An essential element for keeping your car’s engine in good working order is to regularly change your motor oil and ensure that the new oil you install is the best your car can get. The oil keeps the internal engine parts lubricated, preventing moving parts from rubbing against each other and causing damage, and also keeps it cool, ensuring it doesn’t overheat.
If your oil is not changed frequently, dirt, grime, and sludge can build up inside the engine compartment and around moving parts, and the old dirty oil will not allow parts to slide smoothly against each other. If the oil is dirty and full of impurities, it can cause serious damage, and you may even need to replace your engine in the future. Some oils also contain additives, such as detergents, to keep surfaces clean at high temperatures and antioxidants that prevent oxidation (which can lead to rust) and prevent motor oil from thickening. Additives also capture dirt and other contaminants to prevent buildup on engine parts.
But it’s not always easy to choose the right motor oil. To ensure you’re not left staring blankly at someone when they ask you what type of motor oil you want, in this article, we will go over the top 10 motor oil brands and products to make sure you get the best to keep your engine running.
TYPES OF MOTOR OIL
Before diving into the details of each brand and product, here is a brief description of the different types of motor oils you’ve probably heard about in the past.
- Conventional oil comes from refined crude oil. It works well in most everyday vehicles, but it’s the cheapest oil. It’s the standard oil for new cars. Almost all major brands will sell conventional oils, available in several viscosities.
- Synthetic blend oils, on the other hand, are designed almost specifically for “high-performance” engines. They are made in a laboratory and are often more expensive but offer a longer lifespan and more lubrication for your engine due to maintained viscosity. They are made for slightly heavier engines that run at higher temperatures. Typically, they are therefore less volatile, meaning they evaporate less, which reduces oil loss and increases the car’s fuel consumption.
- Fully synthetic oils, however, contain absolutely no mineral oil. They have exceptional longevity and are often used in the industry. They tend to be the most expensive oil but also offer what might be the best option for older cars due to the type of additives they contain, which will prevent the oil from thinning and losing its viscosity, meaning there will be less wear and tear on the parts.
- High-mileage oils contain ingredients to take care of older engines, such as antioxidants and detergents. Seals, gaskets, and non-metallic parts begin to break down and loosen as the engine ages, and high-mileage oils are formulated with seal conditioners that increase flexibility and restore shape, which can help prevent leaks in the long term. If a car is beyond its warranty and has 60,000, 80,000, or even 150,000 miles, high-mileage oil could do a lot for it.
Before choosing an oil, it is of course essential that you take your car into account; different cars require different types of motor oil. A new car may work perfectly fine with mineral oil, but an older car with a high-performance engine could benefit from a synthetic oil. You want to get the best quality but avoid spending money on an oil that won’t improve your car’s performance.
TOP MOTOR OIL BRANDS
- Castrol. Castrol is perhaps one of the oldest motor oil brands, having been first founded in 1899 and entered the British market in 1909. Now owned by BP and based in the UK, it has great expertise and offers a wide range of oils, mainly focusing on fully synthetic or synthetic blend oil and have a lot of experience with high-performance automobiles: they have been involved in NASCAR and F1 for many years.
- Mobil. Mobil has been hailed as one of the early innovators of synthetic motor oil, and this legacy continues today with its Mobil 1 product line. Their fully synthetic motor oils claimed to keep engines in excellent condition over 250,000 miles, and they offer products for everything from performance sports cars to cars well beyond their prime.
- Liqui Moly. Liqui Moly GmbH is a German company specializing in oils, lubricants, and additives that offers over 4000 products for cars worldwide as well as for motorcycles, ships, and industrial machinery.
- Motul. Motul is a French company, now operating globally, that develops lubricants for the automotive industry and other industries. Motul are true innovators in the motor oil industry, producing the first semi-synthetic oil in 1966 and the first fully synthetic oil in 1971.
- Shell. Perhaps better known as an oil and gas supplier, the Dutch-British company Shell also produces and distributes lubricants, including motor oil, and delivers its market-leading lubricants to consumers in over 100 countries. In 2013, it was ranked the world’s top lubricant supplier.
- Elf. Formerly owned by the French government, Elf became a private company in 1994; today, after merging with Total, it is the fourth-largest oil company in the world and an expert in lubricants. Some of its latest products include fuel-saving lubricants and low SAPS lubricants for modern engines.
- Comma Oil. Focusing exclusively on vehicles, whether passenger or commercial, and now based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Comma Oil prides itself on its approaches to technical innovation and training that lead to quality products for all seasons and all types of engines.
- Valvoline Oil. Almost everyone has heard of the Model T car, one of the first affordable mass-produced automobiles. Fewer people, however, will have heard of Valvoline, even though it was the oil used in some of those early Model T cars, as the company has been around since 1866, originally designing lubricants for steam engines. It has a serious history behind it.
- Ravenol. Is a German lubricant producer that emphasizes synthetic lubricants created by industrial processes and prides itself on technical innovation.
- Fuchs Oil. Fuchs is a global company of German origin that has been developing, producing, and selling lubricants and related products for 85 years – for virtually all areas of application and sectors from automotive to industry and beyond. With 62 bases and over 5,600 employees worldwide, the FUCHS Group is one of the leading independent companies in the supply of lubricants.
BEST MOTOR OILS OF 2020
- Castrol Edge Professional, Longlife III. Castrol Edge is a synthetic oil suitable for diesel and gasoline engines and guarantees excellent performance and reliability even at sub-zero temperatures. It is also highly resistant to oxidation and lasts its entire lifespan.
- Mobil 1 ESP Formula 5W-30. Another synthetic oil, Mobil 1 ESP oil has an SAE viscosity of 5W-30 and is highly compatible with most vehicles. It is designed to provide excellent cleaning power and to prevent engine wear. It is also suitable for diesel and gasoline automobiles.
- Shell Helix HX7 5W-30. This Shell synthetic oil was designed to meet the demanding requirements of some high-performance engines, including Ford and those requiring API SJ, ILSAC GF-2, or ACEA A1/B1.
- Comma XTech 5W-30. This is a fully synthetic high-performance oil designed for Ford DuraTec, DuraTorq, or Zetec vehicles and offers users all the fuel economy benefits of an ACEA A5/B5 oil. In addition to being suitable for diesel and gasoline engines, it can also be used with fuel-injected, multi-valve, and turbocharged engines.
- Valvoline SynPower 5W-30. SynPower 5W-30 is a low-viscosity fully synthetic motor oil, formulated with a combination of premium synthetic base oils and advanced additive technology. Designed for modern gasoline engines, SynPower 5W-30 meets the ILSAC GF-5 fuel economy performance specification and the GM dexos1™ GEN 2 specification.
- Liqui Moly Top Tec 4200 5W-30. This is a high-tech, low-friction motor oil based on synthetic technology. It offers motorists exceptional protection against wear, reduces oil and fuel consumption, and ensures rapid oil penetration into the engine. According to manufacturer specifications, oil change intervals of up to 30,000 or 50,000 km or every 2 years for low-mileage drivers are thus possible.
- Motul X-Clean 5W-30. X-Clean is a 100% synthetic high-performance gasoline and diesel motor oil for powerful and recent cars equipped with large-displacement engines. This versatile product has many car manufacturer approvals and is particularly recommended for vehicles still under warranty. Compatible with catalytic converters.
- ELF Evolution Motor Oil, 900 SXR. Elf Evolution 900 SXR offers exceptional protection against wear as well as thermal stability and oxidation resistance. This stops the degradation of engine components, even under very severe conditions. It is suitable for all types of driving (city, highways, and motorways) and particularly in severe conditions.
- RAVENOL VMP 5W-30. Ravenol VMP is a universal fuel-saving motor oil, specially distilled for modern gasoline and diesel engines with and without turbochargers in passenger cars and vans with extended oil change intervals. Extends the life of the particulate filter.
- Fuchs Titan GT1 5W-30. This Fuchs oil was specially developed for VW gasoline and diesel engines with and without long-life service and is approved according to VW 504 00/507 00. Currently, it can be used with backward compatibility for older VW specifications as well as in hybrid models.