YEp I am right, I do this for a living!!!! You are right on the gold synta being a bit better as although its a synthetic like mobil 1 it is a different rating and slightly thicker. A synthetic can be made to any spec just like a semi or mineral.
With regards to Synthetic being suitable for cars of over 60k it all depends on what it has been run on in the past, if its mostly had semi then it should be fine but if its used to running with 20/50 sludge and hasnt had regular changes we dont generally reccomend it.
Interesting to hear you guys talk about buying Quantum, Do you know who makes it for VW??? YEp its good old Castrol.
I must agree with most if not all of your comments about semi/full synyth oil ,but can't use fully after 60k some off us do that in a year!!
what i think your main point is that older engines do tend to rattle with age and are better suited to thicker oil i.e mineral or semi and vw recommend this on there older vehicles like mk1 mk2 , but only on cold start ,as these oils are thicker from cold!! so should hide rattle more ,but once your mineral oil or semi synth oil get hot it brakes down much quicker than fully synth oil so there is obviously swings and roundabouts whitch oil is more suitable, if you change your oil freqently i.e every 3000 miles or so it should not make a big difference beetween mineral or synth!!
As for castrol making synta oil thats the first i've heard of that! i'm not saying its not true , but i have worked for the biggest filter manufctures for the last 16 years and have never heard that before,
my main point is if your car rattles when cold use a thicker oil but if your engine is in good /fine health use a semi or a fully synth, but the main point is change your oil more freqently and to be honest it should not matter then what you use.
A good rule of thumb is use what vw recommends ,early cars 15/40 or even 10/40 and you won't go wrong. I find synta silver brilliant on my own dubs and would not use anything else at ?10 a gallon why pay more!!!!
regards kevin
