[M.D. Holloway]

Vinman - your friends are correct. For the most part, any lube coming from a major concern with refineries will be the same stuff. A lubricating oil is a base oil (white oil, bright stock, synthetics, what ever) and some chemicals that will give performance. Some folks will purify the base oil(s) and some even will blend various base oils to get a certain viscosity and/or property. Synthetic oils are made from crude oil. In some cases, it can be nothing more than mineral oil that has been stripped of sulphur and wax and in other cases it can be an actual rearrangement of the molecular structure. White oil is nothing more than a term for the base stock or basic mineral oil. Many things are made from the stuff not just lubes.

The chemicals that they put in the product are "canned" formulas from Lubrizol or Infinium or a bunch of other folks. The oil companies just take the base oil(s) and cold blend in the additves packages to make to end product. These formulas are well understood and designed to meet the bare minimum specs of OEMs.

Independent lube companies like ours look to do more than just meet to the minimums. We have taken the stand that we will develop products that go well beyound any spec and for that matter out performa any other product on the market - both in the lab tests and in actually case studies and even prolonged use at the customer site.