Is Mobil 1 the best choice?

[Hib Halverson]

Thanks Hib-you seem to be the go to guy on this site.

Some will say I have you fooled.:L

I'll try to get that wax.

I forgot to suggest taking a look at C-MagicWax.Com - Engineered to Shine

Also tell me about Red-line motor oil,like why do you use it?(snip)

Well....first let me say that I'll qualify my answer based on
1) I don't worry about the cost of the oil as it's a minor part of my overall "car budget".
2) I run my engines pretty hard sometimes and I do it in the desert southwest.
3) I, also, usually run my engine oils to extended drain intervals.

That said, I like Red Line because
1) It base stock is ester-based...the same base used for turbine engine oils and the best choice if the engine oil will be subjected to high oil temperature. Red Line's optimum oil temp is 225-250°F and it works well at up to 300°F. Also, that's temperature in the oil pan. The temps in bearings will, obviously, be higher. I'll admit that ester-based oils tend to be more expensive than Mobil 1, which uses a mix of synthesized hydrocarbons and highly-refined petroleum as its base, and many do not feel the extra cost is warranted.
2) I think Red Line's development and quality control are top notch. I have a friend who was formerly employed by Phillips Petroleum and before that the company which owned the 76 brand. He's a petrochemical engineer and he told me that Red Line was the finest of the boutique oil refiners, "boutique" meaning a small blender or refiner which produces a specialized product.
3) I've used the product since the early-90s and have a long-running program of spectrographic oil analysis of the oil I drain from my engines. They tell me Red Line is pretty good stuff. I, also, provide the data to Red Line for them to track how their oil is used in the real world. I have three engines in daily-driver use on this program. Two of them are high-mileage (over 100,000 miles). I also have three engines in Corvettes in this test program but none are high-mileage or daily drivers.
4) I know most of the owners of Red Line Synthetic Oil personally and their response to customer and market needs, devotion to quality in their products along with their support of motorsports, especially that portion of the support that goes to grass roots racers, have earned my respect.

 

[ernestD]

Thanks again Hib-I don't run my vette hard-but it gets pretty hot here in sw florida.When I run coast to coast in florida the oil temp climbs sometimes with coolant temps just wondered if my oil is up to the job.I use Mobil 1 but switched to 10w 30 weight extened life. I have close to 90.000 miles

 

[mr.beachcomber]

(Have you ever driven your Corvette in snow?) Actually...I have. Seriously.
Back in the late Fall of 95, I bought my C4 in Michigan and was taking it to California. I spent a night in Ft. Collins CO and got up the next morning to find a Winter storm...big one...was coming. It was either get over I-70 and those high mountain passes that morning or get stuck for several days. I decided to go.

I got as far as the end of the Eisenhower Tunnel and it began to snow. I drove about 30 min more to the west and the snow got heavier and was starting to stick. Back then I had GS-C tires on the car and thank god the car had traction control and ABS because it was scary and would have been worse without those things.

After that half hour of snow, I was ahead of the storm....

Hib, you're being modest. If I read this story correctly, you took Barney, your '95 ZR-1, over the mountain passes in the snow!! I truely wish you hade video of that passage that you could post. Aside from the GS-C tires, traction control, and ABS I'm sure that the Corvette gods were looking out for you on that trip. Good read, though.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Yep. It was Barney. I still have the car. Odo just turned past 80,000 miles on a trip my Wife, the Fairest Sandra the Red, and I took to Bowling Green (on the prerun for the 2014 Caravan) and back.

Actually, it wasn't quite that bad. I knew there was a "chance" of snow and the road was dry up to about Vail pass. Then it began to snow...then snow a little harder. Finally, snow was sticking. Now that I think about it, maybe it was more than 30 minutes. I remember it was about an inch or so of the fluffy stuff on the highway (I was careful to drive in the grooves left by trucks when I could) when I got to about Glenwood Springs (or maybe it was New Castle or Rifle...I can't remember) and drove out of the front of the storm. Obviously, I slowed down quite a bit but I don't remember it being too slippery. The fresh set of tires helped and I had ABS and traction control backing me up.