I was reading this months Import Tuner and there was an article regarding RS-R's Ran Up oil additive. It's been known to give 20 hps to a 350z and it's also used in JGTC racing....Is this stuff for real? And more importantly has anybody used it on our beloved rotary?

 

The horsepower would have to come from somewhere...an oil additive wouldn't be that place

 

I would not be choosing engine lubricants on the basis of horsepower claims.

The properties that are claimed with the Ran Up additive are the same (by their description) as Group V ester based oils. That base stock has ionized molecules that bond to metals to ensure there is some kind of boundary layer lubrication on startup and shutdown. Beyond that, there doesn't seem to be much of an advantage. Import tuner is showing a 2.8whp increase on the dyno and calling that a win? The only method of getting additional power is from increasing efficiency by lowering the coefficient of friction. Normally that would be done by reducing viscosity but they are denying that as a method.

I'm willing to bet the claims made by RS-R are not "peak" horsepower but rather the same cherry picking that intake companies like K&N use. That's why you see 12 to 15whp claims for K&N intakes because they find where there is the greatest amount of power difference (even if it's not peak) and put that as their claim.

Eneos has done the same thing with their 0w-50 oil as RS-R did with this article. They would compare it to a "name brand synthetic" which you could tell was Royal Purple. They would run the car on the dyno and show a 5 to 6 whp pickup.

The claims of some kind of power pickup might be true but you have to consider why such properties are not put into formulations of current engine oil. You're trying to tell me that chemists working for Mobile1, Nippon, or other big manufacturers are not aware of oil used in the aerospace industry? Who do you think MADE that oil?

I'm not a big enough kool-aid drinker to say if it's not offered on my shelf at Checker or Autozone then it's not worth it, but just consider those facts. There are reasons or trade offs.

Consider also that those additives will be included onto the oil that is injected into the combustion chamber with no real understanding of the long term effects on seals or combustion. Piston motors don't burn oil by design so the application is much different.

The RX8 community already has tested and proven methods of increasing horsepower that don't need to be reviewed by magazines to make them legitimate :-). Just my 2 cents. If you are looking to seriously try this stuff then I have a performance chip to sell you.

 

right on Bro--good write up
OD

 

Well... he actually did some research on Wiki for that.

Mu haha......

 

This isn't a product I have used or plan on to but just brought it up as a discussion topic. Great write up....

Now if I DID put it in my 20b.....lol j/k

 

Here is my official position on oil additives. If you need to use an oil additive, you should be using a better oil! I don't believe in ANY oil additives. They are all evil. None of them give any benefit and if they do then you should really stop trying to lubricate an engine with beach sand as that is one of the few things I can think of that would need help in some way. All oils are designed to do a job without the help of any other product. Yes even conventionals. All oils have an additive package that can be over 20% of the total amount. The base stock being conventional or synthetic is irrelevant to this post. These additives are what make a motor oil a motor oil. Different manufacturers have differing opinions as to how much of what is needed in this formulation of course but none of them formulates it based on a substandard approach to this additive package. None of them would say that you need to add anything to it to improve it.

I see people on oil threads on forums all the time pointing out that oil A has more of additive X in it than oil B does which must mean it is better. Of course nearly everytime they are just speculating as it is human nature to think that more of anything must always be better. The irony is that this is almost never true. When you add an oil additive, what are you improving? How do you know it will enhance an oil when there are so many different oils out there that are formulated differently? Are you adding a material to the oil that your particular oil already has more of than the other oils? Are you adding something that really isn't necessary? Are you adding something that may react negatively with your chosen oil??? How do you know?

One of the absolute worst things you could ever put in your engine is any Lucas product. It is garbage! They claim that in certain circumstances that it can be substituted for up to 50% of your oil!!! Holy cow! Don't do this! Don't substitute it for 5% of your oil. It is very thick and nearly molasses in consistency. Their claim with this product is that it will stick to any gears or bearings better to better protect during startup when there isn't much oil up in the engine. I'm sure mucus or rubber cement could make the same claim! It doesn't make them good. A downside to this additive though is that it is very prone to oil foaming. This is bad. Foam is air. If air is trapped in your oil and oil is trying to prevent contact between metal parts, having air in it is not in it's best interest, or your engines. Start up protection at the expense of having it everywhere else. That's not a good tradeoff. Many additives make this sacrifice.

Other products like the old Slick 50, and other such additives basically have what many good modern day oils already have in them. At some point in the past, oils were very different and far less consistent than they are today. At some point in time there may have been a legitimate case for additives. Today there just isn't yet we still see new bigger and better additives coming out. You need to remember that they have one goal and one goal only and it isn't to protect your engine. It is to make money. In order to do this they need to convince you that you will benefit from it. There are many people that do so their marketing departments clearly know what they are doing. Use a good quality oil and stay away from all of that additive crap. If you are going to spend the extra money to add an additive to a conventional oil, it would have been financially smarter to have just paid the extra money for a good high quality synthetic such as Amsoil, Redline, or Royal Purple instead. Please do not use any of these oils and then add to them!