GBX

Someone told me that brad Penn was recently purchased by a larger company and they changed the formula. It's not what it used to be. Is that true?

RallyeChris

American Refinery Group started the Brad Penn brand, and I see no evidence of Brad Penn or ARG being sold/bought.

EDIT:

http://www.bradfordtoday.com/2014/10.../#.VeoKrZeYE8I

Looks like the brand is being sold, but ARG will continue to produce the product for new distribution company.

DobermanDad

I'm probably gonna check that out seeing my car is on full synth.

Flat6 Innovations

Charles Navarro and I found Brad Penn and brought it back to the aircooled world in 2002. I used it exclusively for years, and did a ton of development for ARG. They would have us man their booth at PRI and etc, and then all of a sudden, around 2009 it changed. They never even bothered telling us, and I found the differences through how the oil smelled, and the color, along with the power that it made. UOA confirmed that the visq changed, and the TBN slipped.

When that happened, I dropped it like a bad memory.

crg53

Small things I noticed after I went from BP to Joe Gibbs DT 50. The engine seems to be crisper/ more eager to rev, and the oil pressure is a little bit higher than it used to be, after everything is warmed up nicely, and the engine definitely runs cooler, so if my oil analysis this fall come back with good numbers, I am sold.

swftiii

Moving to Brad Penn at the next oils change.

Flat6 Innovations

Those are all the things you should see.. Along with better MPG by 1-2 if you keep track of it. DT50 is a truly Aircooled oil, and the composition of it makes for the coolest oil temps I have netted to date.

Your UOA will look better after the next service of DT50, as cross pollination from your previous oil will still be there on this first UOA.

In my 88 Carrera my oil temp dropped 20Fwith DT50 vs Brad Penn when running AC in the hot summer.

Duck

I tried DT50 once and I had higher temps than Brad Penn. Maybe it was another issue and will try the break in oil when I get my engine back.

crg53

When I changed from BP to DT 50, I went with Joe Gibbs Driven break in oil for about 200 miles, then changed to DT50, that way I cleaned most of the BP out before adding the DT 50.

Flat6 Innovations

Sounds like the DT50 didn't like the oil that you were previously running. I have seen this happen before with some oils that use different types of, or concentrations of polymers. DT50 is an ester enhanced oil, so you can have some conflicts from time to time.

When swapping oils to DT series, I always run a BR oil for 1-300 miles to flush the system, then I go to the new oil and results are better straight away.

Duck

Definitely could have been my issue as most say that temps are better. My engine is being rebuilt and I have replaced the oil cooler, so initial break in oil will not be mixed.

Flat6 Innovations

Good to hear.. Fresh engines usually have higher OT as well, till things get loosened up a bit. After a couple thousand miles it'll drop some.

FeralComprehension

Search my name- I have a couple oil analyses at ~15k mi with Rotella T6.

fasterlaster

Everyone's got an opinion on this . I can share the what and why which may help.

I run Mobile 1 15w-50

I run this for a few specific reasons which may or may not be valid:

• Higher Zinc and Phor counts than other Mobile 1 products https://mobiloil.com/~/media/amer/us...pecs-guide.pdf
• My 964 is a daily driver and goes on trips. M1 is available in many stores nationwide and easy to find.
• M1 15w-50 was recommended by the M1 engineers when I talked with them at a track day
• 15w-50 is a reasonable viscosity for my location here in TX.

Flat6 Innovations

I haven't been an M1 fan since the 90s. Once the formulations changed, and the focus went to keeping "engines cleaner", I was pretty much done. The only product today that I would consider from the M1 family is their V Twin oil, which still has the closest formulation to that of the old stuff.

The 15W50 is probably the best M1 offering for these engines for someone who does wish to use the M1 family.

The only good thing I have found through all our oil development, often using M1 as the control (enemy) is the fuel economy that it gives.

This debate will go on forever, because it takes decades to collect enough data to prove whats best, and why. Few people pay enough attention to the small things to make an educated analysis, anyway. Our Porsche engines are so well built, that most any oil will keep them alive for a long, long time.