Mobil 1 5w30 vs Castrol Edge 5w30 – Wear Testing Results
There is a great oil comparison spreadsheet here which was compiled by Piotr Tester. In this article I look at the data from this spreadsheet to come up with an easy to use table comparing Mobil 1 5w30 vs Castrol Edge 5w30 synthetic oils.
| Mobil 1 5w30 (ESP Formula)^ – Test video here | Castrol Edge 5w30 (Titanium FST LL)@ – Test video here | Result | |
| Low Load Low Temp | 0.14 | 0.06 | Castrol Edge -0.08mm |
| Low Load High Temp | 0.09 | 0.12 | Castrol Edge +0.03mm |
| High Load High Temp | 0.11 | – | No Castrol Data |
Low Load = 1kg
Low Temp = Room temp
High Load = 2kg
High Temp = 100C
For results of further testing the spreadsheet contains information of how to obtain the premium content.
Results & Winner
Its unfortunate that there isn’t high load high temp data for Castrol.
Personally I prefer better low load, high temp protection than low load, low temp protection because the engine will work at high temps for much, much longer periods than at low temps.
On this basis Mobil 1 5w30 wins.
If I had to make an educated guess about the Castrol Edge at high load, high temp. At high temps I see that there can be a big fall off in wear resistance for some Castrol Edge oils, for example 10w60 Supercar wear increases by 0.11mm & Castrol Edge FST Titanium 0w40 wear increases by 0.16mm.
On the flip side Castrol Edge Turbo Diesel Titanium FST 5w40 wear actually improves when load is increased.
In short, I’d guess that the Castrol would perform slightly worse than the Mobil 1 at high load, high temp conditions. Mobil 1 (probably) wins.
Notes (IMPORTANT):
- The testing done on the spreadsheet shows a difference between the same oil depending on the country. For example Mobil 1 New Life 0w40. There are three oils listed. The difference is only one has GM-LL-A-025, GM-LL-B-025 specification. The other two “Mobil 1 New Life 0w40” do not have these GM specs.
- I guess the moral is the name of the oil is not enough to go by. You have to check the specification of the oil in the spreadsheet and check the oil you are buying has the same specs on the bottle as the one tested.
- ^The spec of this oil is “Chrysler MS-11106, Peugeot/Citroën B71 2290, B71 2297, GM dexos2, MB 229.51, 229.31, ACEA C2, C3, API SM / SN, JASO DL-1”
- @The spec of this oil is not listed in the test results.
- The weights of the two oils may be the same but the specifications may not be. In my opinion the oil specification is what should be used to choose the correct oil for the engine and not the weight of the engine oil.
- The testing procedure may realistically represent the wear that occurs in an engine but it also may not.
