I spoke with Kelly Tidwell for over ninety minutes. And during that phone call, he schooled me with the truth about oil and filters.

I asked him about my GMC’s manual advising me to use 5w30 oil. He chuckled and told me that there is no such thing as real 5 weight oil. They get 5 weight oil by diluting a 10 weight oil with solvents. He went on to tell me that every consumer vehicle should only use one of two grades: either 10w30 or 15w40 – PERIOD. 20w50 is too thick and too full of additives. 5 weight is too thin and full of solvents. He told me that the greater the distance between the first and second number of the oil grading, the more additives in the formula. This man had my attention.

I asked him if the climate affects the nature of the oil. He told me that all oils break down from heat and usage. 5 weight oil is not protecting your engine like it should for any real length of time. A 20 weight oil is too think and slows down the engine’s ability to move, making the engine work harder and getting you fewer MPGs.

He told me NEVER go to one of those oil change places because they use “mystery oil” from a barrel that they mass purchase. This oil is re-refined. You never know what you’re getting in that scenario because unlike food and drink, there is no set of rules or labels that show their formula. It’s best to learn how to change your own oil. When I told him I have always changed my own oil, he commended me.

All oils start as a base oil. What changes the characteristics of oil are the additives. He told me that if I wanted to make my oil brand of oil that there are companies that will sell me barrels of oil with my formula of additives in it. Once I get my labels slapped on these barrels, I’d be in business. That’s more or less how the oil companies operate. For this reason, he suggested buying major label oils like Shell or Chevron – or I could buy his oil. He didn’t push his brand and I’m pretty sure he did that so as to not come off as a salesman. This man is the real deal, let me tell you.

I asked him about synthetic oil. He laughed and told me that there is NO SUCH THING AS A TRUE SYNTHETIC OIL. He went on to tell me that synthetic oils are their way of stealing your money legally. It’s a game of, “How can we get the people to spend $6-$7 per quart? If there was a true 100% synthetic, it would be a lot more expensive. He went on to tell me NEVER use Synthetic oil. I laughed and told him I changed my oil the day prior with Mobil 1 synthetic. He told me that synthetic oils put plastics (polymers) in the formula. Under heated conditions, these plastics separate from the oil and attach to the metal in your engine. Synthetics are also highly acidic and that’s not good for your engine at all. He also informed me that Pennzoil sued Castrol because Castrol used to claim they made 100% synthetic oil. That was not true and look at Castrol’s Syntec oil label now. I asked him if there’s any truth to the myth that once you put synthetic in your motor, you can never switch back to conventional oil. He chuckled and told me that is totally false. It’s the oil companies perpetuating the lies to force you to continue to buy synthetics at $6-$7 a quart.

He suggested I use a good “commercial grade” oil and a good filter and I’d be fine. I asked how to decipher what a good commercial grade oil is. He told me to look at the back of a bottle of motor oil. There are codes on the rear label like SM, SG, SL, CI4, CG4, etc.

As a rule of thumb, if the “S” is before the “C”, it’s a lower grade oil and do NOT use it. If the “C” is before the “S” it’s good commercial grade oil. He told me (and it’s public record) that Mobil 1 oil has been removed from the aviation industry altogether and it’s been in and out of the consumer market NINE times. Wow, that’s an eye opener