Titanium7 Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 During my 9 years of ownership of 4 different cars Caterham seem to have changed their recommended Lubricant suppliers at least 3 times. Comma, Millers and now Motul.In my new Seven owner's handbook it has a large Motul Sticker crudely stuck in covering the printed previous recommended Miller information.Do you think Caterham change suppliers for commercial partnership reasons or purely technical or both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim 123 Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 I would speculate that, since CC buy a reasonable quantity of oils for new kits, factory build, as well as their own workshop which services a wide age range of cars, the decision is most likely commercial. However, any supplier change will be backed up with appropriate due diligence on performance. If the selection was purely lubricant performance based, it would be unlikely that one supplier would always have the best oils for the Ford engine, Mazda box, and BMW diff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 I doubt there’s any other than a commercial reason, that is, they'll recommend whoever pays most. Given that all of the brands and grades they recommend have been around for several years, any kind of due diligence should have led to consistency; if brand A was better than B or C 4 years ago (when they recommended Comma) the same should be true now. I also doubt that Caterham are capable of technical testing themselves and the brands and grades they recommend are simply certified to certain standards. To be fair, I expect most car manufacturers aren’t much different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CtrMint Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 Isn't it as simple as Motul are sponsoring the 270 championship now adding financial support to the race program. As part of the deal CC supply their oil. I'm sure Millers were a previous sponsor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles.gray Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 I'm sure if there was an issue with a specific oil then it would be all over the net and blatchat ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim 123 Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 I think we all agree that whoever CC recommend it will be commercially linked (as per most OEM’s) but they certainly won’t be giving prominence to a chip shop oil supplier. For my engine, box, and diff, I made my own choices based on my own studies, but best not to go off topic with a “who makes the best oil thread” as it would never end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Long Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 I believe Motul have recently become the supplier to Ford - Ford branded oils are Motul. Perhaps that is coincidence, or a marketing push, but Comma was in a similar position at one time. It is likely that as a supplier of new Ford engines they are just following the flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickh7 Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Millers everyday of the week. In my 1.8VVC kmaps I am using Millers Oils NANODRIVE CFS 10w-60 NT+ Based on tests done by Dave at Gemzoe Motorsport, more performance, less wear , better cooling yes it takes a bit a warming up but oil pressure is much better even on track Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 I doubt there’s any other than a commercial reason, that is, they'll recommend whoever pays most. The official statement and an observation from my own experience...Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Would like to see the results refered to above... Doing a dyno run then changing the oil and repeating is not proof unless you repeat with the same original oil again over mutiple runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patibbitts Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Don't forget all the current "recommended" oils are what are considered by many to be the lower quality end products. Comma was a reclaimed oil product when it first came out. Probably best to stick with the better quality products like Mobil, Castrol, Valvoline , etc. As many of the previous posts have realised, it is 100% purely a cost driven exercise, to recommend the lower quality suppliers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Long Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Anyone who follows the Duratec in Detail blog may recall I did some back to back tests on the dyno and you can get more power with Millers NT. But it's swings and roundabouts, and an increase in a few BHP (~3 bhp IIRC) was at the the cost of increased wear rates and other issues.Basically on a stable one year old engine I counted the particles on a filter segment under a microscope. At that time I didn't rate Millers that highly and the NT version seemed to have the highest particle count. That test engine went on to fail for reasons that were not totally oil related but the cam bearing wear was not normal, and the reduced damping action certainly contributed to a valve spring failure. A few years on and I do used Millers as first choice but at a higher viscosity (10W60). That is a first class oil in terms of wear and there's no significant power loss. Whether NT is a figment of marketing imagination or not, the easiest way to reduce friction is by means of the viscosity of the oil. If NT is real, then using it as a mechanism to obtain a viscosity rating is something I would not choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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