Re: Super Lubes

Posted by Steve - IN on September 19, 2002 at 09:24:38 from (12.222.132.139):

In Reply to: Super Lubes posted by Randy on September 19, 2002 at 06:42:50:

Randy,

I think you're talking about Slick50 and similar stuff. The big flap there was in '96 to '98. FTC, duPont, STP, Quaker State - Pennzoil, now Shell -- all kinds of outfits involved. You don't see those claims anymore -- the people who make it shelled out about 15 million to the FTC.

The magic ingredient of most of this stuff is PTFE -- or, as it's called by the people who make it, Teflon. duPont won't lend their trademark name because they say it does no good in an engine, so you see it being referred to by its chemical name, PTFE.

Probably the most even handed study was done by the University of Utah engineering school. They found 10 to 15% reductions in friction and a resultant increase in horsepower. Problem was, the PTFE clogged oil passages, so parts started getting starved for oil.

If you try to apply pure PTFE directly to bearing parts, etc. it apparently doesn't adhere well, so coatings don't last. SKF bearings has done some work on this and uses a stuff called DLC (diamond like coating) which is apparently as "slick" as pure PTFE -- and stays on the bearing. Apparently this stuff works, and you can read about work done on it at Argonne National Labs -- www.transportation.anl.gov. I don't know of any place besides SKF where DLC is available yet.

Meantime, you can get your bearings impregnated with dry film lubes and do pistion tops and valves with ceramic coatings at places like www.performancecoatings.com The ceramic coatings in a combusition chamber lets you run leaner thereby making more power without exhaust valves burning.

Net net... some oils are better than others, but the Slick50 costs 6 to 8 times more per quart than even synthetic oil (granted they have a lot of cost in the gold carton alone to make the stuff). If you really want to try it, think about sticking it in your manual transmission, where there's no pump or pressure passages to worry about. It can make a fairly dramatic reduction in transmission temp on a performance car.

The link below gives you some background on the whole Slick 50 FTC flap.

Steve

• slick50 flap

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