Synthetic Oil vs. Regular Oil – What’s the Difference?

While electric vehicles are certainly getting a lot of attention in the automotive market today, the vast majority of cars and trucks still run on gas engines. And, if a vehicle has a gas engine, it is going to require oil to run properly mile after mile. Getting regular oil changes is one of the most important maintenance points for any vehicle owner to manage.

In this article, we are going to look at the differences between synthetic oil and regular engine oil. While you don’t need to be an expert on this topic as the average vehicle owner, it does help to understand the basics so you can make the right choices for your vehicle’s care. Let’s get started!

A Quick Explanation

The names of these two types of oils will largely tell you what you need to know about how they are different, but we’ll quickly highlight the key points here. Regular oil, often referred to as conventional oil, is pulled from the earth as crude oil and then refined to create a product that can be used in vehicle engines (along with many other applications).

As you might imagine, synthetic oil is an engineered product that is designed in labs and created specifically for the task of lubing engines. As a result, there are some performance advantages associated with synthetic oil that are not seen in conventional oil. Picking the right one for your situation involves thinking about a few factors, so we’ll take a closer look below.

Three Advantages of Synthetic Oil

Now that you understand how these two products differ, let’s look at some of the ways that synthetic oil may be able to help your vehicle. The three points below are considered to be advantages of using synthetic oil as compared to a traditional product.

• Improved engine protection. Simply put, synthetic oils are able to do a better job protecting your engine that conventional oils. This is because the finished product of a synthetic oil has been purpose-built for exactly that job. It’s been designed from the ground up to properly keep an engine running smoothly, so it’s no surprise that it is able to succeed in that endeavor.
• Extended oil change intervals. If you don’t like taking your vehicle in regularly for an oil change, you’ll love the extended intervals that synthetic oils are able to offer. Instead of an interval such as 3,000 or 4,000 miles for an oil change, you might be looking at something like 6,000 miles or even more. That means you get to keep your schedule clear of oil changes more often and can simply go about your day to day life. You’ll still want to make sure that you are keeping up with the changes when they are necessary, but they won’t come around as often.
• Temperature stable. Even when the temperature inside of an engine reaches a rather high level, synthetic oils will resist breaking down, where conventional oils would be more likely to degrade and lose some of their effectiveness. It’s those high temperatures that cause oils to wear out and need to be replaced, but since synthetic oils are so good at resisting those high temperatures, they are able to deliver quality performance for a longer period of time (as discussed above).

These are not the only benefits of using synthetic oils, but these three points are a great place to start the discussion. When you factor in other potential benefits, like performance gains, it becomes easy to see why so many people opt for synthetic oil in their engines.

The Cost Factor

So, we’ve established that there are plenty of ways in which synthetic oil can outperform regular or conventional oils. Does that mean you should always reach for synthetic? Not necessarily – as you will need to also consider the cost factor as part of this equation.

Synthetic oil is going to be more expensive to purchase than regular oil. If you were to buy a quart at the auto store, you’d pay quite a bit more – and if you are coming to an auto shop to have the oil changed, you might pay around twice as much for the service. In other words, the performance advantages of synthetic oil don’t come free. They still might be worth it in the end when you weigh out the pros and cons, but the additional cost will at least cause you to think twice.

It’s the extended oil change intervals that we mentioned above that have the greatest potential to see the math work out in your favor. In other words, if you pay twice as much for an oil change, but you only go in for an oil change once every six months instead of once every three months, the cost difference would wind up being a wash in the end. And, if you are getting better performance from the oil for the same price, it’s an easy choice to go with synthetic.

Check Your Manual

One other factor that needs to play into this equation is the instructions for oil changes that are provided by the manufacturer of your vehicle. If you aren’t sure what oil is called for in your car or truck, just check the owner’s manual and you should have no trouble finding that information. Of course, if you come to a trusted shop like Taylor & Sons, we’ll be able to tell you precisely what type of oil is called for by the manufacturer, along with any other recommendations we might have based on the current condition of your vehicle and your driving habits.

Let Our Team Help

You don’t have to be overwhelmed by vehicle maintenance issues. The team at Taylor & Sons Chevrolet is here to help and will be happy to guide you through the oil change process along with any other kind of work that might need to be completed. Reach out today with any questions or to make your first appointment. We would love to serve you!

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