Gear oil comparisons

[vicw]

Due to the fact that I'm getting a Q2 diff. I started thinking about gearbox oils. The mechanic I'm going to use shrugged off Redline and talked about Motul. I decided to look around and found a fairly extensive comparison test as shown below. I'm looking at Amsoil based on what I see in the test. Hope this helps.

http://www.modernoils.com/g2457GearOilWhitePaper.pdf

Alfa GT V6 3.2L '06

[vin sharp]

Well, would you know it.............if you read right to the end, the test was done for (and presumably paid for by Amsoil!).
While Amsoil is one of the better ones around, the real test regarding Alfas is the Alfetta type transaxles. And as far as that goes, from cold start to virtually boiling the oil on the track with the added heat input of the inboard rear brakes, Redline is the ONLY one I've ever experienced where you actually forget about the gearbox and concentrate on the track. I and many customers have used just about all on that list, including Amsoil, but the Redline seems to do the job best in this application, which I think is one of the most difficult asks for any oil.
I also rebuilld and modify dozens of these units per year, and certainly the wear due to any oil issues is not a problem, indeed if you look at the pressure test,i think there is a significant hint there in the result.

Vin Sharp,
PACE Engineering. 

[vicw]

Well, would you know it.............if you read right to the end, the test was done for (and presumably paid for by Amsoil!).
While Amsoil is one of the better ones around, the real test regarding Alfas is the Alfetta type transaxles. And as far as that goes, from cold start to virtually boiling the oil on the track with the added heat input of the inboard rear brakes, Redline is the ONLY one I've ever experienced where you actually forget about the gearbox and concentrate on the track. I and many customers have used just about all on that list, including Amsoil, but the Redline seems to do the job best in this application, which I think is one of the most difficult asks for any oil.
I also rebuilld and modify dozens of these units per year, and certainly the wear due to any oil issues is not a problem, indeed if you look at the pressure test,i think there is a significant hint there in the result.

Vin Sharp,
PACE Engineering. 

Well Amsoil may have paid for it but it was an outside INDEPENDENT source that carried out the tests. I guess if the tests were not in favour of Amsoil they wouldn't have published them. Fair enough, but they put their money where their mouth is.

"Other than the oxidation filter patch procedure, performance testing was conducted by an independent laboratory"


"Conclusion
As the testing indicates, AMSOIL Severe Gear ranked highest among all gear lubes tested. It was the only gear lube to
score a 4 or better in all performance categories. The high ranking of AMSOIL Severe Gear clearly points to a well-balanced
formulation capable of delivering effective, long-lasting lubrication protection to all differential components. Most notable is
the superior performance of AMSOIL Severe Gear in the critical areas of extreme-pressure protection and viscosity and
oxidation stability. Based on the performance testing, the slightly higher than average price of AMSOIL Severe Gear would
be offset by the cost savings achieved through reduced maintenance, longer lasting differentials and extended lubricant life."

The guy who is changing my diff also is involved with racing and has been involved with Alfas and racing for 38 years. BTW he never suggested AMSOIL but he did suggest NOT using Redline. The AMSOIL seller has also been involved with Alfas for many many years and although he disagreed that Redline is a bad choice he thinks AMSOIL has the edge.  He owns a company that is involved in oil testing for all sorts of applications including motor racing.

I think either would be a good choice but I also doubt AMSOIL would be detrimental in any way, shape or form.

Probably both are very good but  I'm going AMSOIL.

Just as an aside, would not the cars that you are talking about working on, be unsuitable candidates for AMSOIL Severe Gear given it has a GL5 rating which would be a nono for Alfetta type gearing I imagine.

[vin sharp]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggeting that there is anything wrong with you using Amsoil for your job, I was just defending the Redline in light of your mechanics dismissal of it, when it works very well for what I was talking about.
As I said, I used Amsoil's own recommended product for Alfa trans from the mid 80's and found it quite good, and no, I don't recall if it was the specific one on test, but once again I was pointing out that the Redline was better than what was previously used. I'm sure that there are equal and most likely, superior to Redline out there, and I am  interested to hear peoples input as that is what advances our knowledge base. I am more than happy to point customers toward something that will give better performance than the current status quo, regardless of the brand.
Maybe I'm just a bit overly sceptical about comparative testing paid for by involved brand companies.
Cheers,
Vin.

[alfagtv100 (Biggus)]

Hi Vic,

I am saying this with complete respect.
Without a shadow of doubt.  Vin knows what he is talking about.

Cheers,

Marco