Benefits of Synthetic Oil

Advantages of oil

Before diving into the benefits of different oil categories, let’s sum-up main oil advantages:

The benefits of oil change are numerous for your vehicle: it should run more smoothly, and last for much longer.

Synthetic oil vs regular oil : is synthetic oil better than regular oil?

You’ll discover below the different types of oils:

Mineral oil is most commonly called as regular oil. These oils are produced by untreated mineral refining (Group I)
Semi-synthetic oils or synthetic-based oils are a blend of oils produced by untreated mineral refining (Group I) and composed of oils produced by mineral refining with chemical treatment (Group III)

Using “synthetic oil” terminology can be sometimes confusing as it might concern 2 different categories:
Synthetic technology oils are oils produced by mineral refining with chemical treatment (Group III)
100% synthetic oils are oils with 100% synthetic molecules (Group IV and V) without any mineral refining

Is synthetic oil better?

Why is synthetic oil better ? Compared to regular oil, synthetic oil has many advantages:

It flows easier in cold weather, therefore no loss of prime when the oil is cold. Also, it is highly resistant to viscosity breakdown (the ability of the oil to flow easily in all temps) from heat, friction, chemical contaminants.
How many miles on synthetic oil ? How often do you change synthetic oil? Synthetic oil change frequency is lower than regular oil change frequency. Indeed, there are longer change intervals for synthetic oils: 7,500 to 10,000 miles between oil changes (compared to 3,000 for mineral oil). How long between synthetic oil changes at most? Synthetic oil change intervals are sometimes said to be up to 25K miles between changes. However, we would not advice going that long!
On the other hand, synthetic oil can have as well a few drawbacks:
It flows easily, therefore synthetic oil is not recommended for use on high mileage engines and in new engines during the break-in period because it is slippery and it limits the wearing of new mating parts within the engine

You understand probably better now why synthetic oil is better. Nevertheless, a synthetic oil change cost is twice as much as conventional oil. However it lasts longer, so the actual cost increase is closer to 50 - 60 percent. Switching to synthetic oil might be more expensive but with a higher return on investment on the long term.

Synthetic oils benefits:

Why use synthetic oil? Benefits of synthetic oil are numerous:

Better low- and high-temperature viscosity performance at service temperature extremes.
Better viscosity index (VI).
Better chemical and shear stability.
Decreased evaporative loss.
Resistance to oxidation, thermal breakdown, and oil sludge problems.
Possibility to extended drain intervals, with the environmental benefit of less used oil waste generated.
Improved fuel economy in certain engine configurations.
Better lubrication during extreme cold weather starts.
Possibly a longer engine life.
Superior protection against "ash" and other deposit formation in engine hot spots (in particular in turbochargers and superchargers) for less oil burnoff and reduced chances of damaging oil passageway clogging.
Increased horsepower and torque due to less initial drag on engine. • Last benefit among the advantages of synthetic oil : Improved Fuel Economy (FE).