Understanding the Types of Synthetic Motor Oil and How to Choose the Right Type

It is common knowledge that synthetic motor oil easily outperforms its conventional counterpart. However, most people don’t know which type of synthetic oil is the best one for their car: full synthetic or synthetic blend. We want to clear this confusion here.

We will do this by discussing the two types of synthetic oil and what each type offers to your vehicle.  The discussion on the types of synthetic oil will be followed by the steps you need to follow when choosing the right type of synthetic oil for your car. Let’s begin.

The Types of Synthetic Oil

Before we start the discussion on the types of synthetic oil, you should know some facts about it. Synthetic oil is manufactured in the lab and comprises of artificially produced chemical compounds; a break down followed by the rebuilding of petroleum molecules is what produces these compounds.

The motor oil produced through this process has far fewer impurities than its conventional counterpart. Moreover, it is less likely to breakdown and cause problems at higher temperatures. Most importantly, it provides you with higher mileage than conventional oil. We can now discuss the two types of synthetic oil.

Synthetic Blend Oil

A combination of synthetic base stocks and conventional motor oils, synthetic blend oil has great low-temperature properties, and it offers excellent resistance to oxidation. Moreover, the synthetic base stock in the oil ensures greater protection and performance of your car than conventional motor oil.

Overall, synthetic blend oil has many benefits that can prolong the life of your vehicle’s engine while improving its performance. An advantage that synthetic blend oil has over synthetic motor oil is its price. The former costs considerably less than synthetic motor oil and thus is the preferred choice for many car owners today. Synthetic blend oil offers most of the benefits offered by fully synthetic motor oil, such as Motul synthetic engine oil, but at a much lower cost.

Full Synthetic Oil

A combination of synthetic base stock and several additives in full synthetic motor oil help to ensure great performance and protection of your car’s engine. For this reason, full synthetic oil is used more frequently than conventional or synthetic blend oil.

The high efficiency of some full synthetic motor oils allows engines today to tolerate higher temperatures and perform much better under extreme conditions than what was possible a few decades ago.

Full synthetic motor oils offer far more benefits for your car’s engine than conventional or synthetic blend motor oils. However, all full synthetic oils are not the same. While most top brands of full synthetic oils, including Motul synthetic engine oil, feature a combination of high-performing additives and fluids, the protection levels and attributes offered by each brand depend on how these formulations come together.

How to Pick the Right Type of Synthetic Oil

With the two types of synthetic oil discussed, it is time to look at the factors you need to consider to choose the right kind of synthetic oil for your car.

Consider Price

The first consideration for choosing the right type of synthetic oil for your car is its price. As mentioned before, full synthetic motor oils cost far more than synthetic blends. On average, the price of synthetic motor oil is about thirty percent more than synthetic blend oil. Even the increased life span of the car’s engine that full synthetic motor oil enable does not compensate for this. So, when it comes to price, there is one clear winner—synthetic blend oil.

Consider Change Intervals

Conventional motor oil needs to be changed a lot more frequently than full synthetic oil. However, the difference between full synthetic oil and synthetic motor oil in this regard is very small. Still, full synthetic motor oil needs to be changed less frequently than synthetic blend oil and thus wins the battle of change intervals.

Consider Long Term Use

The third and final consideration to choose the right type of synthetic oil for your car is the oil’s long-term use. Trends indicate that full synthetic oils, such as Motul synthetic engine oil, offer much more resistance to thermal breakdown, oil sludge concerns, and oxidation than synthetic blend oil. Therefore, it would be wise to conclude that the chances of your car’s engine staying useful for longer are higher with full synthetic than synthetic blend.

Final Word

We considered three factors for determining which synthetic oil is better for your car. Full synthetic motor oil came out on top in two of these factors, which makes it the winner in the duel between the two types of synthetic oil.