WTF?
- Thread starter wild70stang
- Start date
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Sponsors (?)
right... originally called speedway cocktail back in the 30's IIRC and has been inproved a little over the original formulation but still basically the same thing that indy racers were using in their cars waaaaay back in the old days. Z-Max is not new at all, just has a new name. it's basically modified mineral oil and it will actually soak into the metal, not far but far enough to do what it claims.
does this mean i'll use it? probably not right now, but at some point in the future i very well may. i have a couple of friends that swear by the stuff and put it in every vehicle they own and they say it has made a small difference in gas mileage, anywhere from 1-4 mpg. as expensive as the stuff is i don't think it's worth the extra cost for a minimal mileage gain, however if gas gets over 4 bucks a gallon like they say it will then i'll probably chance it.
Doesn't surprise me one bit. Shelby has had the "SHOW ME THE MONEY" mentality for some time now.
CraigMBA
New Member
I don't know where I've laughed harder at somebody elses' expense than this thread.........lawl.
Hack
15 Year Member
All right, metal does have microscopic texture (known as surface finish) on its surface that could allow small molecules "in". People who do stamp and die work even rely on the surface finish of their tooling to retain oil in the working parts. Some castings have porosity, but that's hardly a uniform thing you can count on to give a certain gain when this stuff "soaks in". 
The stuff surely doesn't soak all through a metal part as if it were a sponge. 
There are some things that work but people don't really understand them. Some people say that Slick 50 is snake oil - and it probably is. I've put it in several of my cars and not had negative consequences. I have a '92 F-150 that has 209k miles on it. About 7 or 8 years ago it had a bad pan gasket leak and long story short my ex ran it completely out of oil at least twice that I know of. I've never touched the motor (other than replacing the pan gasket) and it doesn't burn oil in city driving. Why does it still run and work so well? Did Slick 50 help? I don't know, but having put Slick 50 in that motor - I know it didn't damage the motor. That's for sure.
I have no idea if this stuff works, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
The stuff surely doesn't soak all through a metal part as if it were a sponge. There are some things that work but people don't really understand them. Some people say that Slick 50 is snake oil - and it probably is. I've put it in several of my cars and not had negative consequences. I have a '92 F-150 that has 209k miles on it. About 7 or 8 years ago it had a bad pan gasket leak and long story short my ex ran it completely out of oil at least twice that I know of. I've never touched the motor (other than replacing the pan gasket) and it doesn't burn oil in city driving. Why does it still run and work so well? Did Slick 50 help? I don't know, but having put Slick 50 in that motor - I know it didn't damage the motor. That's for sure.
I have no idea if this stuff works, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
I asked a question, and I still have no answer. Maybe you bought ZMAX and now you want to justify the $50 for $3 worth of mineral oil, so you did a search and are now upset that people were knocking on it 2 years ago. Maybe you found some new research since the last time the thread was active about how ZMAX gets into your porous metal surfaces. But I can't read minds, so I asked.
Since Stangnet is the spoon-feeding capital of Mustang-land and I'm feeling generous, here's a bone for you.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1042298&fpart=1
Read it all, including all the external links cited, and see why crap threads like this don't need to exist. F-ing infomercials.
zookeeper
Founding Member
I wouldn't run Zmax in my lawnmower personally, but then again I figure if my POS daily drivers can go a zillion miles on dinosaur fluid, why change?
zookeeper
Founding Member
jlangholzj
Mustang Master
wow ron, thats quite an improvement, only one f-bomb! I side up with you. Seems like its just someone is trying to exploit the market of the uninformed. I can see alot of people buying it thinking they were saving fuel economy and such and such. I don't think I'd run it in my model plane, but thats just because I have no desire to improve on my engine, and that I'm perfectly happy with my current oil.
but heck maybe this stuff does work.
valley82
Member
ratio411
Founding Member
All right, metal does have microscopic texture (known as surface finish) on its surface that could allow small molecules "in". People who do stamp and die work even rely on the surface finish of their tooling to retain oil in the working parts. Some castings have porosity, but that's hardly a uniform thing you can count on to give a certain gain when this stuff "soaks in".
There are some things that work but people don't really understand them. Some people say that Slick 50 is snake oil - and it probably is. I've put it in several of my cars and not had negative consequences. I have a '92 F-150 that has 209k miles on it. About 7 or 8 years ago it had a bad pan gasket leak and long story short my ex ran it completely out of oil at least twice that I know of. I've never touched the motor (other than replacing the pan gasket) and it doesn't burn oil in city driving. Why does it still run and work so well? Did Slick 50 help? I don't know, but having put Slick 50 in that motor - I know it didn't damage the motor. That's for sure.
I have no idea if this stuff works, but I wouldn't say it's impossible.
Hey, just a heads up...
Slick 50 is a combo of about 1/4 Teflon (PTFE) and 3/4 30w engine oil.
There are products out there that give you that liquid PTFE without oil added.
I use the 1/4 quart of Greased Lightning. It is far cheaper than S-50, but has the same amount of the active ingredient.
TX-7 is another. It costs the same as S-50, but is a full quart of PTFE. Essentially 4 times the active ingredient for same price.
To others that think PTFE is snake oil...
I have used the stuff for 17 years now, since I worked in the oil industry and found out about it.
I cannot prove a negative and say that PTFE has improved anything.
I use it religiously in all my vehicles and they are always the cleanest engines you will ever find.
I put the stuff in my fleet of PSD vans... Anyone who knows diesels will tell you that new oil is black and sooty in them 5 minutes after you change oil. No joke!
I change my oil every 5k miles and it is often clean and clear for half that.
I had an internal wiring harness changed on one recently and the diesel mechanic of 30 years commented that I must have changed the oil in his driveway for it to look that clear as when he got into the valve covers. He said he has never seen a diesel engine before that was as clean on the inside as mine. I told him it was about 3k miles into an oil change. He said he would laugh at me if he hadn't seen it drive in with his own eyes.
This van had the original, untouched PSD engine with 210k miles.
Even engines I have built myself in the past have been gorgeous on the inside after many hard miles... like a PTFE coated frying pan.
tell me about it. when i was in high school auto shop our teacher was the former head mercedes mechanic in town and we were always working on the at the shop. the lady that lived that down the street from me had a 77 or 78 240D that she absolutely did not know how to drive and she was contantly bottoming the thing out, or running into parking blocks or driving over curbs or something and crunching the oil pan on the damn thing. i can't tell you how many pans i put on that thing and every time i'd do one i'd literally have to take a bath in gasoline and trans fluid to get all the damn diesel oil/soot mix off of me. truct me it's impossible to change an oil pan on a mercedes diesel in a driveway without getting covered in the crap. nobody can seem to understand why, no matter if it's free, i will never, ever own a freaking mercedes!!!!!! stupid piles o'crap
sorry just had to get my diesel rant out.
Route666
Active Member
How about putting graphite powder in your oil? Surely this would get ground into the metal surfaces and provide a SDF (Solid dry film) of sorts. Or would it actually create wear - as carbon is hard, and as most shooters seem to be scared of cleaning their barrel because of the carbon scratching the bore. (Even though shot after shot forces a bullet to grind the previous bullet's deposits against the bore with magnitudes of lots of zeros more than cleaning will ever do...)
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