Does anyone use a Slick additive to oil?

[curiosity]

To put the contrary view (before somebody else puts it):

I've seen the ball test performed with a PTFE boundary lubricant and it failed to show any great improvement.

However it should be noted that
1) PTFE type boundary lubricants are not oils (the ball test is an oil test)

2) Boundary lubricants using PTFE generally require a bit of time to coat (ball tests are usually performed without any coating time)

3) According to at least one manufacturer PTFE is not the key ingredient in their boundary lubricant.. although PTFE dispersion is probably necessary for the lubricant to work properly (a secondary component not the primary one). Thus poor dispersion (not shaking the bottle) might account for some of the poor results.

4) Not all lubricants containing PTFE are made equal: some are oil additives (enhance the properties of the oil) while others are boundary lubricants. Some lubricants (boundary and conventional) have a lot of testing... and most have none. There is a huge difference between lubricants. Testing one lubricant with PTFE and claiming the results are representative of all is about as sensible as claiming that all oils are the same.

5) Boundary lubricants can last varying amounts of time... just as normal lubricants can. At least one boundary lubricant lasts the life of your engine (is not removed with an oil change) and others do not. There are no traditional lubricants which claim to last the life of your engine and some oil additives break down very quickly:

Chlorine is often added to oils as a high pressure additive. Such oils pass the ball pressure test with flying colours. However as soon as heat and pressure start working on the chlorine it turns into HCl (hydrochloric acid) and starts to corrode your engine. At least one highly promoted oil additive ran foul of the FTC because of this problem.

This is why one person can claim that the ball test didn't work and another to claim it did work... with the same product... and yet both could be right.

As always the devil is in the detail.

The best way to figure out what works is usually to look for proper testing... and to carry out testing as the companies suggest: Each company knows which tests work best with its products.

A competitor is not interested in being fair when it tests (it is looking for ways to show its product is superior): What would be the point of showing that another product is superior? Thus you should never rely on a competitors tests without asking "What didn't they mention?" Always give the other company the right of reply.

Always try to figure out what the limitations of a product are. Most manufacturers never mention these... but competitors might. Once you understand how things work you can often combine two or more products that work together. Often that effect is synergistic (the sum of the whole is greater than the parts).

Surprisingly despite the claims ~99% of companies have no testing on their web sites. Why is this so?

[HAHA]

Interesting article about friction on NextBigFuture:
Engine Friction can be overcome for 18% fuel efficiency gains in 5-10 years and up to 61% in 15-25 years

There are 612 million cars in the world today. The average car clocks up about 13,000 km per year, and in the meantime burns 340 litres of fuel just to overcome friction, costing the driver EUR 510 per year.

Of the energy output of fuel in a car engine, 33% is spent in exhaust, 29% in cooling and 38% in mechanical energy, of which friction losses account for 33% and air resistance for 5%. By comparison, an electric car has only half the friction loss of that of a car with a conventional internal combustion engine.

Annual friction loss in an average car worldwide amounts to 11,860 MJ: of this, 35% is spent in overcoming rolling resistance in the wheels, 35% in the engine itself, 15% in the gearbox and 15% in braking. With current technology, only 21.5% of the energy output of the fuel is used to actually move the car; the rest is wasted.

.....

A recent VTT and ANL study shows that friction in cars can be reduced with new technologies such as new surface coatings, surface textures, lubricant additives, low-viscosity lubricants, ionic liquids and low-friction tyres inflated to pressures higher than normal.

Friction can be reduced by 10% to 50% using new surface technologies such as diamond-like carbon materials and nanocomposites. Laser texturing can be employed to etch a microtopography on the surface of the material to guide the lubricant flow and internal pressures so as to reduce friction by 25% to 50% and fuel consumption by 4%. Ionic liquids are made up of electrically charged molecules that repel one another, enabling a further 25% to 50% reduction in friction.

[oil pan 4]

I have used PTFE in engines before.
The one where I used it the most was my 6.5L diesel engine build.
I sparyed the main and rod bearing shells with a light coat of remington dry PTFE spary, then put a fairly thick coat on the injector pump driver gear and used a PTFE and wax "dry chain" lub on the timing chain.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by HAHA

Interseting article about friction on NextBigFuture:
Engine Friction can be overcome for 18% fuel efficiency gains in 5-10 years and up to 61% in 15-25 years...

Part of the BMW Efficient Dynamics stuff is a significant reduction in mechanical losses due to friction, as well as things like stop-start. Not sure if they use coatings and PTFE specifically though.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Part of the BMW Efficient Dynamics stuff is a significant reduction in mechanical losses due to friction, as well as things like stop-start. Not sure if they use coatings and PTFE specifically though.

I'd wager at least some of that is down to the 0w30 Castrol edge fully synth they stick in most things

at £15 A LITRE it had better be magic!