Z Max micro lubricant?

[garner67]

I'm sure most of you have seen the commercials with Carroll Shelby selling Z Max oil additive. Does anyone here use that stuff? Do any of those oil additives really reduce engine wear like they advertise.

I doubt I'd put any oil additives in my new engine, but just wondering what the collective wisdom of StangFix has to say.

Here's Carroll in an ad... he sure knows how to sell out, doesn't he. :headac

 

[Anonymous]

My only concern is that there's enough zinc added for solid lifters. Everything else is a way to separate money from owner.....IMHO.

 

[70_Fastback]

I used this for the new cam break-in. I'm also going to run it with each oil change. I guess it's just a little more piece-of-mind insurance to me.

 

[70_Fastback]

Forgot da link:

http://www.lucasoil.ca/products/product.asp?id=67&cat=HeavyDuty

 

[Starfury]

I hate Lucas oil. This is why. Apparently the synthetic stuff isn't as prone to foaming (hence why they have a disclaimer on the regular bottle now telling you to use the synthetic in Powerstrokes), but still, I don't like it.

In fact, I don't really like any fix-in-a-bottle or anti-wear-in-a-bottle, aside from zinc additive. Lots of them have things like parafin and teflon in them, neither of which should be in your crankcase. As far as Shelby putting his name on Z-Max, well, Shelby will endorse anything for the right amount of money. He's a businessman, in the purest sense of the word.

The only real anti-wear additive that I'm aware of that "really" works is molybdenum sulfide, and you have to buy special oil (ie. Lubro-Moly) to get it. It has to be properly suspended, otherwise it all sinks to the bottom of the oil pan. Expensive stuff, but it works really well. The molecules are very, very small plates that slide against eachother to reduce friction and wear on bearing surfaces, kind of like trying to run across a room with playing cards scattered all over the floor.

But for my money, if you run good synthetic oil and change your oil regularly, you shouldn't have any wear issues related to the oil.

Edit: I didn't realize that Lucas stuff in the pic was break-in additive (was hard to see past the glare on my monitor). I'm sure that stuff is probably fine, but I still won't touch the other stuff.

 

[garner67]

I hate Lucas oil. This is why. Apparently the synthetic stuff isn't as prone to foaming (hence why they have a disclaimer on the regular bottle now telling you to use the synthetic in Powerstrokes), but still, I don't like it.

In fact, I don't really like any fix-in-a-bottle or anti-wear-in-a-bottle, aside from zinc additive. Lots of them have things like parafin and teflon in them, neither of which should be in your crankcase. As far as Shelby putting his name on Z-Max, well, Shelby will endorse anything for the right amount of money. He's a businessman, in the purest sense of the word.

The only real anti-wear additive that I'm aware of that "really" works is molybdenum sulfide, and you have to buy special oil (ie. Lubro-Moly) to get it. It has to be properly suspended, otherwise it all sinks to the bottom of the oil pan. Expensive stuff, but it works really well. The molecules are very, very small plates that slide against eachother to reduce friction and wear on bearing surfaces, kind of like trying to run across a room with playing cards scattered all over the floor.

But for my money, if you run good synthetic oil and change your oil regularly, you shouldn't have any wear issues related to the oil.

Yeah, this is how I "feel" about oil additives, but I had not seen that simple test before, which has some level of real world testing.

If there were some amazing product that made an actual different all car manufacturers would be using it.

thanks for the link.

 

[Starfury]

If there were some amazing product that made an actual different all car manufacturers would be using it.

Exactly. If there was something cheap that mfg's could recommend or require to prevent warranty replacement on drivetrain parts, you'd be damn sure they'd do it.

Same goes for oil mfg's. If there was some magic ingredient that an oil company could use to make their oil better than everyone else's, you'd see it on the shelves. But you don't see oil with Lucas or Z-max included. Partially because the EPA/API doesn't allow a lot of the stuff in oil additives to be used in motor oil, but even so you'd see something without an API certification. As is, you see really good stuff like Torco and Redline without API certifications, but nothing with any magic additive.

One thing I am interested about is the new Castrol Edge oil. We carry it at Napa now and supposedly it doesn't break down with heat/time like other oils do. I'd like to see an independent torture test to see how it holds up.

 

[KBMWRS]

And now on sale is the Shelby endorsed bridge. :rofl

Keep your money Mike.
Best way to keep a engine in good stead is regular oil changes. The only additive would be the zinc in my opinion and even that is being argued now that it is only needed at extreme usage if your engine. And since you plan on racing I'd say only add the zinc.

 

[Starfury]

I sure wouldn't say zinc is only required with "extreme usage" of the engine. I've lost one cam and I've talked to several customers who've had the same problem before they knew anything about the lack of zinc in modern oil.