El Paso Oil Change: How To Determine the Best Type of Motor Oil for Your Vehicle and Driving Style
If you’ve ever scheduled an El Paso oil change, you know you have options — but you might not know what these options mean. These days, all kinds of oil are available for purchase. As you might expect, each of these products has its strengths and weaknesses.
Are you wondering which oil type is right for your vehicle? In this article, we’ll examine various kinds of motor oil and help you determine which one best suits your unique needs.
Understand These Popular Oil Types
Even if you have a decent understanding of the differences between full synthetic and conventional oil, you need to know more about motor oil varieties. With that in mind, here’s our overview of the four leading products in this category.
Conventional Oil
Conventional or standard oil is the most popular oil type on the market today. It consists of naturally occurring crude mineral oil, which is then enhanced to improve its viscosity and protective abilities.
However, conventional oil’s popularity isn’t a result of its performance — instead, it is as widely used as it is due to its low price tag. Full synthetic oil and other synthetic oil options outperform conventional oil in terms of engine protection, and you’ll need to schedule oil change service more frequently while using conventional oil.
Full Synthetic Oil
Full synthetic oil is an entirely different product from conventional oil, and the differences start with its manufacturing method. As its name suggests, full synthetic oil is a manmade product created in labs and factories. Because its manufacturing process is so closely controlled, full synthetic oil can reach incredibly high performance standards.
Full synthetic oil doesn’t just do a better job of protecting engines than conventional oil — it can last longer before needing to be replaced. That’s especially helpful because full synthetic oil changes cost more than a conventional El Paso oil change.
Synthetic Blend Oil
Though full synthetic and conventional oils have advantages and disadvantages, that doesn’t mean you have to choose one or the other. Instead, you could opt for synthetic blend oil — a combination of the abovementioned oil types.
Because it’s a blend of conventional oil and full synthetic oil, synthetic blend oil protects engines more effectively than the former product at a lower cost than the latter. You’ll also benefit from a life span that falls between the service lives of the other oil types.
High-Mileage Oil
Finally, it’s important to note that none of these three oil varieties is best for drivers with high-mileage vehicles. If your car has been driven for over 75,000 miles, you’ll want to consider high-mileage oil formulated especially for these cars.
High-mileage oil’s manufacturing method closely resembles that of full synthetic oil. The differences between these two products lie in what they contain: high-mileage oil comes with a specialized blend of cleansers, seal conditioners, viscosity modifiers, and anti-corrosion agents. With the help of these additives, this oil type can make it easier for aging cars to deal with issues like corrosion and oil burn-off.
How Your Driving Style Affects Oil Change Scheduling
Despite what you might have heard, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all oil change schedule. Though standard advice suggests drivers should schedule oil changes every 3,000 miles or three months, this isn’t a rule by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, you’ll want to create your own oil change schedule by considering various factors, including your driving habits.
The thought of having “severe” driving habits may sound alarming, but these are surprisingly common among El Paso drivers. You’ll need to counteract them by getting oil changes twice as frequently as usual if you have driving habits like these:
- Traveling long distances slower than 50 mph
- Driving on unpaved roads
- Regularly taking short trips
- Towing/hauling heavy loads
- Getting stuck in stop-and-go traffic
Of course, your driving habits aren’t the only factors that can affect your oil change schedule. Your vehicle’s age, the temperatures you typically drive in, and the oil type you use can all increase or decrease your oil change interval. Once you’ve considered all of these factors, use the 3,000-mile/three-month standard as a baseline and make adjustments to develop a custom oil change schedule.
Know Where to Get an El Paso Oil Change
No matter what type of oil you’re looking for and how often you need an oil change service, you’ll want to find an auto shop you can trust to take care of this service. When it’s time for your next El Paso oil change, count on Martin Tire Company to get the job done.
At Martin Tire, we employ ASE-certified mechanics, provide full-service oil changes, and help our customers save with coupons and financing opportunities. This is why we’ve been the region’s go-to auto shop for this service since 1945. See what we can do for you by scheduling an oil change today!
