Agree! We buy good stuff and keep it forever as long as it can be kept going cost-effectively. Our first microwave, a commercial Toshiba model bought in 1981, lasted 22 years. Our last gas mower was an original Lawn Boy and I sold it for $70 after 19 years of faithful service, mainly because my wife wanted an electric one since I was away a lot and she had trouble with the pull cord starter.
We don’t keep stuff around just because it can be fixed; the fix has to be cost-effective.
Quaker State oil is as good as any oil brand; I have used it and other brands in my old car with over 300k miles that burns only a little oil; not surprising at this point. Menards is a big buyer so they can bargain strongly with vendors for a good price. Vendors will not be identically flexible in this regard. We have plenty of Menards stores where I live in WI where we also have Home Depot, Lowes, Fleet Farm, WM and others. I’m not a shill for Menards but it seems obvious that their goal is to sell goods at the lowest possible price.
@Wha_Who Some years back when I was doing my own oil changes I bought Wolf’s Head motor oil at Menards at a good price. When I examined the bottle, it came from a Quaker State refinery. My guess is that it was no different than Quaker State, although my old Oldsmobile wanted to run with the wolves. {Wolf’s Head slogan was “Run with the Wolf”).
This thread has a lot of replies sharing personal experiences with various brands of oils. Many are from years ago.
To be fair to any brand of oil, before a critique can be made, isn’t a complete lab analysis or a controlled driving experiment needed?
One lab analysis or ONE controlled driving experiment means NOTHING. You need THOUSANDS for any meaningful data.
Mike:
I’m sure you weren’t pushing to repeat a lab analysis thousands of times on all the different brands of oils -)
For the lab analysis, buy all the different brands of oils and analyze them to see how they differ.
For the controlled driving, buy “n” new cars and fill them with “n” different brands of oils. Then drive them through identical conditions. Examine the oils and engines when done.
Oils have to meet API and other standards. The only one I’ve heard of that did not meet viscosity standards was Texaco’s oil in the 80s. Consumer Reports tested it and found it repeatedly did not “stay in grade”.
Testing and certifying oil is expensive and low volume blenders may want to skip this step. DO NOT buy any oils that do not have certification; that includes some highly touted synthetics selling at over $10 a quart, and promoted by some posters from time to time…
It should be if you want true meaningful data. But since it’s not going to happen then anecdotal evidence is as good as anything else.
if I buy a can of oil and do an oil analysis on it 1000 times, won’t I get the same results?
Don’t know, but you will have spent a lot of money.
I think the thing is, casual consumers of oil are like the casual consumers of tooth paste. For one reason or another you become accustomed to a brand and trust it, and will not likely change. I use Crest. Wouldn’t think of using Colgate. Others visa versa. I did use Penzz and now use Mobil. It wouldn’t matter how many oil tests are performed, I wouldn’t change unless some drastic information came along. Others like their Quacker State or Lube City oil and won’t change. Others will buy anything on sale and don’t care.
Oil is personal, like the best coffee, not scientific. No? You can tell a lot about a guy though by looking at the bottles of oil in his garage though.
Agree! My late father in law bought the same beer for the entire time I knew him and filled the bottom shelf of the fridge with it. He ended up not trusting other brands! He even drank the same beer at the local Legion!
Personally, I shop the world for new beverages. On a recent rip to Montana I tried a locally brewed beer from Missoula and it was the worst I ever tasted; like beer flavored cough syrup. Another horrible beer was Lone Star, from the Philippines. It had so much formaldehyde that it was almost undrinkable!
We all have habits; they make life easy, but we should be able to break them when something better comes along.
Maybe - Maybe Not.
Lone Star–which has undergone several changes of ownership–was the traditional favorite beer in Texas. Nowadays, in addition to its US-based production, the name is licensed to a brewer of “light beer” in the Philippines. But, when you go to the Philippines, you should drink only San Miguel, which is a good brew.
When my brother was in 'Nam, San Miguel was his favorite beer and he gravitated to it after finding that the locally-brewed Vietnamese beer (“33”) had…things…floating in every bottle.
Thanks for the heads up! In Malaysia we drank mostly Carlsberg which was locally brewed in a joint venture with Guinness, thus ensuring good quality! We tried the Lone Star because it was cheap.
You can go to websites of the testing companies (Blackstone etc.) or contact them and see what they have to say.
I had a boss back in the '80s who was in 'Nam.
He’d joke about San Miguel being the only beer available; plus “San Miguel” comprised about half of the bartenders knowledge of the English language.
I’m not a beer drinker but if you come to Minneapolis, you need to sample some of the micro brews now. They are very good.
There’s microbrewery near my work
I’m also not a beer drinker nowadays . . . not even 6-pack per YEAR
Anyways, this microbrewery also has an attached restaurant/beer garden, which is always packed. I drive past there when I take vehicle out for a road test, because it’s actually the designated route. Clearly, the designated route predates the brewery.
One day my brother comes over and hands me a cold beer from that microbrewery. I drank it and said “Thanks, but that was the nastiest beer I’ve ever tasted.” It was truly revolting 
I don’t know what the fuss is all about. In my opinion, the snob factor comes into play, kind of like guys buying a pricey BMW, when a loaded Camry or Accord will do just fine
Quaker State was for years a premium brand but they have been acquired by Shell Oil which also owns Pennzoil which it is marketing as the more upscale brand.
If the Quaker State is cheaper that is what I would buy. I thing the frequency you change and check the oil is far more important than the brand.