oilman

We have 2 lucky winners! They are: Aaron Causley, who's a member of the East of England Bikers forum and Paul Palmer (who frequents the pistonbroke, passionford, scoobynet, uklegacy.com and focusstoc forums). Paul and Aaron both win tickets to the British Superbikes at Silverstone later this month for themselves and a guest as VIP guests of Castrol, general admission for the free practice and qualifying days, plus some top quality, fully synthetic Castrol oil for their car / motorbike. We stock a very wide range of Castrol oils, lubricants and workshop products, so if you're after something for your vehicle, you know where to come ;-) Congratulations to both of you; we're sure you'll have a great day! So... sorry if you didn't win, but there's always the next time. Look out for our September competition, coming soon! Thanks to everyone who entered. oilman

Hi Folks, We've got a "money can't buy" prize for our August competiton! Yes, those nice folk at Castrol have kindly offered us 2 fantastic VIP hospitality packages for 2 lucky winners and a guest each to the penultimate round of the British Superbikes Championship at Silverstone over the weekend of 25 - 27 September 2009. We know this is a car forum, but we thought you'd feel left out if we didn't let you know! And we know that a lot of petrolheads follow SuperBikes... No purchase necessary. The prizes almost didn't make it further than our office ("oilman + 3") but The Boss intervened ;-) So, get this little lot: * Race Day - Sunday 27 September - Castrol VIP hospitality: o MCE British Superbikes event and a full programme of supporting races and entertainment o Lunch and drinks as a guest of Castrol o A talk from one of the riders over lunch o Track-side access o A walk around the garages * General admission for the British Superbikes free practice and a full supporting programme on Friday 25 September 2009 * General admission for the British Superbikes qualifying and a full supporting programme on Saturday 26 September 2009 * ... and Opie Oils will throw in enough top quality, fully synthetic Castrol oil for an oil change on your car or motorbike 2 chances to win! Sweet :-p This month, you need to name the rider appearing in our cropped down photo from the following 5 choices: a. Karl Muggeridge b. James Toseland c. Roberto Rolfo d. Leon Camier e. Glen Richards Enter here: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/british-superbikes-competition.aspx Entries before close of play on Tuesday 25th August 09 please. Good luck! oilman and the team at Opie Oils

5w-30 or 5w-40 synthetic, most popular is 5w-40 as you have more choice. The best and most popular are the ester based synthetics, have a look at 5w-40 and 5w-30 ones here http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-953-ester-synthetic.aspx Cheers Guy

Indeed you can. All oils will mix. Mixing good quality with poor is not good as it negates the performance of the good stuff though. Should be on 5w-40 or 5w-30 really though. Cheers Guy

Guess the Car Competition – Answer! As many of you guessed, the correct answer was: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG The winning ticket was drawn on the 27th July. Congratulations to our winner Mr Snow from Chattenden who is a Member of the Disco3.co.uk Car Club. Mr Snow wins the superb 1/10 Scale R/C Ford GT40. We wish him the best of luck and many hours of fun learning to tame the beast! For August 2009 we are planning a very special competition. We will be giving away tickets to a great sporting event with full Corporate hospitality. This is a prize that money cannot buy so............ If you would like to be amongst the first to receive details of our August competition, subscribe to our email offers and notifications by registering on our website here http://www.opieoils.co.uk/t-get-cheaper-prices.aspx You can also follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Until next time. Cheers Guy and the www.opieoils.co.uk Team

Keep the entries coming chaps

Think movies

A lot are getting it wrong so chances are good! Cheers Guy

Too easy again chaps

In another of our "guess the car" competitions, Opie Oils' July competition is a chance to win a Ford GT40! Ready to run, our prize contains everything you need to drive this little beauty away. Sadly, Opie finances won't stretch to a full size GT40, so we've had to scale things down a little... Yep, we've imported a 1:10 scale 4WD remote control car. Not quite the real thing, but a proper RC car and not a toy. And definitely more fun than polishing your car. Almost all parts can be replaced and repaired (and if you're anything like us, you'll need to) and you can retro-fit tuning parts should the mood take you... To win it, just tell us the car shown on our web page here Good luck! Guy and the team at Opie Oils GT40 Specifications: - 4 Wheel Drive - Maximum speed: 37-40 mph (45-50 kph) - 27mHz receiver and transmitter (6 different channels) - Length: 385mm - Width: 200mm - Weight without body: 1150g - Length: 385mm - Width: 200mm The prize comprises: - 1 x Seben Chassis inclusive - 1 x Seben Car Body - 1 x 27mHz receiver and transmitter (6 different channels) - 7.2 V Battery

Cleaning and detailing products competition – We have a winner! Sadly, unless you’ve heard from us today, it wasn’t you... but we do have a nice little consolation for everyone – see our web site for details (you'll need to be quick). Still not sure of the answers? Take a look at our web site and all will be revealed! Thanks to everyone who entered, and look out for our next competition - details soon! Guy

Cleaning and detailing products competition – We have a winner! Sadly, unless you’ve heard from us today, it wasn’t you... but we do have a nice little consolation for everyone – see our web site for details (you'll need to be quick). Still not sure of the answers? Take a look at our web site and all will be revealed! Thanks to everyone who entered, and look out for our next competition - details soon! Guy

Just a quick reminder... Our guess the car competiton ends close of play on Friday 26th June 09.

Keep em coming. Cheers Guy

Good man, you never know your luck!

It's Opie Oils competition time again! This time we're giving away over £150's worth of cleaning, polishing and detailing products. Free to enter, no purchase necessary. It's a great prize, containing everything you need to get your car looking the business inside and out! There's car shampoo and wheel cleaner, clay bars and polishes - a huge selection of products from Meguiars, Muc-off and Bilt Hamber. How to win it? Easy! Just let us know the make of the "mystery car" on our web site and fill in the competition entry form with your answer. If you like, you can tell us what model it is too, but you don't need to... and there are no bonus prizes! It's free to enter and there's no committment to buy anything, so give it a go! You've nothing to lose... except perhaps a whole weekend spent cleaning and polishing your car if you're the winner ;-) Last entries by close of play on Friday 26th June 09, please. If you're the winner, you'll get all this: (all linked to our web site so you can find out more if you like) A bottle of Bilt Hamber Auto Wash (mega-concentrated; a teaspoon per bucket's all you need) A bar of Bilt Hamber Auto Clay - Regular (for a first time claying to get rid of paint impurities) A bar of Bilt Hamber Auto Clay - Soft (for the more regular detailer) A Muc-Off Device and Screen Cleaner pack (for everything from spectacles to your satnav screen) A can of Muc-Off Disc Brake Cleaner (does what it says on the tin - also good at removing permanent marker from whiteboards when you use the wrong pen, as we found out last week) A Muc-Off Ultimate Wheel and Tyre Kit (Muc-Off Nanotech Wheel Cleaner, Muc-Off Wheel Seal plus 3 brushes, a sponge, a cloth, 2 sponge applicators and a nice tub to put it all in) A Meguiars Lambs Wool Wash Mitt (soft and fluffy) A bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Quik Detailer (Never good at spelling, those Americans) A tube of Meguiars Scratch X (for isolated scratches and blemishes) A bottle of Meguiars Hot Shine Tyre Dressing Spray (if you like the wet look) A bottle of Meguiars Carpet and Interior Cleaner (you know it's overdue!) 4 Meguiars soft foam applicator pads (round and yellow) A bottle of Meguiars NXT Tech Wax 2.0 (good stuff, this, and comes with a sparkly purple applicator pad) A 1 litre bottle of Fuchs Screen Wash concentrate (makes up to 10 litres summer use) (Partridge and Pear tree not included) ... so that'd keep you busy. There's also the option for the winner to substitute the product selection above for a more motorcycle-focussed prize instead. Contact us for details if that's of specific interest. Rules? Well, Opie Oils staff can't enter :-( The prize is as stated and there's no cash alternative, entries received after Friday 26th June won't count and just the one entry each please. Good luck! Guy and the team >> Enter now <<

5w-40 or 5w-40 synthetic, you can use use 0w-40. Cheers Guy

Bring em on Cheers

You're welcome

Viscosity is the most misunderstood aspect of oil and yet it is the most important. Viscosity is the force required to shear (break) the oil at a certain speed and temperature. Oils work because they have viscosity; the drag of a rotating part pulls oil from a low-pressure area into a high pressure area and “floats†the surfaces apart. This is called “hydrodynamic lubrication†and crank bearings depend on it. Oil must be capable of flowing at low temperatures, so that it gets around the engine in a fraction of a second at start-up and must protect engine components at high temperatures without evaporating or carbonising and maintain adequate oil pressure. The numbers on every can of oil indicate its performance characteristics when new but there are many misconceptions on what these numbers actually mean. For multigrade oils you will see two numbers (for monograde oils only one). The first is followed by a “w†and is commonly 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20. The second number is always higher than the first and is commonly 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60. The first and second numbers ARE NOT related. The “w†number (0, 5, 10, 15 or 20) When multigrade oils first appeared, a low temperature test called “w†(meaning “winter†not weight) was introduced. Using a “Cold Crank Simulator, the test measures the oils ability to flow at low temperatures. ALL oils are THICKER at low temperatures than at high temperatures but the lower the “w†number, the quicker the oil will flow at low temperatures. The second number (20, 30, 40, 50 or 60) This number is known as the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) number and is measured in “Centistokes†(cst) at 100degC. Centistokes (cst) is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow (viscosity). It is calculated in terms of the time required for a standard quantity of fluid at a certain temperature to flow through a standard orifice. The higher the value, the thicker the oil. An oils cst at 100degC determines it’s SAE rating within the following parameters. SAE 20 = 5.6 to less than 9.3cst SAE 30 = 9.3 to less than 12.5cst SAE 40 = 12.5 to less than 16.3cst SAE 50 = 16.3 to less than 21.9cst SAE 60 = 21.9 to less than 26.0cst a decent oil always falls in the middle of the spec so an SAE 40 will be around 14cst. ALL oils labelled 40 must fall within the SAE parameters at 100degC so everything from a monograde 40 to multigrade 0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40, 15w-40 are the same thickness at 100degC. Summary Cold start. A 5w-40 will flow better than a 10w-40. A 10w-50 will flow better than a 15w-50 A 5w-40 is the same as a 5w-30 At operating temperatures. A 10w-50 is thicker than a 10w-40. A 15w-50 is thicker than a 5w-40 A 0w-40 is the same as a 10w-40 Multigrades offer flexibility but manufacturers recommended viscosities should be observed unless modifications have been made that affect engine temperatures or the car is being used off road. Cheers Guy

Gulf Lubricants (UK) and Opie Oils are proud to announce a new partnership to distribute Gulf's extensive range of car oils, lubricants and fluids, including the all new Gulf Competition range which is available exclusively online from www.opieoils.co.uk This means we now supply oils from an unrivalled 8 major oil manufacturers! The Gulf range offers genuine quality and a great choice at competitive prices - check out the full Gulf range on our web site Here's a quick overview of the range: Gulf Competition The Gulf Competition range of ester-based race and competition products are formulated and proven in race and rally conditions. There are 5 different grades of engine oil in the range (0w-30, 5w-40, 10w-40, 15w-50 and 10w-60), suitable for everything from qualifying laps and short sprints, single seater racing and saloon cars, right the way through to high power endurance race conditions. There are also competition-grade gear box oils, brake fluids and grease. Now available online, exclusively from Opie Oils. Gulf Formula 100% synthetic engine oils with the most modern additive packages. There's an oil meeting virtually every car oil standard set by the manufacturer and international standards bodies, including the latest ACEA and API specifications, and from BMW, Ford, Mercedes, Renault, Volkswagen, GM / Vauxhall / Opel. Gulf Tec High quality, semi-synthetic engine oils at great prices, meeting VW and Mercedes standards and the latest ACEA A3/B4 standards Gulf Max 20w-50 A high quality, higher viscosity mineral oil for older vehicles Gulf gear oils and automatic transmission fluids A superb wide range of gear oils, MTFs and ATFs covering many of the latest manufacturer standards. Check out the Gulf ATF Mercon V, which meets ATF standards from all the major Japanese manufacturers (including the hard to find standards such as Honda Z1, Mazda MIII/MV, Toyota TIV, Mitsubishi Diamond SPII / SPIII and Nissan-MATIC), JWS3309 (for Saabs and Volvos), plus specifications from BMW, VW and Mercedes... and Ford Mercon V of course! Questions? We're happy to help. There's a much fuller description of the Gulf range on our web site, or give us a call on 01209 215164 / email us - sales@opieoils.co.uk Cheers Guy and the Opie Oils Team

Guess the Car Competition – Answers! As many of you guessed, the answers were: • Aston Martin for the make of car (the car is the Le Mans-winning DBR9) • Gulf is the oil sponsor The winning ticket was drawn by Keith Jewers of Gulf Oil UK at Japfest on Saturday 16th… Congratulations to our winner, Mick Hall from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex! Mick wins £100 of products from across the range at Opie Oils. We ran the competition to tie in with the launch of new Gulf lubricants, including an all new range of Gulf Competition race oils, exclusively online from Opie Oils. Opie Oils played host to the remaining race DBR9 on our stand at Japfest to celebrate the Gulf launch. There's a high res A4 picture of the 009 race winning car available as a free download from our web site. We were delighted that so many of you entered the competition. We had over 1700 entries, with about 85% of you getting the right answer. From the wrong answers, Lotus (specifically the Lotus Exige) was a common guess for the car. And much as we would like to have been able to sponsor the Aston Martin DBR9, Opie Oils was not the right answer for the oil sponsor! Our favourite wrong answer? What car is shown in the photo? Bugati Veron (????Not a clue really best guess!) Who is the oil sponsor of the car? Opie Oils by any chance? When we’re in a position to sponsor a race-going Bugati Veron, we’ll crack open the champagne. You’re all invited ;-) If you would like to be amongst the first to know of future competitions, why not subscribe or bookmark our twitter page at twitter.com/opieoils ? We feel another one coming on… Til next time

This competition will close at midnight Tonight (12th May), no entries will be accepted after this time. We will post the results here week commencing 18th May. Last chance to enter here http://www.opieoils.co.uk/frmoilcompetition.aspx Good luck! Cheers The OpieOils Team

Folks, We’re running a little competition, with no purchase necessary to win £100 of oil from our brand new range of competition and race oils. Pop along to our web site take a look at the photo and tell us what make of car it is & who the oil sponsor is. If you’re right, we’ll enter you in to a prize draw, to take place at Europe’s biggest Japanese car show, JAPFEST, Castle Combe Circuit on 16th May. The winner will receive £100 of oil (of their choice) from the new range of oils we’re launching at the show. This new and exciting range of oils will be available exclusively online from www.opieoils.co.uk soon afterwards. So what do you have to lose? Enter the competition here! Our product launch includes playing host to this amazing, competition-winning car at JAPFEST. We'll also have 4 awesome Japanese cars running over 1000bhp! So if you can make it along to the show on 16th May at Castle Combe, we’re sure it will be a great day out. Finally, we’ve put together some exclusive show pricing on a selection of our most popular products, available on a pre-order basis only. Products, prices and the pre-order form are here. We won't be carrying much additional stock on the day, so please pre-order to make sure you don't miss out. Good luck with the competition, and we hope to see you at JAPFEST on 16th May – Castle Combe Circuit, Wiltshire! Guy and the OpieOils.co.uk Team Competition Closes Midnight 12th May!

Im now closing this offer, as i think it is clear we will not be making 10names. if there is a group buy you think will go well with your forum please send me a pm or email me on oilman@opieoils.co.uk and i will try and sort it out for you. Cheers