oilman

Opie Oils and Castrol are offering 1 pair of VIP tickets to the GB/Wales Rally 2007. Just buy a minimum of 4litres of Castrol Edge or Edge Sport by midnight 31st July from http://www.opieoils.co.uk and you will be entered into this very special draw for 2 VIP tickets. The GB/Wales Rally takes place between the 30th November and 2nd December 2007 and this special VIP Rally experience will include: 2 Tickets Parking passes Access to the VIP Service area for lunch The chance to see a pit stop and meet the drivers So, don't delay visit http://www.opieoils.co.uk and place your order. Deadline Midnight 31/07/07. The draw will be made on the 10th August and the lucky winners will contacted by phone then announced here. Good luck Opie Oils & Castrol Edge http://www.castrol.megalos.net/en/

Most oils these days are for both despite what they say on the tin. The way to check is to look for the ACEA spec on the back of the tin, ACEA A# is for petrol and ACEA B# is for diesel and most will show both these specs. There are some specials out there, and these are for VAG and BMW diesels with particulate filters etc, bit again can be used in a petrol if need be. The only real use for disel specific oils these days is for commercial use, trucks, generators etc and they tend to have stonger detergents etc in them. Cheers Guy.

Why not, we have 10% off the stuff at the moment too! Cheers Guy.

All oil companies make bold claims although some more than others. Through chemical basestock testing we have found the Silkolene Pro S, Motul 300V and Redline to be the best under lab tests for quality and addatives. All of these may be overkill for stock road cars but would not harm, quality never does! Castrol RS 10w-60 has been replaced with Castrol Edge Sport 10w-60 (NOT Edge 10w-60) on our website, this is the same oil. Regards Simon

a 10w-50 will stay in grade far longer than a 5w-50 as the gap is less. On track when the car is properly warmed a 10w or 15w is fine, the key is the step to sae 50 which can withstand higher temps than an sae 40. The "w" number is cold crank and not relevent to the upper engine temps Cheers Simon

Stock road car a 5w-40 Modded and/or track car a 10w-50 Cheers Simon

They are in fact polymers that are heat sensitive and uncurl with heat. These are contained in all multigrade oils of any quality. Synthetics actually contain less of these than mineral oils. These polymers are called VI Improvers What is VI Improver? As a lubricant basestock is subjected to increasing temperatures it tends to lose its viscosity. In other words, it thins out. This leads to decreased engine protection and a higher likelihood of metal to metal contact. Therefore, if this viscosity loss can be minimized, the probability of unnecessary engine wear will be reduced. VI improvers are polymers that expand and contract with changes in temperature. At low temperatures they are very compact and affect the viscosity of a lubricant very little. But, at high temperatures these polymers "expand" into much larger long-chain polymers which significantly increase the viscosity of their host lubricant. So, as the basestock loses viscosity with increases in temperature, VI improvers “fight back” against the viscosity drop by increasing their size. The higher the molecular weight of the polymers used, the better the power of "thickening" within the lubricant. Unfortunately, an increase in molecular weight also leads to an inherent instability of the polymers themselves. They become much more prone to shearing within an engine. As these polymers are sheared back to lower molecular weight molecules, their effectiveness as a VI improver decreases. Unfortunately, because petroleum basestocks are so prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures, high molecular weight polymers must be used. Since these polymers are more prone to shearing than lower molecular weight polymers, petroleum oils tend to shear back very quickly. In other words, they lose their ability to maintain their viscosity at high temperatures. Synthetic basestocks, on the other hand, are much less prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures. Therefore, lower molecular weight polymers may be used as VI improvers. These polymers are less prone to shearing, so they are effective for a much longer period of time than the VI improvers used in petroleum oils. In other words, synthetic oils do not quickly lose their ability to maintain viscosity at high temperatures as petroleum oils do. Cheers Simon

Opie Oils Ten Percent off Week! From 4pm on the 15th of June to Midday on the 22nd of June EVERY PRODUCT on our site has 10% OFF!! Grab yourself a bargain today while this offer lasts! http://www.opieoils.co.uk Members section here http://www.opieoils.co.uk/Members.aspx Cheers Guy

You're welcome 8)

I read on many forums about 0w and 5w oils being too thin. 0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40 and 15w-40 are all the same thickness (14 centistokes) at 100degC. Centistokes (cst) is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow (viscosity). It is calculated in terms of the time required for a standard quantity of fluid at a certain temperature to flow through a standard orifice. The higher the value, the more viscous the fluid. As viscosity varies with temperature, the value is meaningless unless accompanied by the temperature at which it is measured. In the case of oils, viscosity is generally reported in centistokes (cst) and usually measured at 40degC and 100degC. So, all oils that end in 40 (sae 40) are around 14cst thickness at 100degC. This applies to all oils that end in the same number, all oils that end in 50 (sae 50) are around 18.5cst at 100degC and all oils that end in 60 (sae 60) are around 24cst at 100degC. With me so far? Great! Now, ALL oils are thicker when cold. Confused? It's true and here is a table to illustrate this. SAE 40 (straight 40) Temp degC.........................Viscosity (thickness) 0..........................................2579cst 20..........................................473cst 40..........................................135cst 60..........................................52.2cs t 100........................................ 14cst 120.........................................8.8cst As you will see, there is plenty of viscosity at 0degC, in fact many times more than at 100degC and this is the problem especially in cold weather, can the oil flow quick enough to protect vital engine parts at start up. Not really! So, given that an sae 40 is 14cst at 100degC which is adequate viscosity to protect the engine, and much thicker when cold, how can a 0w oil be too thin? Well, it can't is the truth. The clever part (thanks to synthetics) is that thin base oils can be used so that start up viscosity (on say a 5w-40 at 0degC) is reduced to around 800cst and this obviously gives much better flow than a monograde sae 40 (2579cst as quoted above). So, how does this happen, well as explained at the beginning, it's all about temperature, yes a thin base oil is still thicker when cold than at 100degC but the clever stuff (due to synthetics again) is that the chemists are able to build these oils out of molecules that do not thin to less than 14cst at 100degC! What are the parameters for our recommendations? Well, we always talk about good cold start protection, by this we mean flow so a 5w will flow better than a 10w and so on. This is why we recommend 5w or 10w as the thickest you want to use except in exceptional circumstances. Flow is critical to protect the engine from wear! We also talk about oil temps, mods and what the car is used for. This is related to the second number xw-(XX) as there may be issues with oil temperatures causing the oil to be too thin and therefore the possibility of metal to metal contact. This is difficult to explain but, if for example your oil temp does not exceed 120degC at any time then a good "shear stable" sae 40 is perfectly capable of giving protection. "Shear stability" is important here because if the oil shears it thins and that's not good! However, if you are seeing temperatures in excess of 120degC due to mods and track use etc then there is a strong argument to using an sae 50 as it will have more viscosity at these excessive temperatures. There are trade offs here. Thicker oils cause more friction and therefore more heat and they waste power and affect fuel consumption so it's always best to use the thinnest oil (i.e. second number) that you can get away with and still maintain oil pressure. I hope this helps explain a bit. Cheers Guy.

Hello all, For the Month of June we have a Special and Different offer. During the month of June every purchase made through Opie Oils, either via telephone or website your invoice number will go into a prize draw. This will be drawn on the fifth working day (Friday 6th) of July. The prizes for the winners are as follows. First prize £100 worth of any product from our site. Three runner’s up prizes of £50 worth of any product from our site. The lucky winners will be contacted via pm, phone or e-mail. If you are the lucky winner you can choose, mix and match whatever you would like from our site here http://www.opieoils.co.uk to the listed value of £100 or £50 depending on prize. Good luck everyone and if you have any questions, please ask. Regards Guy & Simon.

****OFFER EXTENDED**** Just to let you all know this offer has been extended till 6pm on Tuesday the 29th of May. So, dont delay get your order in today. Regards Guy & Simon.

Opie Oils 10% off Week. Thats correct, from the 18th of May to the 25th of May EVERY PRODUCT on our site in the members section, has 10% OFF!! **** This offer is only available by ordering online! **** Grab yourself a bargain today while this offer lasts! http://www.opieoils.co.uk Members section here http://www.opieoils.co.uk/Members.aspx Cheers Simon & Guy

Good question. There is lot of debate as to the effectiveness of longlife oils. There is no doubt the base stock can go the distance but it is the consumables within the oil, additive packs etc that get used up, I often wonder if they can go the distance. Cheers Guy.

This post may seem like going back to basics but we are constantly surprised by the amount of people who do not know or understand what is written on a bottle of oil and therefore have no idea of what they are looking for, buying or using. This post should help as a basic guide, for more detailed information contact us and we will be happy to help. So, to be blunt about the subject, if a bottle of oil does not contain the following basic information then DO NOT buy it look for something that does! 1) The purpose for which it is intended (i.e. Motor oil, Gear oil etc) 2) The viscosity (i.e. 10w-40, 5w-30 etc for Motor oils and 80w-90, 75w-90 etc for Gear oils) 3) The specifications that it meets (should contain both API and ACEA ratings) 4) The OEM Approvals that it carries and the codes (i.e. MB229.3, VW504.00, FORD 913a/b, BMW LL04 etc) Ignore the marketing blurb on the label it is in many cases meaningless and we will explain later what statements you should treat with skepticism. So, what does the above information mean and why is it important? THE BASICS All oils are intended for an application and in general are not interchangeable. You would not for example put an Automatic Transmission Oil or a Gear Oil in your engine! It is important to know what the oils intended purpose is. VISCOSITY Most oils on the shelves today are “Multigrades”, which simply means that the oil falls into 2 viscosity grades (i.e. 10w-40 etc) Multigrades were first developed some 50 years ago to avoid the old routine of using a thin oil in winter and a thicker oil in the summer. In a 10w-40 for example the 10w bit (W = winter, not weight or watt or anything else for that matter) simply means that the oil must have a certain maximum viscosity/flow at low temperature. The lower the “W” number the better the oils cold temperature/cold start performance. I.E. 5w is better than 10w etc The 40 in a 10w-40 simply means that the oil must fall within certain viscosity limits at 100 degC. This is a fixed limit and all oils that end in 40 must achieve these limits. Once again the lower the number the thinner the oil, a 30 oil is thinner than a 40 oil at 100 degC etc. Your handbook will specify whether a 30, 40 or 50 etc is required. SPECIFICATIONS Specifications are important as these indicate the performance of an oil and whether it has met or passed the latest tests or whether the formulation is effectively obsolete or out of date. There are two specifications that you should look for on any oil bottle and these are API (American Petroleum Institute) and ACEA (Association des Constructeurs Europeens d’Automobiles) all good oils should contain both of these and an understanding of what they mean is important. API This is the more basic of the two specs as it is split (for passenger cars) into two catagories. S = Petrol and C = Diesel, most oils carry both petrol (S) and diesel © specifications. The following table shows how up to date the specifications the oil are: PETROL SG - Introduced 1989 has much more active dispersant to combat black sludge. SH - Introduced 1993 has same engine tests as SG, but includes phosphorus limit 0.12%, together with control of foam, volatility and shear stability. SJ - Introduced 1996 has the same engine tests as SG/SH, but phosphorus limit 0.10% together with variation on volatility limits SL - Introduced 2001, all new engine tests reflective of modern engine designs meeting current emissions standards SM - Introduced November 2004, improved oxidation resistance, deposit protection and wear protection, also better low temperature performance over the life of the oil compared to previous categories. Note: All specifications prior to SL are now obsolete and although suitable for some older vehicles are more than 10 years old and do not provide the same level of performance or protection as the more up to date SL and SM specifications. DIESEL CD - Introduced 1955, international standard for turbo diesel engine oils for many years, uses single cylinder test engine only CE - Introduced 1984, improved control of oil consumption, oil thickening, piston deposits and wear, uses additional multi cylinder test engines CF4 - Introduced 1990, further improvements in control of oil consumption and piston deposits, uses low emission test engine CF - Introduced 1994, modernised version of CD, reverts to single cylinder low emission test engine. Intended for certain indirect injection engines CF2 - Introduced 1994, defines effective control of cylinder deposits and ring face scuffing, intended for 2 stroke diesel engines CG4 - Introduced 1994, development of CF4 giving improved control of piston deposits, wear, oxidation stability and soot entrainment. Uses low sulphur diesel fuel in engine tests CH4 - Introduced 1998, development of CG4, giving further improvements in control of soot related wear and piston deposits, uses more comprehensive engine test program to include low and high sulphur fuels CI4 Introduced 2002, developed to meet 2004 emission standards, may be used where EGR ( exhaust gas recirculation ) systems are fitted and with fuel containing up to 0.5 % sulphur. May be used where API CD, CE, CF4, CG4 and CH4 oils are specified. Note: All specifications prior to CH4 are now obsolete and although suitable for some older vehicles are more than 10 years old and do not provide the same level of performance or protection as the more up to date CH4 & CI4 specifications. If you want a better more up to date oil specification then look for SL, SM, CH4, CI4 ACEA This is the European equivalent of API (US) and is more specific in what the performance of the oil actually is. A = Petrol, B = Diesel and C = Catalyst compatible or low SAPS (Sulphated Ash, Phosphorus and Sulphur). Unlike API the ACEA specs are split into performance/application catagories as follows: A1 Fuel economy petrol A2 Standard performance level (now obsolete) A3 High performance and/or extended drain A4 Reserved for future use in certain direct injection engines A5 Combines A1 fuel economy with A3 performance B1 Fuel economy diesel B2 Standard performance level (now obsolete) B3 High performance and/or extended drain B4 For direct injection car diesel engines B5 Combines B1 fuel economy with B3/B4 performance C1-04 Petrol and Light duty Diesel engines, based on A5/B5-04 low SAPS, two way catalyst compatible. C2-04 Petrol and light duty Diesel engines, based on A5/B5-04 mid SAPS, two way catalyst compatible. C3-04 Petrol and light duty Diesel engines, based on A5/B5-04 mid SAPS, two way catalyst compatible, Higher performance levels due to higher HTHS. Note: SAPS = Sulphated Ash, Phosphorous and Sulphur. Put simply, A3/B3, A5/B5 and C3 oils are the better quality, stay in grade performance oils. APPROVALS Many oils mention various Car Manufacturers on the bottle, the most common in the UK being VW, MB, BMW, Ford or Vauxhall but do not be misled into thinking that you are buying top quality oil because of this. Oil Companies send their oils to OEM’s for approval however some older specs are easily achieved and can be done so with the cheapest of mineral oils. Newer specifications are always more up to date and better quality/performance than the older ones. Some of the older OEM specifications are listed here and depending on the performance level of your car are best ignored if you are looking for a quality high performance oil: VW – 500.00, 501.00 and 505.00 Later specs like 503, 504, 506 and 507 are better performing more up to date oils MB – 229.1 Later specs like 229.3 and 229.5 are better performing more up to date oils. BMW – LL98 Later specs like LL01 and LL04 are better performing more up to date oils. FINALLY Above is the most accurate guidance we can give without going into too much depth however there is one final piece of advice regarding labelling. Certain statements are made on labels that are meaningless and just marketing hype, here are a few to avoid! Recommended for use where…………… May be used where the following specifications apply…………… Approved by………………………..(but with no qualification or specification) Recommended/Approved by (some famous person, these endorsements are paid for) Racing/Track formula (but with no supporting evidence) Also be wary of statements like “synthetic blend” if you are looking for a fully synthetic oil as this will merely be a semi-synthetic. Like everything in life, you get what you pay for. The cheaper the oil the cheaper the ingredients, lower the performance levels and older the specs it meets so beware! If you would like further advice then please feel free to ask here or contact us via our website or email. Simon & Guy Opie Oils

From the 3rd of May till the 7th of May we are making this very special bank holiday offer so place your order online or by calling us today! Buy 5 litres of Silkolene Pro S 5w-40, Pro S 10w-50 or Pro R 15w-50 and get a 1ltr top up bottle FREE, thats 20% FREE! From the 3rd of May till midnight Monday 7th of May. Order 5ltr get 1ltr FREE Order 10ltr and get 2ltr FREE Order 20ltr and get 4ltr FREE This offer is limited to Silkolene Pro S and Pro R. Dont delay, order online today. http://www.opieoils.co.uk Cheers Simon & Guy.

REMINDER This offer will finish on Thursday 26th April at 6 pm Watch out for our announcement regarding collecting oil at shows, coming soon. Cheers Guy

Between 7-10% on all products, on to of members dicscount. Cheers Guy.

Spring Special offers at http://www.opieoils.co.uk Spring Special Offers will run from Thursday 19th April until Thursday 26th April 2007. These offers are ONLY in the "Members Section" of our website and are only applicable if you buy online or by calling us on 01209 215164 during the offer period stated above. To go to the Members Section click here: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/Members.aspx If you already have a Members Access Code then please put it in the box provided, if you do not have a Members Access Code then you will need to request one here: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/Members_request.aspx Be quick as this offer is for 1 week ONLY! Cheers Andrew & Guy Opie Oils _________________

Depends how good you want to go and how much you wish to spend. The basic option is for a 10w-40 semi and with regular changes will be fine. The next step up is a synthetic 5w-40 would be ideal. The best are the likes of the Silkolene Pro S and the Motul 300v. Cheers Guy.

Hi all, For the next two weeks from Monday the 5th of March till Monday 19th of March we will be running the following offer on these vag approved engine oils. VW504/507: Castrol Edge 5w-30 1 x 4ltr £35.99 2 x 4ltr £65.99 4 x 4ltr £128.99 Fuchs Titan GT1 5w-30 1 x 4ltr £30.99 2 x 4ltr £55.99 4 x 4ltr £107.99 Motul VW 5w-30 1 x 5ltr £37.99 2 x 5ltr £68.99 4 x 5ltr £134.99 VW503.01: Castrol Edge 0w-30 1 x 4ltr £35.99 2 x 4ltr £65.99 4 x 4ltr £128.99 Fuchs titan Supersyn 0w-30 1 x 4ltr £26.99 2 x 4ltr £46.99 4 x 4ltr £90.99 Mobil 1 0w-40 1 x 4ltr £36.99 2 x 4ltr £66.99 4 x 4ltr £130.99 Motul 8100 0w-30 1 x 5ltr £32.99 2 x 5ltr £59.99 4 x 4ltr £115.99 VW503.00: Fuchs Titan Supersyn LL 0w-30 1 x 4ltr £33.99 2 x 4ltr £61.99 4 x 4ltr £119.99 VW506.00/506.01: Fuchs Titan Supersyn LL 0w-30 1 x 4ltr £33.99 2 x 4ltr £61.99 4 x 4ltr £119.99 VW505.01: Fuchs Titan Supersyn PD 5w-40 1 x 4ltr £26.99 2 x 4ltr £46.99 4 x 4ltr £90.99 Motul VW505.01 1 x 5ltr £29.99 2 x 5ltr £52.99 4 x 5ltr £102.99 Performance Synthetics: Silkolene Pro S 5w-40 and 10w-50/Pro R 15w-50 1 x 5ltr £39.99 2 x 5ltr £72.99 4 x 5ltr £141.99 General Semi Synthetics: Fuchs XTR 10w-40 1 x 5ltr £19.99 2 x 5ltr £33.99 4 x 5ltr £63.99 Motul 6100 10w-40 1 x 5ltr £23.99 2 x 5ltr £40.99 4 x 5ltr £77.99 Gear Oils: Silkolene Syn5 75w-90 (synthetic) @ £7.99 per ltr. Castrol Syntrax 75w-90 (semi synthetic) @ £6.99 per ltr. Fuchs ATF3000 Dexron II 1 x 5ltr £19.99 Fuchs ATF4000 Dexron III 1 x 5ltr £24.99 Brake Fluid: Motul dot 5.1 @ £4.99 per 0.5ltr Motul RBF600 Super Dot4 @ £7.99 per 0.5ltr Castrol Responce Super Dot4 These prices on forum only and NOT available through our website so you will need to call me on 01209 215164 to place an order. All orders over £30 have free delivery, if you order come to below £30 there will be £5 additional carriage and this is to UK mainland only. All details and spec on these oils can be found here http://www.opieoils.co.uk Cheers Simon & Guy.

THIS WEEKEND IS MOTUL AND MOBIL DISCOUNT WEEKEND! Until 6pm Monday 5th March you will find some great discounts on our ranges of MOTUL and MOBIL Oils. Our LOWEST ever prices on quality products like MOTUL 300V, MOBIL1 and MOTUL 8100 street oils. http://www.opieoils.co.uk You'll also find some great bargains in our ebay shop: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/OPIE-OILS Regards Simon & Guy

Hi all, For the next two weeks from the 15th of Feb to the 28th of Feb we will be running the following offer. Engine Oils Cost oil Fuchs XTR 10w-40 (semi synthetic) 1 x 5ltr £19.99 2 x 5ltr £33.99 Medium cost synthetic Motul 8100 5w-40 1 x 5ltr £25.99 2 x 5ltr £45.99 Fuchs Supersyn 5w-40 1 x 4ltr £23.99 2 x 4ltr £42.99 Ester Synthetic (race oil) Silkolene Pro S 5w-40/10w-50 and Pro R 15w-50 1 x 5ltr £39.99 2 x 5ltr £72.99 Motul 300v 5w-40 3 x 2ltr £52.99 5 x 2ltr £82.99 Motul 300v 15w-50 1 x 4ltr £35.99 2 x 4ltr £62.99 Gear Oils Fuchs Gearsyn (semi synthetic) @ £5.50 Per ltr. Castrol Syntrax (semi synthetic) @ £6.99 per ltr. Motul Gear 300 75w-90 (ester synthetic) @ £8.99 per ltr. Silkolene Syn5 75w-90 (ester synthetic) @ £8.99 per ltr. Silkolene BOA90 ls (mineral lsd diff oil) @ £5.99 per ltr. Brake Fluid Silkolene Pro Race 2000 @ £9.99 per 0.5ltr Motul RBF 600 Dot4 @ £8.99 per 0.5ltr Motul Dot5.1 @ £5.99 per 0.5ltr Remember, carriage is free for any order over £30 to mainland uk, if your order does not come to £30 add £5 carriage to the order. This offer is not available on our website so you will need to call me on 01209 215164 to place an order. All technical data on these oils can be found here http://www.opieoils.co.uk Cheers Guy. Opieoils.

Our last offers of 2006 are now on until Friday 22nd December. You'll find details here http://www.opieoils.co.uk We also have the following specials (call to order only) 01209 215164 APEXI SAFC2 Fuel Controllers (for JAP cars only) £199.99 (£100 off rrp!) MOMO Millenium EVO Steering Wheels 350mm (excl boss) £135.99 (£50 off rrp!) May we take this opportunity to wish you all a merry xmas and thank you for your business in 2006. Regards Guy

We are asked all the time about the use of magic addatives / miracle cures. This one is certainly no exception in its claims. Having read about it, I asked Silkolene was this a miracle addative and were the claims possible or more importantly technically possible? If you're interested in this sort of stuff, please read on as it's an eye-opener! Quote: John Rowland (Silkolene's Chemist) The mode of action of the ‘NanoLub’ particles is based upon a fallacy, i.e., that very small spheres can reduce friction and carry high loads by rolling between two moving surfaces, by analogy with ball bearings. (Their ‘Technical Note’ states: ‘NanoLub………….is extremely strong and rolls along surfaces to provide excellent lubrication. In fact, this simply does not happen due to effects that are not important at ‘macro’ scale, but significant at ‘micro’, and very important at ‘nano’ scales. If an average size ball made of hard material rests on (for example) a toughened steel surface, it will make a small indentation. (Nothing is perfectly rigid, not even diamond.) If a force is applied to the ball, the depth of the indentation will increase, but so will its area; with a large ball, the area will be large relative to the depth. Provided that the elastic limit of the steel (Young’s Modulus) is not exceeded, the indentation will be restored to its original size when the force is removed. Thanks to this effect, precision ball and roller bearings have been successfully used for about 120 years. However, if a I micron (1000 nano-metres) diameter sphere is pressed into contact with a steel surface, the maximum possible area of the indentation will of course be equal to the maximum cross-sectional area of a 1 micron sphere, which is 7.9 x 10 to -13 square metres! In other words, a very light pressure will easily exceed the elastic limit of the steel and embed the sphere in its surface. Even 1mm hard steel balls, only used in very lightly-loaded ball bearings, have a cross-sectional area 1 million times greater. (The NanoLub particles are said to be 80 – 220 nanometres, or 0.08 to 0.22 microns in diameter.) The embedding of hard particles into bearing surfaces is well known to bearing manufacturers, and its effects have been well understood for many years: by initiating micro-cracks and grain boundary dislocations, the fatigue life of rolling-element bearing surfaces is severely curtailed. All manufacturers insist that long bearing life depends upon clean oil or grease. There have been numerous studies published showing that particulates reduce bearing life, so NanoLub must not be used in any application where this type of bearing is used. (Similar effects occur between gear teeth.) High-speed plain bearings as used in all present-day automotive engines depend upon ‘hydrodynamic’ lubrication, which depends upon thick (100 micron or more) fluid films generated by motion and viscosity. (This was researched by the Victorian engineer Beauchamp Tower in the late 19th Century). So particles smaller than 1 micron will have little opportunity to act as a lubricant in a much thicker oil film. Even so, embedding can occur at start-up/shutdown where ‘boundary’ thin film lubrication is dominant, leading to bearing damage. As with rolling bearings, hard particles in the oil are not a good idea, hence the use of oil and air filters on all engines made since about 1950. The makers of NanoLub correctly point out that: ‘Common solid lubricants are layered compounds like graphite, molybdenum disulphide and tungsten disulphide. The layers slide past each other to reduce friction.’ Unfortunately, they seem to have failed to understand that layered solid lubricants act as lubricants only because they are layered. One sheet of graphitic carbon atoms for example is not a lubricant; two are! If a layered solid lubricant is treated in such a way so that its layers cannot move relative to each other, it cannot act as a lubricant, so the ‘nested sphere’ structure of NanoLub actually prevents it from acting as a lubricant. In practice, I strongly suspect that the ‘nano-spheres’ actually disintegrate under high pressure, so the WS2 can act as a layered solid lubricant. (All rather ironic that NanoMaterials Inc. have gone to great lengths to stop WS2 working, and the only occasion when it has some effect is when the nano-particles break down!) Although they draw comparisons with the C60 buckminsterfullerene spherical ‘nano-particle’, this is a much smaller (0.7nano-metre) sphere which is a true molecule and consequently very resistant to fracture. The ‘NanoLub Technical Note’ includes some wear test data, without stating the type of apparatus used. It is well known that some primitive wear testers such as the ‘Falex’ and ‘4-Ball’ generate unrealistically high pressures which do not replicate ’real-world’ conditions. (In the 1980s Shell published a table of wear test results ‘proving’ that milk and beer were superior lubricants to SAE 90 gear oil according to some types of wear test. I can send a copy I you wish.) The NanoLub tests are not very rigourous, using unspecified ‘Gear Oil 85W/140’ with and without the additive. A correct and believable procedure would involve using a mineral base oil with various levels of NanoLub, dispersed ‘conventional’ WS2, and a sulphur/phosphorus EP compound such as Anglemol 99. I confidently predict that properly controlled wear and friction tests using reputable apparatus such as the FZG Gear procedure would show NanoLub to be no more effective than conventional particle-free additives which act chemically or electrostatically, thus having no adverse effect on bearing life. As a general comment, I find it difficult to believe that the founders of ‘ NanoMaterials Inc’ could be so ignorant of the vast amount of research and practical experience that has gone into lubrication problems over the past 200 years. Tomas Young, who researched the elasticity of materials around 1810, would have clearly understood the fallacy of very small ball bearings, for example. Any first-year Engineering student could have pointed out the pitfalls. In common with many ‘magic additive’ advocates, there is also the curious belief that dry-lubricated bearings can operate at low friction. In fact, any reputable engineer avoids oil or grease-free bearings like the plague, because regardless of the coating used the friction is always ten times worse than an oil-lubricated situation, and over 100 times worse than a pressure-fed hydrodynamic bearing! Even so, they’ve got a unit on the ‘Weizmann Science Park’ and a (virtual?) office in New York, so presumably somebody believes in them! But of course, looking on the Internet I see that they have the support of Wall Street, where fools are soon parted from their money. Unquote: I rest my case on magic addatives! Cheers Simon