Tech Question regarding Synthetic Oils

[fimpBIKES]

This has bugged me for ages, thought someone might have an answer (other than the obvious one)

When I got the first road bike in 2000 i would always just put the regular motul oil in it, regular mineral oil which i think was about $25 for 4L
at the time semi-synthetic was about $40 i think and full synthetic was about $60
petrol was well under a dollar/L

following this there was the war of terror etc, fuel prices have jacked up
and i have watched a steady climb of all 3 grades of oil
they seem to maintain the same ratio of mineral = one third, semi = 2 thirds, synthetic = 3 thirds (if that makes sense)
as in full synthetic is always about the same ratio above mineral

but why?
i looked into how they make synthetic
http://www.synthetic-oil-technology.info/
i cant see why we arent all currently buying synthetic cos of how cheap it is (or should be...)



so is anyone more involved with this industry who can give me an answer?


ps- the obvious answer is that oil companies want all our money

[fimpBIKES]

sent to motul just then,

Good Morning/Afternoon,
I have been buying and using Motul oils in my motorcycles for many years.
I have a question regarding synthetic oil prices. I have noticed that synthetic oil has always been more expensive than mineral oil.
In the last 10yrs the price of crude oil has increased, so I can understand why the price of this has gone up.
But since synthetic oils contain no actual oil, why have their prices increased at the same rate?
I have an engineering background and have ridden and repaired motorcycles for many years so please make your response as technical as required.
Thank you
fimp

[fimpBIKES]

perhaps this falls into the "rubber roads, sandpaper tyres" category....

[Chase]

It's probably like sunglasses and watches where the the marketing relies on the higher price to convince people that it's better quality??

Be interesting to see what (if) they reply with and do you think the response will be to "Dear Fimp" or "Dear Mr Fimp"?

[El_Hefty]

Fimp this is where Synthetic oils aren't always synthetic oil.

There's group 3 basestock Synthetic and then there's group 4 synthetic

In theory group 3 synthetic isn't actually synthetic its whats called 'hydrocracked mineral oil' so just like a standard mineral oil but has been 'washed' or processed twice or further to get rid of more wax's and impurities than standard mineral but still carries some wax's and impurities.

Mobil in Mobil 1 used on PAO which is 100% man made and therfor a group 4 synthetic. Mobil in the past have taken the other manufacturers to court in various places in the world but have lost and therfor other manufacturers can label group 3 as synthetic. Mobil rather than beat them has started to join them by putting group 3 in their Mobil1 (shh dont tell anyone) It the same as their 'semi synthetic was mineral with 30% Mobil 1 but nowadays is just a blend of group 2 and group 3.

Motul on the other hand use Synthetic ester (classed as a group 4) in their oils but again their top of the line 'synthetic would be lucky to have 20% ester and the rest i believe is group 3 basestock.

Ill be surprised if you get anything other than a basic response from Motul

As for the others very few actually use a group 4 basestock for their Synthetics, that said group 3 basestock is a very good basestock and a heck of a lot of the performance comes down to the additive package they use. These are supplied by suppliers outside of the big guys and those prices have been rising excessively over the last 10 years but a lot of that has been due to performance demands rising dramatically also

[ALBI]

hmmmm ^^^^^ youve got time to answer fimp but havent opened ur box to tell me if you got all ur parts ok ????hmmmmm

[El_Hefty]

haha fuck you albi
and i still havnt

ill buy you a beer at afr so you can cry into the fucker