Synthetic debate

[ScottinMA]

I was about to change out the fluids on the VX. At 30K I used synthetic in the axles. Today I thought I’d price out synthetic for the tranny and transfer case (I'm at about 55K). That’s about 11 qts for of ATF. $8.50 gave me pause. Even the at discount performance didn’t think it was worth it. Thoughts anyone??

[Joe_Black]

Ask yourself this question before purchasing any maintenance items: How much is my vehicle worth to me?

If it's worth something to you, why would you ever skimp on taking care of it?

If it's not worth anything to you, then use whatever is cheapest and drive on. There's always another heap waiting for you on the next corner lot.

[Andrey]

Scott,
I am using Royal Purple in axels and tranny. When I've changed it ATF was about $5 (Performance store in Bellerica). I can not stress enough what kind of difference is there in using synthetics - very smooth shifting, quite.... the only minus is that it is hard to get Royal Purple. I think next time I'll go with Mobil 1 as it is easier to get here in Boston.
PS Yes it is worth every penny ! Your VX works hard (you are supercharged) so it needs to play hard

Good luck !

[newthings]

Actually, you will need many more quarts to do a flush and fill if you want synthetic 100%. It hurts the pocketbook.
Roy

[rowhard]

Whenever I ask our mechanics at work, (maintain mass transit fleet) or the mazda dealer for my wifes car, or the A.S.E. Master Mechanic that does my work, they all say using synthetic is not worth the money if you perform the manufacture's scheduled maintenance. Now if you abuse it, i.e., oil changes once a year, that kind of crap, then synthetic is proable worth the expense. Any A.S.E. mechanic's in the group want to weigh in on this? I'd sure like to know.

[Chopper]

Joe said it. I even pulled the wheel bearings and restuffed them, the rest is too anal to admit to. You can only imagine. MOBIL1!!