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best oil for C5

Old 05-31-2010, 01:28 PM
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Dream Tire
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Default best oil for C5

Hey guys,

I was wondering as to what is the best oil/grade to use for our cars??

I know that sticker says 5w 30 Mobil 1.

But Im having alot of people tell me to use 10 w 30 Ams oil as it it pure symetic..

thoughts??

The car doesnt have any mods beside an intake and full exhaust +100k miles

Rod
Old 05-31-2010, 01:36 PM
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Don't waste your money on "boutique" oils. I've seen many a C5 go 200-300,000 miles with Mobil 1 5W30.
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Old 05-31-2010, 01:40 PM
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Mobil1 5W30.
Old 05-31-2010, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by jrose7004
Mobil1 5W30.


Chuck
Old 05-31-2010, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by capevettes
Don't waste your money on "boutique" oils. I've seen many a C5 go 200-300,000 miles with Mobil 1 5W30.

Im not looking from a cost point of view... reason why people are telling me to go AMS oil is because they are the only company that uses full natural synhetic.. to what degree is this true Im not sure
Old 05-31-2010, 02:11 PM
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"full natural synthetic" seems like an oxymoron. Could you help me out and explain what that means, I'm lost to figure it out.
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Old 05-31-2010, 02:18 PM
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Old 05-31-2010, 02:32 PM
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Mobil 1 is the factory standard fill and meets the engine requirements, but there's much better oil available, proven by wear samples etc.... example is Pennzoil Platinum, Castrol, etc...5w 30 is all you need for normal bootin around Rod...do a search on some of Patman's threads, he's our local resident oil expert!

Last edited by dankhts; 05-31-2010 at 03:26 PM.
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Old 05-31-2010, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by lucky131969
Do a search and you will find more than enough "my oil is better than yours" posts
Old 05-31-2010, 09:01 PM
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The following are my opinions:

-Any oil that meets the GM standard is good oil for the C5 and it should go 200,000 miles on that oil, if treated "right".

-Will some oil be better than others, maybe, but how do you conclusively prove it? You can't. Besides it probably won't make any significant difference.

I used Mobil 1 5W-30 for years, now use Castrol Edge. I may try Pennzoil Ultra in the future.
Old 05-31-2010, 10:29 PM
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What does your oil fill cap say on it?

Old 05-31-2010, 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Dream Tire
Im not looking from a cost point of view... reason why people are telling me to go AMS oil is because they are the only company that uses full natural synhetic.. to what degree is this true Im not sure
Using "natural" and "synthetic" in the same sentence is a perfect oxymoron.

I thought Mobil 1 WAS the first fully synthetic oil????
Old 06-01-2010, 09:38 AM
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Originally Posted by av8or
Using "natural" and "synthetic" in the same sentence is a perfect oxymoron.

I thought Mobil 1 WAS the first fully synthetic oil????

According to my AMS oil rep.. AMS oil is the first oil company.. They are the first to patent full synetic oil.. all the other leading manufacturers such as Mobil 1 etc only add a certain percentage into the mix..

Im not an oil expert by any meanins what so ever.. Whats why I posted this tread to learn and hear out other peoples comments.

I have no doubt that Mobil is great oil.. However to be stamped on the Corvette feels more of a marketing thing.. Im sure thats its GM approved and recommended oil.. but is it recommended because Mobil cut a deal with GM??
Old 06-01-2010, 11:03 AM
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The "Best" debate about oil,filters & wax is an old one and NO ONE knows which is best...we all have our personal favorites for various reasons.

I use Penn Plat 5-30 in all my cars...96GST,02Z06 & 03S2K.For me,this oil meets and/or exceeds the specs of Mitsubishi,GM & Honda/Acura.

Lot's of good oils to choose from.....and IMO,the brand is not nearly as important as having a good OCI that suits your vehicle and driving style.

As always,IMO.

\db2
Carolina
Old 06-01-2010, 11:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Dream Tire
Im not looking from a cost point of view... reason why people are telling me to go AMS oil is because they are the only company that uses full natural synhetic.. to what degree is this true Im not sure
Cost is not my primary concern either, but why pay more for something that probably won't make a difference? It sounds like you may have convinced yourself to go with Amsoil. Maybe you can get your car to go 500,000 miles if you keep it that long
Old 06-01-2010, 12:09 PM
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Does anyone have a Smilie of a dead dinosaur being beaten? That horse needs a break...
Old 06-01-2010, 03:13 PM
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Engine failure due to inferior oil is almost unheard of these days.. Even the no name,store brand regular base oils are far superior than any oil that was on the market 30-35 years ago.. Our engines burn cleaner and more efficiently than they did 30 years ago also... Thus extending oil change intervals on todays engines. Any brand of synthetic should be more than fine.. Regular changes are more important than the brand... The quality of the oil filter is actually much more important than the oil.. There are more differences in oil filters on the market.. If the oil filter is not doing its job then it does not matter what kind of oil you have.. I'd rather run a cheap base oil with a great filter, such as a Wix, that to run a superior sythetic oil and a cheap *** Fram or a no name Filter.. Not that I would do either on any of my cars, but you get the point.

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Old 06-01-2010, 03:30 PM
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This has been covered a lot, do a search. The most popular answers are:

Royal Purple
Mobile 1 5W30 is Just Fine
Amsoil

I run Royal Purple, but only b/c it was cheaper than the the others the last time I bought oil... Any good brand of synthetic will work...
Old 06-02-2010, 01:30 AM
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manley845
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Any oil will do just fine so long as you change it once it gets dirty (saturated with contaminates).

Non-synthetic begins to "break down" (lose viscosity) around the 1200-1500 mile mark, and synthetic will not "break down". This is why when Mobil 1 came to the market it had a recommended change interval of some ridiculous mileage. Foreign contaminants are the reason for oil changes when using synthetic. Also, keep in mind that today's oils are designed to turn darker in color as it becomes dirty, this is normal. Oil holds dirty as opposed to yester-year when contaminates stored in the engine as sludge. Going 6-10k on an oil change is normal today.

Anyways, use any "off the shelf" full synthetic oil and change it when required. If it makes you feel better to spend more on oil, do so. Peace of mind is worth a few extra dollars. As far as viscosity, 5w-30 was a EPA thing. 10w-30 will provide all the protection your engine requires.

Lastly, I hate to break hearts but the Corvette engine is a simple and relatively low horsepower engine to have such trivial concerns about. Look at *** motorcycle engines that make 3hp per cubic inch and run on simple conventional oil that is also of a lower SAE rating. Kicking a 36 cube motor at 15k rpm and pushing 115+HP with conventional oil makes me worry less about what I put into my old school push rod V8
Old 06-02-2010, 06:51 AM
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Originally Posted by manley845
Look at *** motorcycle engines that make 3hp per cubic inch and run on simple conventional oil that is also of a lower SAE rating.
Huh, I didn't know that. All this time, I thought they ran on gasoline too.....who knew?

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