whats the best automotive oil additive?
After 40 years in the biz, this is still my pet peeve! There is no best additive. Period. Change your oil according to the recommendation of your car's manufacturer. Additives rarely do any good, and many can mess up your engine big time! . Beware of Slick 50 it has been banned in some states and no car company recommends using it. Slick, like some other brands, contains silicone and Teflon, which can clog up your oil filter and makes things worse. Additives containing graphite are also as bad as slick because it coats the inside of your engine and clogs the small oil galleys and passageways. Coating the inside of your engine block doesn't lubricate anything, and in fact decreases the blocks ability to conduct heat away from the moving parts. . Modern car engines have zero tolerance parts. This means there is no slop in the moving parts like bearings and rings. If your oil is too thick, these close fitting parts don't get lubricated properly. For this reason, STP is no longer recommended in modern car engines. . Race cars use special additives, but then the owners tear the engines down between races. They don't drive their cars back and forth to work like you do, which is really hard on an engine. , So. Stick with a good grade of oil, of the proper viscosity and change your oil and filter at least twice a year.
If you change the oil and filter on a regular basis with a quality oil and filteryou shouldn't need an additive remember most additives usually hide a developing issue On older cars I have found that Quaker State long life oil with the Slick 50 additive has added some life to my old truckbut then again it has 350,000 miles on it hope this helps
Pick a good oil (castrol, pennzoil, any synthetic, havoline, shell) and the additive pack will be good enough you'll never need an additive. Some oils like supertech and vavoline have weak additive packs, but will still protect your engine nontheless. The only time i'd consider using an additive is if I were burning oil, then i'd try a bottle of vavoline max life oil additive.
