There are tons of claims, and articles about oil, it's contents etc. on Sean's page, the Mobile 1 page, the archives, but where is the science?<p>The only somewhat scientific study I can find is the Consumers Reports Article from 7/96.<p>I've also found some very specific recomendations from the archives to NOT CHANGE YOUR OIL before 7500 Miles, or more...<p>Does anyone have any real data, PLEASE NO IMHO, or "in my '97 xxx I use yyy and it's great!"<p>Let's find some science and put it in the FAQ and be done!

See: www.monmouth.com/~kcchu/oilcomp.html,<br>VW and BMW faq's, and any of the oil companies<br>(Mobil, Amsoil and redline come to mind).

http://www.syntheticlubes.com/compchrt.html<br>http://www.oilanalysis.com/cont_lub_fund.html<br>http://www.public.iastate.edu/~punk/oil/synth.html<br>http://www.virtual-cafe.com/~john/AMSOIL/oilinfo.html<br>http://www.redlineoil.com/whyoil.htm<p>Try these. The best comparative link got the boot from his provider. Each of these has either great explanations from petro engineers or actual test data. I included a link of a fairly well-done study that showed some interesting ambivalent results.

I know this is not scientific evidence, but every jet turbine engine has been run on synthetic oil.

The closest is From http://www.public.iastate.edu/~punk/oil/synth.html which is one John Deere 4276T engine. And their conclusions are similar to Consumers, "a quantitative difference between the two lubricants could not be shown".<p>Lots of "four bearing tests", and other bearing test, kinda like the Slick 50 infomercials, but no "real world" engine tests.<p>I wish there was, but I can't find anything with a large enough sample to be statisticly valid that says synthetic is better than good "normal" oil.<p>Unless I find more information, my conclusion is either use a good "normal" oil, and save some money, or spend the $$$s for a top of the line synthetic like Red Line or comparable.<p>IMHO the Mobile 1, and Castrol Sytechs fall somewhere in the grey area I weould rahter not go.<p>Perhaps someone else has other info...<p>-Dean