Z- max?
Pro
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 568
Likes: 2
From: Dayton, Oregon
Oldtimer
I'm not familiar with that particular product, but I will say this. As a general rule ALL lube oil additives are a waste of money. Most won't do any harm but no good either. As a maintenance millwright I was constantly pestered by magic oil and additive salesmen and never found any to work. We once tried some expensive snake oil (15 gallons free, he was so confident) in a $75,000 gear box that naturally ran hot. A week of logging the temps revealed it was 10° hotter, glad we didn't buy the stuff at $30/gallon. Spent the rest of my career chasing them all off.
Ask yourself this: If the additive is so wonderful, why hasn't a multibillion$ company discovered it's wondrous properties? Think of the sales!
Ask yourself this: If the additive is so wonderful, why hasn't a multibillion$ company discovered it's wondrous properties? Think of the sales!
Racer
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 297
Likes: 0
From: Sevierville TN
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 7,604
Likes: 8
From: Belleville Il
Seems to me that if you take proper care of your car,,especially with the quality of the name brand full synthetic oils,,these wonder products are a waste of time and money!! A golf budy put almost 600,000 miles on his pick up with regular oil & filter changes,,,and that was with regular oil. It was still running fine when he traded it in on cash for clunkers!!IMO,,save your money!!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,284
Likes: 235
From: Rockledge FL
Zmax is a pretty cool drag strip in Charlotte NC, I wouldn't put it in my engine though. Used oil analysis on the both the mobil i put in my C5 and the amsoil i put in my C3 say that they do not need any additives.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 11,126
Likes: 673
From: SE Pennsylvania
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
Oldtimer
Z-max ?
I guess retirement income ain't cutting it for Ol' Carroll Shelby ? But there isn't anything advertised to be the great be all and end all for your engine. I change the synthetic oil & filter every year. If there was something so great any of the racing teams would be using it. The most of it is just snake oil.
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Use a quality oil and doubt there is any need for oil additives like Z-Max.
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
I'm not familiar with that particular product, but I will say this. As a general rule ALL lube oil additives are a waste of money. Most won't do any harm but no good either. As a maintenance millwright I was constantly pestered by magic oil and additive salesmen and never found any to work. We once tried some expensive snake oil (15 gallons free, he was so confident) in a $75,000 gear box that naturally ran hot. A week of logging the temps revealed it was 10° hotter, glad we didn't buy the stuff at $30/gallon. Spent the rest of my career chasing them all off.
Ask yourself this: If the additive is so wonderful, why hasn't a multibillion$ company discovered it's wondrous properties? Think of the sales!
Ask yourself this: If the additive is so wonderful, why hasn't a multibillion$ company discovered it's wondrous properties? Think of the sales!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,067
Likes: 46
From: Springfield IL.
Oldtimer
Don't know about z-max, but I do use Lucas oil stabilizer in my vette and in my race engines. I switched from regular oil to synthetic I noticed a differance in my race engines internals. Then again when I started using the lucas oil stabilizer I noticed a differance again. With the stabilizer I see a little less wear on the bearings, and every thing seems to be more slipery. I'll continue to use it in both engines. I know an arca team not far from me uses it too.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 73,568
Likes: 33
From: Somewhere in Mo
St. Jude Donor '09-'10, '14
Oil additives don't work but fuel additives do? Why? I doubt the average person knows if they do or not. I have known people that swore by things like Slick 50 and Lucas with mileage and longevity to back up their claims. I'm actually going to start using an additive myself.
Here's an interesting article I stumbled across if anyone is interested
http://blog.sfrcorp.com/2006/09/13/d...s-really-work/
There is also a link in the comments section that rate the different additives, but take it for what it's worth as the tests were conducted by an additive company and of course they came out on top, ZMax on the bottom and actually lucas did't do so well either
Here's an interesting article I stumbled across if anyone is interested
http://blog.sfrcorp.com/2006/09/13/d...s-really-work/
There is also a link in the comments section that rate the different additives, but take it for what it's worth as the tests were conducted by an additive company and of course they came out on top, ZMax on the bottom and actually lucas did't do so well either
Last edited by RetiredSFC 97; Apr 29, 2012 at 11:40 AM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,148
Likes: 22
From: Portland OR
Oil does NOT wear out, the additives get used up and the oil can get dirty.This is why it is so necessary to change the filters.I personally think additives are a waste of money.The most detrimental to oil breakdown is high temperatures.Once the oil gets to a certain temp.[varies depending on the oil]It will emulsify [foam up and separate its lubricating qualities]and then it's by-by engine.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 11,126
Likes: 673
From: SE Pennsylvania
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
Oldtimer
Oil Additives ?
Oil does NOT wear out, the additives get used up and the oil can get dirty.This is why it is so necessary to change the filters.I personally think additives are a waste of money.The most detrimental to oil breakdown is high temperatures.Once the oil gets to a certain temp.[varies depending on the oil]It will emulsify [foam up and separate its lubricating qualities]and then it's by-by engine.
This is the only reason all Corvettes since 1996 have come out of Bowling Green with oil that passes GM4718M specs. It for the intense heat. Oil has a brutal time when it's below freezing temps and when your engine surpasses very high temperatures. Luckily there is a lot of oils that are designed for GM4718M. One thing that struck me as odd, I was in a AutoZone lately and I read the back label on a "Royal Purple" bottle of 5W/30 and nowhere did it say it passed GM4718m. They listed a lot of other oil specs, but never inserted GM4718M ? I know it is perhaps the best oil on the market, and they changed how the bottle label is printed out and attached to a quart, but no mention of GM4718M ? 