Does synthetic oil really make that much of a difference?

I'm planning on getting a GP soon, but it's probably going to have something like 50-70k miles so I was thinking I should get synthetic oil for it... but now I ask... Does it really help that much? I mean, is it worth the extra 30 bucks each time? TIA...

-Steve

well, if nothing else, think of it this way. you have to change regular oil every 3k miles. synthetic oils vary in range between 9k to 24k miles before being changed. so even changing synthetic oil every 9k miles you are still saving the cost of one oil change.

um, synthetics are not designed to go 9-24k....you can push them to 4.5k city and 5k highway at the most..

synthetics usually have more detergents in them which keeps the engine cleaner..

a cleaner engine will usually last longer

they are also better at lubrication which also translates into engine longevity

the most important part of buying a used car is finding out how it was serviced...

If you can get service records for a vehicle showing that it was cared for you have a much better chance of buying a car that will last for a good long while with a minimum of problems...

I'm planning on getting a GP soon, but it's probably going to have something like 50-70k miles so I was thinking I should get synthetic oil for it... but now I ask... Does it really help that much? I mean, is it worth the extra 30 bucks each time? TIA...

-Steve

synthetic oil performs very well under stress,....adn the chances of synthetic oil breaking down are lower than the chances of regular oil breaking down.
however, if you change oil regularly, adn do not operate your car under extreme conditions,i would go w/ regular oil.

i have a 2001 gtp and use 10w30 chevron,... have 58K on the car, adn still runs smooth, no problem.

royal purple is supposed to last 12k miles every oil change lyou change the filter and top off every 3k but that is what they say

I posted a thread asking if Its safe to change my 99' silverado over to synthetic and I got many replys about how my motor might start consuming oil and my seals may start to leak, I change my oil every 2,500 miles and it comes out nice and clean,and my motor runs very smooth and consumes no oil. I use Max Life 5w30 I just wasnt sure if I could change over without having problems.
Any Opinions??
Thanks,
-Jimmy

I recently changed from dino oil to Mobil 1 Synthetic in my 93 accord ex that has 75k on it. Before the oil change I never used any oil between changes now (only 2 months later) oil is leaking a lot it seems from 2 or 3 places. I'm convinced I blew it! Iv'e read several threads which convincingly say that syn. oil is good but with some oler cars the dino oil is the main reason that the seals dont leak due to the sludge build up....the syn. oil is slicker and can slide past the older seals a lot easier hence the leaks. I am not saying it couldn't be from other sources but it seems very odd that before there was no leaks before and now I can't even be comfortable driving 10 miles w/o worrying all my oil will be on the ground and my engine ruined. I am planning on running dino oil again or at least something that's more of a comprimise between the two which is probabaly something I should have done to start with. Maybe this Max Life would work well in my car???? I'm ready to learn from those who are wise in this sort of thing!

i run max life 10w30 Never have had a problem yet ran it in both my old car and new one(92 GTP 172,000 when sold) and mine now and its high miliage also, but i change the oil also at 2500 miles, why be cheap and worry about oil prices when down the road you could be putting a new engine in that would cost you a lot more. Id run syn or a blend, but thats my personal opinion

i have a friend that is an amsoil dealer and he runs it 25,000 miles changing only the filter every 3,000 miles and put over 200,000 miles on a toyota p/u truck and absolutely swears by not only amsoil but also likes mobil 1 (which i run). I hope im not sounding like 1 of those, "i got a friend guys" but i do also have a friend that sells cars and just got done with a seminar put on by GM that swears up and down that the new(03 to present) engine oil life monitors are AWESOME and actually take tiny samples of your oil and analyze it to come up with its life percentage. Example= 04 grand prix with regular 10w30/3000 miles oil life= 40%....same car with same mileage but 10w30 mobil1 oil life=82%. Take it for what its worth but im using my oil life monitor with mobil 1.