Oil viscosity - more difference than I would have thought

[add|ct]

...which doesn't make any sense. Isn't 0w-30 better than 0w-20 if your call is supposed to take 30?

[add|ct]

Originally Posted by add|ct

...which doesn't make any sense. Isn't 0w-30 better than 0w-20 if your car is supposed to take 30?

Sorry, I was brain dead.

[trollbait]

a true synthetic 0w30 is just as good at start-up as 0w20

It may not make a difference in practice, but the measured viscosity is thinner in the 20 than the 30. That's also true of 5wx oils, not just the 0wx ones. The gap between two different viscosity oils is greater at cold temps than at operating temps. If you can find published cold viscosity measurements for an oil, keep in mind, the standard test for that number is at 94F. So, at what most think of as cold, the gap will be wider.

[add|ct]

I'd still use conventional oils if I didn't have the choice of synthetic. It'll do the job fine, but it's as though you are the employer. Put the employee in the best possible position to succeed. No 1 employee is the same.

Its also like choosing to search for a car you want to buy, but eventually if you can't find that car will you just not drive at all? You'll eventually 'settle' on something that can still be reliable. Its all relative anyway, to put it in perspective. That's common sense. It'll still work.

The idea is just knowing what you have, in this case conventional or synthetic oil, and know why you are doing what you are doing. Not just going with an over-hyped product that ultimately plays on your fears and gets us to either change oil too frequently or curse conventional oil as though it doesn't belong in an engine or something.