Quaker State says it remains unchallenged and unsurpassed in wear protection, as Mobil 1, Valvoline and Castrol chose not to accept the terms of the motor oil challenge issued by Quaker State.
As of 5 p.m. Eastern time on March 27, Mobil 1 and Castrol had remained silent and did not respond to the motor oil challenge issued by Quaker State. Valvoline offered up its own testing, but declined to go head-to-head as outlined in Quaker State's challenge on March 20.
"We are disappointed that our competitors opted not to participate in the challenge designed to provide consumers with clarity regarding wear claims as measured by industry testing. However, the competitors' positions do not change what the team at Quaker State has always known – no leading full synthetic motor oil provides better wear protection in the ASTM Sequence IVA test than Quaker State's full synthetic," said Steve Harman, president, Americas.
"To mark the end of the 'Wear War,' we are reintroducing our product as Quaker State Ultimate Durability full synthetic motor oil – new name; same unsurpassed wear protection. Although not the head-to-head testing we would have liked, we have reviewed Valvoline's results on the Sequence IVA test, which are available on their own website, and compared results for Valvoline SynPower SAE 5W-30 motor oil to results for Quaker State Q HorsePower SAE 5W-30 on the same test," continued Harman. "These results reaffirm that Valvoline's SynPower full synthetic SAE 5W-30 motor oil does not provide better wear protection than Quaker State Q HorsePower. In fact, given Quaker State's results, no leading motor oil can outperform Quaker State Ultimate Durability full synthetic motor oil on the Sequence IVA – not Castrol, not Valvoline, not Mobil 1."
On March 20, Quaker State issued a challenge to its competitors. A letter was sent from Harman to the executives responsible for Mobil 1, Castrol and Valvoline, and a reprint of that exact letter was published in a full-page advertisement in USA Today to make the motoring public aware of the challenge.
The motor oil challenge was an effort to clarify the ongoing advertising campaigns boasting superior comparative wear protection claims based on the Sequence IVA test. Quaker State asked the competition making these claims to participate in a head-to-head challenge that would provide consumers with the hard facts and context behind the wear protection numbers. By publishing the results from head-to-head testing, Quaker State sought to put an end to the "Wear War" and thereby declare a winner: the consumer.
"We provide a product that consumers rely on to help maintain their vehicles, and in this economy everyone is looking for an affordable way to help maximize the life of their automotive investment," said Harman. "With consumers rightfully demanding straight talk from companies, we wanted to cut through this 'wear' clutter. Through this challenge, we simply wanted to show consumers that Quaker State full synthetic motor oil offers unsurpassed wear protection as measured by the industry's Sequence IVA test. And the fact that we offer Quaker State(R) Ultimate Durability full synthetic motor oil at an affordable price is just an added bonus for consumers."
The challenge called for a respected, third-party applied research and development organization to conduct a one-time, independent ASTM Sequence IVA test for each motor oil identified by the noted brands. Competitors had been given until Friday, March 27 at 5 p.m. EDT to respond to the proposal. Had a competitor chosen to participate, the wear results of the test would have been released to the public.
For more information on this challenge, the ASTM Sequence IVA wear test, and the full line-up of Quaker State products, visit www.QuakerState.com.