Bike Oil vs Car Oil...

You should not use an automotive oil that is marked as "energy conserving" in your bike. Such oils contain friction additives, such as molybdenum, which would likely cause clutch slippage/damage. Now the "gray" area. There are automotive oils that are not marked as energy conserving that bikers have been using for years. All the companies make such oils, and they come in weights like 20W50, 15W50, etc. The viscosity spread is larger than those of the energy conserving oils, which require less of the viscosity index improvers (which is one reason these oils are energy conserving) than the oils with a wider viscosity spread. To confuse matters further, the different API grades, SH SJ SL, etc. all represent an ongoing decrease (even in the motorcycle-specific oils) in phosphorous/zinc, which is the ultimate protector of metal-to-metal contact, should that occur. We are told that the stuff might be ultimately bad for our catalytic convertors. But even momentary metal-to-metal contact can occur in car or bike, i.e. overheating or a microsecond of starvation in a small, critical area for example. I take the path that the more phosphorous/zinc additives, the potentially better it is for our bikes. Yes, bikers have been using auto oil for years, but with this recent ongoing reduction in the protective additives, what does the future hold for engine wear for people who use auto oil in their bikes? I really don't know. At least during warranty, use a bike-specific oil. Otherwise, any repairs that are deemed to be oil-faiilure related will not be covered. I use only bike oil and change it out at 1000 miles. Some use Mobil 1 15W-50, and state that they have had good luck with it.

I LOVE my Z. It's perfect for the track. It's extremely well balanced and easy to control. They definitely spent a lot of track time while putting it together.

Even stock it handles pretty **** well, but it understeers a bit, to keep the weekend warriors from putting their cars in the ditch. I replaced the sway bars, put on Koni shocks and new springs. The handling now is exceptional. I don't think this car gives up anything to the Vettes in handling, even though it's not as powerful in the engine department. Even still, it has a really nice flat torque curve, and loves digging out of tight corners.

I usually drive my street tires on the track, but when I autocross I have a set of Hoosiers. This car is amazing with race rubber on it. I find myself doing stuff that my brain says shouldn't be possible, like full-throttle into offsets, bouncing off the rev limiter before the exit, near full throttle into long sweepers, etc. It's a helluva lot of fun. My bike is going to be hard pressed to exceed that fun quotient when I get it on the track next summer.

I have never seen a broken control arm. Is he doing something exceptionally hard on the car? Is he not being smooth? It's all about smooth if you want to be fast.

Yes, brakes are probably the biggest liability on this car. They work fine for street and autocross, but on the track, more brakes are needed. But that's often the case with almost every car. A set of Stoptechs fixes that real nicely.

JimmyD said:

Especially when noobs resurrect them.

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the reason why oil threads are relevent (even old ones) is because the cost
of all oil products have increased, along with the fact that "green" is now the color of popularity. The less used oil released in the enviroment, the better off our kids are (note the recent San Fran Bay disaster). I am by no means a tree hugger, but educating yourselves about something that is reusable is smart.

Not to mention better performance / longevity about using superior products for longer periods between changes.

I might be a noob here but not new to using a wrench or a computer which it seems many can do one but not both around these parts :lol:

I'll end my contribution by saying this: Guessing a how a product performs is like gambling . You may get away with it for a long time, but you'll eventually lose money. Used Oil Analysis is the only way to know how a oil performs in a given application. That's the way truck fleets and race teams do it, so if you don't want to emulate heavy or performance users such as these, then take it to a dealership mechanic.
Companies like blackstone charge $20 bucks. Do it once every 6 months or when you change oils/weights and you'll know what works the best for you and your bike/car/tractor/lawnmower.