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[–] 26 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Some synthetic oils are made from Group III base stock and some from Group IV, while other synthetic oils may be a blend of the two. Mobil sued Castrol and Castrol prevailed in showing that their Group III base stock oil was changed enough that it qualified as full synthetic. Since then American Petroleum Institute (API) has removed all references to synthetic in their documentation regarding standards. "Full synthetic" is a marketing term and is not a measurable quality.

It’s just “real oil” that’s sufficiently modified to not resemble the base oil enough.

Lubricant base oil is sourced primarily from the Middle East, including synthetic oils, greases, gear oils, and other products like transmission fluids. Including that for electric vehicles. Additionally, synthetic oils can be manufactured from natural gas, which is also sourced from the Middle East for most of the world.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago

    I'd say most "full synthetic oils" are still group III or a mix containing mostly group III. You can tell by looking at German websites, they'll say synthese-technologie or something, they're not allowed to advertise group III as vollsynthetisch there, has to be at least some % group IV though I'm not sure if it's just 50% or even more than that.

    I was looking for oils for my car with group IV base oil and I don't think there was one. Or maybe ONE manufacturer managed to do it. Turns out the exact oil spec simply isn't very conducive to using group IV even if it is technically "better". Seems group IV is often used for expensive high quality racing oils that aren't trying to hit a bunch of manufacturer specs made in the 00s and 10s. Soon as you try to hit something like VW 507.00, you'll be using something that's mostly group III.

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