July 14, 2012
Synthetic Oil with Lake Speed, Jr. & Audi R8
Lake Speed, Jr. discusses the applications for synthetic oil and other matters of engine lubrication. Speed is a certified lubrication specialist and oil monitoring analyst. He is also the general manager and head of technical support at Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Then we take in an eyeful of an Audi R8 V10, one of the coolest loaner cars we’ve ever gotten on the show.www.drivenracingoil.com
models.audiusa.com/r8
Audi R8 V10
httpv://youtu.be/Ra_nosFQI_c
Show Credits
Producer: Jeff Fox
Audio Engineer: Chris Laxamana
[nggallery id=221]
gated shift > flappy paddles
Audis are awesome when new, especially the R8. Interiors are the best in the industry, and they always test out at or near the top of any category they have an entry in. A good friend of mine is an M-B dealership sales manager and he said they now mainly worry about losing sales to Audi, vs. BMW in years past. All of that being said, I wouldn’t want to make a long term commitment to an Audi! To paraphrase what someone once said about a famous Italian make, once an Audi is out of warranty, it will sit in your garage and slowly bankrupt you.
Hmmm, Ive always understood that 2wd is quicker than 4wd unless your in the rain because of the added weight. An example would be the Porsche C2 vs C4.
Audi’s IMSA 90 GTOs blow that theory. Too many variables to make the statement that one is quicker than another.
I had a 63 fairlane with a nice little 289, some auto parts guy talked me into buying crankcase cleaner with my oil change purchase, into my drip pan poured a little more a gallon of oil, degreaser and water. The moral of this story dont be a dumb ass and listen to the douchnozzle behind the counter.
Great Pod, the discussion on synthetic oil was ground breaking. Ace you’ve be asking the right question forever about synthetic, now we have the answers. With all the marketing around synthetic oil, finally the down to earth details about zinc content, break-in, and practical usage of synthetic oil. Zinc to prime the engine surfaces and allowing the seals to acclimate the oil, how simple is that. There’s a billion opinions on the oil to use for your car, finally the facts.
I promise to spread the word, click through, buy the books, and listen to the other podcasts based on this Carcast episode. The podcasts with Alison and Lynnette, I’ll just have to imagine them in Bikini’s, though. As far as the Audi, super nice car, but seriously a rich dude car. I think a used one with would be enough for most, supercharging it is expensive and owning the car is enough of a penis extension.
What a bunch of unscientific crap and conjecture about oil.
Come-on…
The gaskets get confused!?…Pure horsepucky!
Modern oil don’t have enough zinc!?…Bullcrunch!
Synthetics are more slippery!? …My ass!
It’s simple: Synthetics have a higher temperature tolerence. Manufacturers use them instead of the addition of a more expensive oil cooler. In extreme duty applications, they include both synthetic and an oil cooler.
Temperature mainly comes from high revs. If I was racing and getting my oil up near 300 degrees, I’d use synthetic.
I tend to agree with you. The main benefits of synthetics – to my understanding – are operation at both high and low temperatures. At high temps there is no ‘cooking’ of the base, as would occur with conventional oil, where the paraffins literally precipitate out and bugger up the oil passageways, and at low temperatures true synthetics flow essentially the same they would at moderate temperatures. I live in northern Canada and run Mobil1 in all my vehicles. They have no problems turning over at minus 30 celcius after being outside overnight without having the block heater plugged in, but in the old days with conventional ‘winter weight’ oil the car would be DOA unless a block heater had been plugged in.
Modern oil has less zinc to keep the oxygen sensors from burning out prematurely. The older flat tappet cams need more zinc than the newer roller cams.
Episodes like this one are why I download every week.
Pingback: What oil to use ? - Page 2 - Saturn Sky Forums: Saturn Sky Forum
Great episode as usual. As far as oil goes… it should come down to how long are you keeping the car?
If you’re 100% sure it’s going back as a trade when the new model comes out, say about 40K miles, you can use no-name brand $1.99 a quart oil. It’s going to be the next guy’s problem, if there is a problem. If you’re not sure, and the car might be a “keeper” then I completely agree with synthetic for better protection at higher temps.
Slapping forced induction on a 4.2 R8 may give you better numbers than the V10, but where are you going to take it when the CEL comes on? As long as you live near the tuner that makes the kit, I guess you’re all set. But what if not? Back to Audi? They’re not going to know what to do with it.
Take it to the right tuner, and you should have a CEL.
I have a 450whp 350z and I also drive a ford F150…love em both!
Great Pod! very informative. How do I get in contact with Lake Speed, Jr.?
outrageousracing.com
Been hearing the synthetic vs. traditional mineral oil debate promos and felt the need to chime in. Les Cannaday’s shop had a Datsun/Nissan engine builder located down the street in San Marcos. Jack Tiejen was a machinist and engine builder for the Nissan race campaign somewhere around the years 1979-1983, (Electramotive years) then later started his independent shop, Scorpion Racing, which specialized in only Datsun/Nissan motors, many of which were 12,000 RPM redline motors. While Jack is no longer in business and I’m not even sure if he is still walking this earth, Les knows who he is because Jack supplied built motors to him for a certain period of time.
When Jack built my balanced and blueprinted NA L28, he stated the same thing as Les about using non-synthetics. Jack told me to run nothing but Kendall GT-1 because of its high zinc content and how the zinc added to synthetics would actually separate from the synthetic oil.
As I understand, a high zinc content in the oil is important when you run unleaded gas in these old motors, especially for the OHC valve-train. Even with the upgraded valve seats, lead and zinc help lubricate the valve-train as well as providing a better seal when the valves are closed.
The debate may go on but a couple of facts to consider is that these motors were designed in a time when there was leaded gas and Kendall GT was the primary motor oil used in Nissan’s race cars.
I’m not a lubrication specialist, just an enthusiast, but I remember the stories from a guy who built thousands of Datsun/Nissan race motors and got to see firsthand the effects of the wrong oil choices. That’s good enough for me, I only run the Kendall green stuff, change it every 2000 miles and try to mix at least a 1 to 8 gallon ratio of 115 leaded octane with CA’s premium unleaded 91 octane. The high octane, additional lead and mineral oil zinc is supposed to help keep my 10.5 to 1 compression L28 motor alive and running better than running synthetic oil and pure unleaded gas. It’s an old school car with no O2 sensors or cats to foul much like the cars Adam is racing in the Historics.
Maybe it’s worth mentioning that I run synthetic oil in all my newer cars?
The one people to get benefited from GMO food are the businesses that produce these. Go ahead and request farmers throughout India just how planting GMO vegetation has worked for the kids. Oh, an individual haven’t heard about the actual failure price of those plant life? You know nothing in regards to the sky rocketing charge of suicides of these farmers? Organizations invest in GMO developement never to benefit humanity but their main point here. GMO foods might be pattented. Now do you have it? Control the food, a person control people.
My understanding of the difference between mineral & synthetic with the same additive package is that the synthetic has greater shear resistance and that they have less friction due in part to the molecules are all the same size whereas the mineral oil molecules sizes vary.
Pingback: Preventing Ethanol Damage in Carbs - FerrariChat.com