Do you buy generic or not?

I buy Generic oil - I trust it for my truck and car and everything else, so why not?

I even use store brand oils, like canadian tire, or sometimes even walmart's oil. like you said, it's just a re-branded version of something else. besides, you look on the back of the oil container, and it meets up with all the standards for warranties and stuff, so why not when a gallon jug of oil costs 3 bucks?

Funny how we will put generic medicine in us, but won't use generic oil etc in our engines......LOL

I will buy the brand names at Walmart, its cheaper than at the dealer.....but have yet to use their generic oil.....although, its probably the same.

They have generic brand spark plugs at CTC (Canadian Tire) and I imagine at TSC etc....I won't use those either.

Generic medicine has to meet the FDA standards to be offered for sale at all. Other products that don't heve the same strict government regulations can be the equivalent of "snake oil. As far as I know, there is no government testing or regulating that is done on spark plugs and oil filters. It is left up to the industry to police themselves, but it is way too easy for a company to come into being, sell crappy stuff and disappear, only to reappear a few weeks later under a different name, and no one knows that it's the same crappy stuff.

I think Walmart's "Tech 2000" oil is made for them by one of 3 major manufacturers--Quaker State,Penzoil,or Valvoline.. could be wrong,but they dont have a refinery of their own that I know of,and even if it were made by another company like Wold Head,or Oilzum,etc,they ALL are good oil,and I see no reason to waste money paying for a name on the bottle or stupid TV commercials promoting their superiority..

I used to use nothing but Castrol in my vehicles and small engines..until I became unemployed and money became scarce!..then I was forced to use "no-name" 99 cent a quart oil from "bargain stores"..guess what,my engines still ran just as well,and I never had an oil related failure..then I began using the Walmart Tech 2000 when they opened a store nearby,and I haven't bought any "brand name" oil or ATF since then..you can often buy a 5 qt jug of oil and a filter at Walmart cheaper than 4 qts anywhere else and NO filter..and other stores here will now match Walmart's prices or beat them too,so you can get even better deals.. I got a gallon of 15W-40 Delvac oil at one store for $7.88,and got a rain check for another one ,when they ran short before the sale ended--they also recently had "Peak" motor oil for $1.55 per qt,when Autozone had the same stuff on a "special deal" with a filter and 5 qts.,for 12 bucks ..not a bargain compared to the other store..

Some generic stuff is OK,some ain't..like "Mighty" brand parts,their spark plugs are made by AC,many of "their" other parts are simply re-boxed ones from other well known manufacturers..the ones I avoid are in plain looking boxes and say "made in China" or "Hencho En Mexico" on them--
Auto-Zones "Valucraft" brand has been dissapearing from their stores lately,seems many customers liked the low price of that line,but ended up hating the poor quality--"Lifetime Warranty" is no bargain if your always putting "free replacements" on continually!..

However,since many trusted brand names are now selling "cheap" impoted parts in boxes with their mames on them ,in hopes of making sales based on their former "good reputation",its no longer a given buying said products gauratees the parts are actually any better than the "bargain brands"..so now I tend to feel I might as well buy the cheap stuff,if thats what might well be in the "good" brands boxes now..very hard finding ANY non-China or Mexican parts for vehicles now..I buy oil in bulk a lot cheaper,a 5 gallon pail of Wolf's Head 15W-40 semi-synthetic cost me 35 bucks not long ago at a parts store I used to work at,that also caters to truckers with big rigs..they sell hydraulic fluid cheap too,sometimes as low as 25 bucks for a 5 gallon pail,of either a "generic" brand,sometimes Amalie,they buy 150K bucks worth in one shipment so they get it a lot cheaper..

It only has to meet the FDA requirements for the ACTIVE ingredients, not the excepients. Those are the binders, colorants, and other additives. Having spent over 35 years in the pharma/hospital supply industry, I have come to learn that sometimes it is the interaction of the excipients and the actives that make the final results.

All that being said, I use generics for non-critical meds. Like all over the counter stuff. When it comes to serious meds, I thank God we have insurance that still doesn't force you to use the generics all the time.

As far as my car, motorcycles, and tractor are concerned, NAME BRAND is all they dine on. Filters and lubricants. Now to really STIR IT UP, I don't wear a generic helmet.

Nouveau ******* said:

Generic medicine has to meet the FDA standards to be offered for sale at all. Other products that don't heve the same strict government regulations can be the equivalent of "snake oil. As far as I know, there is no government testing or regulating that is done on spark plugs and oil filters. It is left up to the industry to police themselves, but it is way too easy for a company to come into being, sell crappy stuff and disappear, only to reappear a few weeks later under a different name, and no one knows that it's the same crappy stuff.

Click to expand...

"As far as my car, motorcycles, and tractor are concerned, NAME BRAND is all they dine on. Filters and lubricants. Now to really STIR IT UP, I don't wear a generic helmet.[/QUO NOT wearing a generic helmet won't stir up anything with me. I only mountain bike, but I know they'rfe called a brain bucket for a reason. :trink40:

I usually just use generic. I worked a walmart for a year and know that all of their products are made by some larger name brand company that just bottles it in a different bottle. I do run Mobile 1 in the truck and car but have thought of switching to wal-mart's oil. I've had excellent luck with. I do however buy napa or wix filters. Fram's are aweful. One study I read said that walmart filters were better than fram! I believe it too. In my old s-10 I ran a fram filter, then a walmart filter. The truck was $50 and over the course of 2 years I put 40,000 miles on it so I only used what was cheapest b/c I didn't care. Anyway after the oil change with the walmart filter it was much heavier and the oil appeared cleaner. On my old cougar the fram filter was much lighter after an oil change than a ford filter and oil was looked cleaner with ford filter. The oil doesn't matter as much so long as you have a good filter to filter out the crap. Oil does have to be manufactured to a certain standard. It's the additives that change how it works.


T.C.

oils and the like for tractors are mostly all the same with different names. My manager once had me re-set our display of oil at my lowes store, and said "make sure you spread out the John Deere qts like 4 or 5 wide so people see them more... people will pay more just because it says John Deere on it"

Hi stanleyjohn ,

I don't buy generic , I'm not saying that's Law and most will disagree , but for
a couple of $$$ xtra here for oil and a couple $$$ xtra here for filters buying
manufacturer over generic for the year of maintenance is minimal IMO and
it gives me piece of mind , your talking a savings of what $20.00 a year big
deal , we pay alot initially for our machines why cheap out ...

Later,x595

I buy generic oil, but name brand filters. I don't think there is much difference in oils, as long as you are comparing dino to dino, synthetic to synthetic, or blend to blend, as long as it meets current API ratings. There is a real difference in filters though, and some of them, Fram in particular, are just not very good. Keep in mind almost all of the Walmart oil comes from 1 of 2 companies, either Shell which owns Penzoil and Quaker State, or Ashland Oil which markets as Valvoline.

BTW, John Deere filters are made by Fram, and I personally wouldn't use them. Go to the lubrication section and find the thread on filters for an eye opening report on them.

steve

Personally I don't really call brand name motor oil generic, not really because
if it has the Energy Star label on it it's pretty good stuff. Currently all my small
engines get Castrol GTX, if it's good enough for BMW it's good enough for me.
My GM V8's are getting Mobil 5000 and the tractors all get Case IH oil, when
buy in 5 gallon buckets it's pretty cheap. My ol' '91 Ford Explorer with 232K
miles has never had anything but Havoline 10W30.

I use Super Tech Oil in my cars and tractors. MSDS are available from this website. A few years ago, I noticed that Exxon Mobil was listed on the MSDS for the 20W50. Now it's either Warren Distribution or SOPUS products, but I have no complaints.

I began using NAPA Silver oil filters exclusively a few years ago. They are made by WIX and I really like them.