W-25).

iflyplanes wrote: ↑ Champ Labs.

Everyone over at BITOG usually agrees that Fram Ultra or Tough Guard is better than Champ Labs.

The scary part is there are pictures of those (OEPlus filters) on there where the louvers in the stamped metal insert/cylinder are not even opened properly Definitely take a look inside one of those before buying to ensure it looks good, if you're buying one of those. It's kind of funny CT switched their OE for these filters (after having used Fram for 30+ years for their other Motomaster filters), only to arrive at a filter that's not as good as a Fram Ultra/Extended Guard. But I suspect this was probably caused by one of two things: either Fram was asking too much per unit on Extended Guards, or Fram doesn't offer store-branding for those filters.

Rooster wrote: ↑ Can you mix oil of different brand?
For example, I have been using Pennzoil and have about 1/2 jug leftover. can i mix the Motomaster and the Pennzoil?

Shouldn't be much of a problem but I would try to go with matching oil spec and grade. If you're buying one of the OEPlus ones it seems it's very likely it's actually the same oil as PP.

Just buy the Wal-Mart brand oil. Wal-Mart synthetic is just as good as Mobile synthetic and for $15.00 on sale it's the cheapest and best oil out there.....

wilson wrote: ↑ Just buy the Wal-Mart brand oil. Wal-Mart synthetic is just as good as Mobile synthetic and for $15.00 on sale it's the cheapest and best oil out there.....

Sure but a few things, firstly:

ES_Revenge wrote: ↑Offers an alternative for those that for some reason "don't trust" Supertech; their grade isn't made in Supertech or others; or don't want to pay high prices for Mobil or Castrol (even when on sale those are typically $8-10 more).

Secondly, Supertech has increased in price to $19.77 I believe it is. The reg. price previously was $17.49 and sale was $15 as you say. Supertech is also not on sale at the moment and it's likely the next sale price will be $17.xx. Still cheaper, however it must be re-iterated there are more grades available here than offered by WM, though at least Walmart is better than Costblo and their lame "two grades you're lucky there's more than one now GTFO" policy.

Supertech is available in 0W20, 5W20, 5W30, and 5W40 (and we're quite lucky to get that last one as apparently it isn't offered in US). Two of these are Dexos1 compatible, but none are Dexos2 or any other diesel spec, I don't believe. That's just an example. There's also a lot of other "holes" in spec coverage, so if you have a vehicle that doesn't sit what they cover with those grades, you don't want to be buying it. Also even the 5W40 while it "meets/exceeds" various Euro specs., it lacks key approvals like on the MB 229.x specs, which means some may not want to us it in their car, particularly if it's under warranty. MB makes it abundantly clear that meeting their spec(s) is not the same as "MB-Approval" on the same.