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Read our primer articles on High Mileage Oil, Synthetic Oil and Kinematic Viscosity

I found your forum while looking for some info. on walmarts super tech oil for my father-in-law.
Since reading numerous posts on ST filters and oil I have questioned what is the proper oil and filter manufacturer. I already know that there is no set in stone answer but I would like to hear from u "gear heads". I have a 2002 chevy suburban 5.3l V-8. I have used castrol syntec (partially synthetic) oil and fram filters. I change my oil every 3000 miles. I also picked up on the dislike of fram products in the couple of posts that I read. Could you also tell me the problem with fram products? Please respond I welcome all opinions. I respect the enthusiasm you have for oil products. I always change my own oil and do as much maintenence as possible but I can honesly say I have never thought to have my oil analyzed.
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Can't address the SuperTech oil, but I have seen a display of a cut open Fram filter at a NAPA store and the Fram had cardboard end caps on the filter element insert, whereas the NAPA filter had metal end caps. I have cut many filters open and saw metal end caps on Wix, Purolator, Motorcraft, and Fleetguard. You would do well running a Purolator Premium Plus, which often can be had for under $3 on sale.
The SuperTech may be fine oil. I just don't know. Some have suggested that Meijer's brand oil (if you live in the Michigan Ohio area) is the same as Citgo as it is packaged by Citgo, but I suspect the additive package could be different. But you can get some good name brand oils cheap if you don't mind switching brands as the sales go, or stocking up.

Exxon Superflo, Havoline, Chevron Supreme are all well regarded at the oil guy website. As are numerous other brands. Castrol is probably as good as the rest. As for synthetic, well Group III can be nearly as good as PAO or it can be inferior. If you want PAO you can get Mobil 1. If you drive very hard and have hot temps to deal with, Redline is about the best.

The additive package is the other part of the equation. Citgo Ultralife (high mileage) is supposed to have a robust additive package (at least the SL version was looked at) with 1200 ppm zddp. Good stuff.

As for me, I really like the high mileage oils. Most of them ignore the typical CAFE driven certifications. My favorite is Valvoline Maxlife, which MSDS indicates about 12 - 22 % PAO content. I have had good results with Maxlife SL and now the new SM has 290 ppm moly, perhaps to offset lowere SM zddp levels.

Maxlife Synthetic is very nice with a higher viscosity than most 10w30s. I also must confess I am a big fan of Valvoline, so that colors my recommendations, but Maxlife, both conventional and synthetic, have been getting some good interest on the oil guy site.

Also, some depends on your driving style, miles driven, length of typical trip, etc. to determine whether synthetic is worth the extra cost and what oil change interval is good.
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