What's Better -- Synthetic Oil or Regular?



Posted: Saturday, January 15, 2011

by Ben Mester
Plan B Publishing

In the modern age, as oil changes becoming more expensive and more routinely are being added into warranty packages, it's important to understand just what kind of oil is being used in your engine, whether regular or synthetic. The automotive industry has seen many advances in recent years, both in precision machining of the interiors of engine components, as well as in better injection methods for fuel efficiency. The question in many people's minds is, are synthetic oils really worth the extra cost? The answer depends generally on what's required in your particular warranty package. Many of the newer packages require the owner's of vehicles to get specialized oils and coolants and other liquids during regular maintenance periods. So that takes away most of the choice.

But for the rest of us who don't need to take our vehicles to the dealership just to get simple work done, is it a good idea to pay the extra money for synthetic oil instead of regular? In a lot of cases, going the route of full synthetic is a bit excessive. As we discussed earlier, with machining of engine components and the fine tuning of modern vehicles, oils have to do less and less work to lubricate and protect our engines. Not only that, but because of better formulation technologies and viscosity enhancers, today's oils meet a higher standard and protect an engine much better than the oils of a few decades ago. Not only that, but machining technology has advanced greatly in the past 2 decades as well, meaning that the surfaces where friction happens are much more precise and internally stable.So from that standpoint, getting a full synthetic is a bit unnecessary. However, many people don't have a brand new vehicle and are still running cars from the 90s. In this particular situation, going the route of full synthetic might be a good option in order to give your engine as much protection as humanly possible. That is the reason why many mechanics and oil change locations are beginning to go for a middle of the road solution. These days, I mostly get half synthetic and half regular oil when I go for an oil change. This is a good middle ground and offers better protection than regular oil, but doesn't have the high cost of full synthetic.

There are also a lot of myths and misinformation surrounding synthetic oils. I've heard before that synthetic oil isn't compatible with regular petroleum based oil, which is false. I've actually gotten oil changes before that were partially synthetic and partially regular. I've also heard people say that they're worried that switching to synthetic oil might cause their seals to get damaged or that the switch might cause buildup and deposits to be left behind. Both of these rumors are also false, which your mechanic can tell you the next time you go in for an oil change. In most respects, synthetic oil acts almost identically with regular oil. Synthetic oil is simply designed to last longer. That's the biggest difference. If you're worried about using a different oil than what you've been using, ask the oil change professional the next time you go in for an oil change. They'll obviously try and sell you on the more expensive brands, but you'll be able to decide in the end what kind of oil to use.

Synthetic oil and regular oil both have their positives and negatives. I hope you learned a lot from this article. For more on the automotive industry, check out my other article about stop leak for the engine.
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