I got good results with Lucas while the ratio to oil stayed the same between changes. My mechanic likes Lucas but I’ll probably try Restore eventually. Why would it be significantly better than Lucas? Does it thicken the oil like Lucas? I thought all of them worked on that principle.
I wouldn’t go by miles, but rather by the condition of the engine. If you are adding a quart every 700 miles and it’s engine problems causing it then yes, by my standards I’d use additives. In other words if the proper repairs cost more than it’s worth to fix then it’s a last ditch effort. And many times additives will do you good, but they are band aids in my opinion.
I have known people who use these types of additives to keep a car going just a little longer. Basically they keep the car out of the scrap yard for a few months depending on the deal.
One of my friends fell on hard times and a family member gave him a car they had with a bad head gasket. It was rusted out and the transmission had issues so he just added a can of that silicate sealer for head gaskets and that fixed it for a while. Then the transmission started acting up and he added some snake oil for that.
He found a new job and by that time the head gasket band and transmission band aids were starting to fail. He could afford a new car and the used car lot where he bought a replacement generously gave him $500 in trade for the heap although we all know car sales and financing is just a big numbers game so it probably wasn’t that good of a deal in the end.
The above story is a good example of when these additives are useful. $60 was spent to keep a junk car running until a better one could be purchased. I would not use the in something I cared about though as they can clog things up and make proper repairs more difficult.
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