DMcPherson said:
man more power to you using mobil one. not to jump into a thread and start anything, but Ive had mobil reps that wouldent use it. and you know their "synthetic" is still petrolium based. sorry I have a thing about mobil and their marketing. (but only because people beleive it)
DMc, Are you confusing Mobil1 & Castrol ?
Mobil1 is an excellent Synthetic oil. Yes we know that their "synthetic" is petroleum based as are all synthetics. (amsoil, royalpurple,redline etc... )
Mobile1 was one of the so called true synthetics in that it used an expensive base stock derived from Petroleum (PAO), they process the oil in a way that they pull out the best lubricating properties from the oil and make this base stock (PAO). While other oils on the market are actually synthetic blends which may have reg oil with only a very small percentage of the PAO base or none at all, but use another cheaper process. In fact Mobile1 sued some of the other oil companies that were claiming there product was synthetic when in reality it was a blend:
Synthetic is now a marketing term and does not describe the process or chemical make up of the oil. Castrol used to buy their base stock PAO from Mobile oil Corp. . They decided to switch to a non-synthetic highly refined dinosaur oil called class III hydrocraked. They take the dino oil and modifie it and refine out alot more of the impuritys includeing the parrifin compounds. They then add the addedtive package and call it a synthetic. They claim that by processing the oil this much it is synthesized and hence synthetic. If you apply Castrols logic all oil is synthetic because all of it must be refined and synthesized. The Class III hydrocraked oil cost 1/4 what the PAO base stock that mobile one uses. Castrol quit useing PAO synthetic base stock in 1997. Mobile-1 sued for false addvertise. The API orginization knew that they could not afford a long drawn out court case. So API decided to remove all requirements and specifications about what qualified as a synthetic oil. One the API did this the court decided that in the apscence of any defination by a qualifed/unified governing body on what is synthetic that the term could be used as a marketing term for any thing that has been processed from it's nautral state. So any one can now slap the label synthetic on almost anything with out being sued!!!! Hydrocraked Class III oil is as close as you can get to synthetic with out it being synthetic. It has alot of the performance features of synthetic with a low cost to produce. In about5-10 years all of your ordinary oil will be Hydrocracked class III or it will be synthetic.
ALL oils come from dino stock. "Synthetic" is merely a term used to describe extra steps taken to refine/catalyse the oil so that it is better suited to it's task.
Mobil 1 DOES contain esters (like royal purple)
A quote direct from the Mobol 1 site:
"Conventional oils come from crude oil that is pumped from the ground. Crude oil is made up of a twisted and jumbled mass of carbon atoms that form chains and rings of different sizes and shapes. Long chains of carbon atoms produce a thick viscous fluid that flows slowly. Shorter chains produce fluid that flows more readily.
In an oil refinery, crude oil is separated into various stocks. These become the basis for lubricating oils and fuels. Thick tangled masses of carbon chains become asphaltic materials used in roofing tar and road work. Very short chains and ring compounds of carbon are volatile and can be refined to produce gasoline and other solvents.
While petroleum refining is an advanced science, small amounts of contaminants, such as sulfur, wax and asphaltic material cannot be completely removed from petroleum, and may end up in motor oil base stocks.
More than 30 years ago Mobil began looking for lubricants that would flow easily at extremely low temperatures. This search led to the development of synthetic base fluids free from the waxes and contaminants that cause conventional lubricants to solidify in extreme cold. The result was the development of Mobil 1, a fully synthetic motor oil created, initially, from two synthetic base fluids – polyalphaolefins (PAO) and esters combined with a unique additive package.
PAOs are made by chemically knitting molecules of ethylene into carbon chains of uniform length and shape. These carbon chains can remain liquid and slippery under the widest range of engine conditions possible. The PAOs are combined with an ester – a compound formed from the reaction of alcohol and certain acids. The resulting synthetic fluid provides the optimum performance properties for engine lubricants.
Ultimately, Mobil developed an additional synthetic base fluid – an alkylated aromatic – that is especially effective in protecting engines against wear, sludge formation and piston deposits. This new formula has been incorporated into Mobil 1 Tri-Synthetic™ motor oil, which was introduced in 1999. "
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
they are from a chemical make -up, which is 100% synthetic, no petro involved, at least thats what i've learned. ! other than that good write up. :-laf
