>From: joe@zx11.cactus.org (Joe Senner)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles,tx.motorcycles
Subject: Oil Additive Scoop (or: see Ed Hackett's name in print)
Keywords: slick 50, waste of money, SUCKER
Date: 21 Jul 92 01:54:06 GMT
Reply-To: joe@zx11.cactus.org (Joe Senner)
Organization: NOT

the august issue of Road Rider has a very good writeup of oil additives
suck as slick 50 and a whole bunch of others. this is "must" reading material
IMHO, so do what you can to get ahold of a copy. I've quoted some parts from
the article (without permission obviously).

RR got ahold of a whole bunch of these addatives and checked them out. PTFE
treatments, zinc treatments, etc. one of the more interesting tidbits of
information was that Dupont (inventors/makers of PTFE) issued a statement
that said:

    "Teflon is not useful as an ingredient in oil additives or oils used
     for internal combustion engines."

and that Dupont refused to sell PTFE to anyone who intended to use it for
such a purpose. it took the additive makers and the courts to force Dupont
to sell PTFE to them, using the "restraint of trade" principle that basically
says that "you can't refuse to sell a product to someone just because there is
a possibilty they might use it for a purpose other than what you intended it
for".

the article also reports on "the infamous 'no oil' demo" where vendors will
run an engine oilless for hours after treatment. they talked about how 
Briggs & Stratton did the test with two of their engines and found that the
one with the additive actually had worse damage (cylinder scoring). they
concluded that the additive actually caused oil starvation by clogging 
things up.

they addressed the practice of additive companies using racing teams that
use their product as examples, pointing out that the additive makers don't
bother to point out that racing teams totally rebuild the engines after
every season or every race.

they also found that a 32 ounce bottle of slick 50 cost $59.95 while a
32 ounce bottle of T-plus (which claims to carry twice as much PTFE as the
slick 50) costs only $15.88.

they pointed out that the additive companies relied on testamonials as proof
of quality, not one additive manufacture would identify the "independant 
research lab" that "proves" their additive works nor would they provide the
test data, yet several labs were identified that had proven the opposite:

Avco Lycoming: "we have tried every additive we could find on the market, 
                and they are all worthless"

Briggs & Stratton: "they do not appear to offer any benefits"

North Dakota State University: "the theory sounds good- the only problem
                                is that the products simply don't work"

Ed Hackett also pitches into the fray, backing the other research work
in saying that additives should not be used (Ed's article on oil that
I recently reposted is also excellent reading).

RR also offers the fact that the major oil companies are some of the
richest, most powerful and aggressive corporations in the world. they
have the best chemical research labs and chemical engineers that money
can buy. if these additives are so hot and work so well, why haven't the
oil companies productized or at the very least endorsed these things?
why is it that some of the car manufacturers have actually said they
will void your warranty if they find evidence of their use? why would
a car manufacturer pay out big $$$ on warranty claims when they could
reduce that with the miracle additives?

RR concluded that part of reason these things sell is beacuse people
think(?) they work. they believe the hipe, the testamonials, i.e., 
hook, line, & sinker. just like you can give free samples of castor
oil, garlic juice, tabasco sauce, and "several other foul-tasting
ingredients" and get a "one of the best things I've ever tasted!"
from 1 out of 4 people that try it.

Personal Opinion Section -------------------------------------------------

if you think things like slick 50 do anything besides empty your wallet,
you are a total sucker. I have some swampland you really need, and I'd
be glad to sell it to you.

-- 
Joe Senner -- joe@zx11.Cactus.Org                                   Austin, TX
      "Nuclear weapons can wipe out life on earth, if used properly"
                                   -- Talking Heads


-- 
Jerry Dunham                                        dunham_jerry@tandem.com
Tandem Computers, Inc.                                dunham@mpd.tandem.com
Austin, TX                                                    (512)244-8598
                 This opinion intentionally left blank.