As many of us know, there are many different kinds of "full synthetic" oils on the market. Some use PAO/Ester (Group IV and V) as the base stock and others use hydrotreated conventional oil (Group II or III) as base stocks. The hydrotreated oil is very pure and has none or very little wax and other impurities so it is a very good base stock.

However, the hydrotreated base stock costs about half as much as the PAO/Ester for the manufatures to produce but we do not see a price difference in the final snthetic oil products in stores.

Well a price drop of the oil using Group II and III is finally here. I was at Aotozone yesterday to get my Group 49 battery for the diesel. I saw the Havoline synthetic at $3.27/qt. Just a few week ago, it was over $4 per qt just like any other synthetic oil. I hope others (Castrol, etc.) will follow.

BTW, the MSDS of the Havoline synthetic oil is at

http://library.cbest.chevron.com/lubes/chevmsdsv9.nsf/f2f12b5992bba20488256b4c0074a415/383216dc66985aa588256b51000818bd?OpenDocument

Your local Wallmart has cheap synthetic oil. It is like 2.50 a qt. Going from a failing memory here. I read that it was made for them by some one else without any special specs from some other reliable manufacturer. I was going to ask who make it but there was only a few kids working that did not understand that Wallmart did not actually make the stuff. From my understanding it is the same as the others just in a different bottle. Next time I am there I will find out who makes it.

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Currently
1991 Mazda Miata 174000
1991 Subaru 189,000 Winter beater

got rid of:
1984 VW Vanagon 195,000
1976 350SE Euro 185,000 KM
1973 280SE 4.5 (boy do I regret that)
1980 280SE European W126 4 speed manual (miss it)
1989 BMW 735iL 119000 (good riddance)

The Wal-Mart brand synthetic oil ($2.97/qt) is made by Quaker State, according to Wal-Mart. I e-mailed their headquarters and that was the reply I got.

I bet that price will drop soon because Havoline is only $3.27/qt.

I forgot to mention that at the same Autozone, Exxon synthetic oil (5w-30 or 5W-50) both were $3.19/qt but that price has not changed for some time. It had been $3.19/qt for a long time.

I may not have made it clear. This is not a price comparison but a price drop of a particular synthetic oil.

Havoline synthetic was selling over $4/qt but it is now $3.27/qt. Had the Wal-Mart synthetic oil followed the same price drop (same %), then it would be around $2.40/qt. That will put it near the synthetic blend oils. Then the blend price will drop, then . . .

Let the oil war start.

I was real put off recently by Shell advertising their new Rotella Synthetic as 100% fully synthetic oil. I found out that it is really a hydrocracked petroleum based oil. They are selling it for only about $1-2 a gallon less than the TRULY FULLY SYNTHETIC Mobil Delvac. Sounds like a way to make big money without the expense of developing a real synthetic. Went back to Delvac even though it is harder to find.

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1995 S-350
370K + SOLD
1952 220B Cabriolet
39K kilometers + SOLD
1998 E300D
310K +
2012 E350 BlueTec
120K

Exactly, oldsouth.

What I try to say is:

the good news is that Havoline is not charging their Group III based synthetic oil at the high $4/qt anymore.