My Vette Life

How many of you are using royal purple motor oil and how do you like it overall, I know it cost a lot more $$$ but are you happy and notice a difference in your stock/modded motor?

TunaNoCrust

Royal Purple was the first "specialty" oil that gained mass popularity. Honestly, it's not that great (for the price). I was heavily involved with NASA, WEC, and IMSA racing - and no one runs RP.

If you're looking for something with proven track time, check out Redline or Amsoil. That's all we ran in our cup cars.

*EDIT* - Someone will inevitably say "But I ran Royal Purple (or whatever oil) for 10 years and never had an issue" in this thread. I guarantee it. In my street cars, I run the cheapest synthetic I can find. The Corvette's LS platform is a glorified truck engine that has very little stress, and 350-400ish horsepower doesn't require you to break the bank on specialty oils. Turbo and Supercharged applications, sure, run high end oil. Unless you're legitimately racing (and occasionally hitting 6K RPM doesn't count), just run a high end filter and whatever oil you want. If you're worried, send a sample out for an analysis at 5K miles.

Ceedub53

540 Rat "Tech Facts Not Myths" has Amsoil Signature Series 0W-20 and 5W-30 at the top of his rankings. Royal Purple: Rank #124. 5W30 Royal Purple API SN synthetic = 84,009 psi. I use Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5W-30 in my Vette, ranked #19 on the 540 Rat website.
https://540ratblog.wordpress.com

Spaggs

Thanks for the info. I read the blog and it makes sense. I'm switching from RP to Amsoil!
Spaggs
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blackbear bob

What does it say on your oil fill cap? Mine says use Mobil One. That is what I use. Why pay more. Can't see any benefit from over priced / over hyped oils.

TunaNoCrust

Because people think "Performance car needs performance oil". Nah son. I ran Rotella in my sport bike, and that thing basically stayed above 12k RPM for most of it's life.

For 99% of applications, oil is oil is oil. If it's got the API seal, it's good enough to do the job.

striper

I've used RP for a while and realized nothing seemed any different except my wallet was lighter. I'm currently using Mobil 1 high mileage, it is supposed to have better additives. My motor has 160,000 miles and doesn't leak a drop, so I guess it has high mileage and is running great.

Grandpa1

Absolutely true!!!

UM Rebel

2004 CE convertible
I used Royal Purple one time years ago. That's the only time I have ever had to add a quart of oil between changes - 14 years and 120k miles.

reath1

I tried RP one time. It slung 3 quarts, yes 3 quarts out in 3000 miles. Back to Mobil 1 and it uses it's usual 1/2 quart every 3000. No clue where the RP went...but it went.

JW Gears

I changed to Royal Purple 5W30 Dexos licensed oil this past year (2023-2024) in our 2014 Corvette Z-51. In the past I have used Mobil 1, and Valvoline synthetic without any issues and they performed flawlessly. Because I only put on 1500 to 2000 miles a year, I do 1 oil change a year. Our Corvette runs very strong and has had zero issues and I can assure you the 465 horsepower is very real and is certainly no truck engine as any Z-51 owner will concur. However, the Royal Purple 5W30 is incredible. I noticed a serious increase in power and about 2 mpg increase in mileage. I called the company, Calumet Oil, and talked with a regional manager wondering what made this oil do all that I described. They were very professional and explained to me why their oil worked so well. Their manager also pointed out that the first 2 oil changes would be cleaning my LT1 and the oil life monitor would reflect that cleaning. She also said I would experience a 1 to 3 percent increase in power. I can only estimate the power increase, but I can definitely feel a difference in acceleration and yes the oil life monitor was down to 25% oil life after 1550 miles and 4 months of winter storage. I also noticed Valvoline has just come out with a new synthetic line of oils that stresses cleaning the internal components of engines. I'm very impressed with Royal Purple, and will use it again this year.

lucky131969

While I have only walked this planet for 54 years, I have never heard in discussions, learned by reading, or witnessed in my professional career a single engine that experienced catastrophic engine failure related to the brand/manufacturer of oil used.

James Dean

FWIW I run Quaker State in my cars. My daily driver S2000 saw track days, autocross, and 60k miles a year while I was a traveling adjuster. I added a pre-lube pump (accusump) and a secondary oil filter. Kept doing oil analysis' and getting told I could go longer and longer to the point I could do 30k miles without a track day and below 1 quart added between oil changes in 6 months. Oil kept coming back great!

Castrol was another I used with good effect but Royal Purple and Mobile1 I would get 1 quart needed per 5k miles easily.
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ipuig

Not likely.

lucky131969

93Polo

If you want to get into the oil rabbit hole, Lake Speed Jr has his YT channel and has been interviewed by various other people. Google searches can get more interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/@themotoroilgeek/videos

On a stock LS, the 5w30 synthetics offered by all of the brand names will be fine. I wouldn't expected any major gains between them. I run Mobil 1 on my truck's LQ4, another brand seemed to be a bit noisier but, that may have been me. 10s of thousands miles after it was in for a standard interval, no problem. 239k miles and counting.

Aftermarket cam or track use, I'd spend a bit more on oil, Driven, Valvoline VR1 synthetic, Amsoil, and Redline seem to be preferred oils in the track event world.

While on the topic of oiling systems, I prefer Wix or NAPA (also Wix) oil filters. Again, reasonable intervals and name brands, you should be fine with a stock street car.

30rpm

Good info here
https://540ratblog.wordpress.com
like others said, any name brand synthetic is fine for street use in most motors