Royal Purple 12530 API-Licensed SAE 5W-30 High Performance Synthetic Motor Oil - 12 Quart

by Royal Purple

Product Features

• Better wear protection
• Increased fuel efficiency
• Better protection of the expensive catalytic emission system
• Improved compatibility with fuels containing ethanol
• Superior corrosion protection

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13 x 9.8 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 24.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000BNYMX2
• Item model number: 12530
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)
  • #4 in Automotive > Oils & Fluids > Oils > Motor Oils

Product Description

Royal Purple Motor Oil Combines premium base oils with proprietary additive technologies to create high performance motor oils that optimize engine performance and provide superior protection. No special procedures are necessary when upgrading to Royal Purple. Royal Purple motor oil is fully compatible with mineral or other synthetic oils. Royal Purple recommends waiting until the manufacturer’s first scheduled oil change in new gasoline engines before upgrading to Royal Purple. Royal Purple’s API licensed motor oil delivers superior protection and improves performance in gasoline and diesel engines. Royal Purple’s API SN licensed motor oil meets ILSAC GF-5 and Dexos1 1 performance requirements.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn about oil. This oil is very good but no magic will occur., October 7, 2011

By 

thomasterrible - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Purple 12530 API-Licensed SAE 5W-30 High Performance Synthetic Motor Oil - 12 Quart (Automotive)

People need to understand about motor oil to make the decision on what is right for them including if Royal Purple is what they should use or not. Forget the marketing, and anything else that suggests this or any oil will do anything "spectacular". What it can do is what a good motor oil can do, lubricate and help protect an engine from wear (when combined with a good filter). The synthetic oils benefits occur most when an engine is subjected to the extremes, high RPM, high stress, high temp situations where it will remain effective better than a conventional oil. Synthetic oils may also maintain their original properties a while longer than conventional oils. That is it however. That is very important stuff, what motor oil is for. That is good enough, all that should be expected. But it is still motor oil. Any claims of this or any other oil making your car go faster or get better MPG or anything like that should not be believed. That is not the job of motor oil.

The definition of "synthetic oil" in this Country is vague and most oils labeled "fully synthetic" are not made from 100% synthetic base stocks. This does not mean they are bad oils, just that the use of the work synthetic can be misleading.
One would need to look to see what base stocks are used to see just how fully synthetic an oil truly is. The base stocks in motor oil are Group I,II,III,IV and V base stocks. Group I-III (1-3) are all conventional mineral oils that have come from the ground. Dino oil. Only Group IV and V use synthetic base stocks (P.A.O. for group IV) and (Esters for group V).
95% of oils labeled "fully synthetic" actually begin with group III base stocks which are then highly processed in to the final product.

This does not mean that an oil is bad because it is not a true "fully synthetic" oil using 100% group IV or V base stocks or better just because it does use them, but this is something I think is misleading and not understood by most. Though being a true group IV oil using those P.A.O. base stocks is considered better by many. It is an indication of a high quality oil, and certainly meets the definition of a true fully synthetic oil, just not the only consideration.
There is much more to an oil than just the base stocks used. The formulations are very complex including many additives with detergent and anti-wear properties along with several others. Many factors go in to making a top quality motor oil.

I would not suggest one think they can go incredibly long times between oil changes just because they are using a high quality oil or because a certain mileage figure is on the label. When used with a good filter one may be able to change the oil at slightly longer change intervals, but to protect your engine better you also need to keep clean and fresh enough oil of any type in it. This oil is no exception. Also there is more to consider when determining oil change intervals than just mileage. Engine type, environmental extremes etc. also need to be considered. And time as well as oil does age. If you look on the bottles of oils with claims they can go for long periods of time between oil changes you will find some small print saying things such as "Do not alter oil change intervals from manufacturer requirements on vehicles under warranty (as this will likely VOID your warranty not keeping the maintenance schedule)" and "25,000 miles OR ONE YEAR" as well as many other various conditional statements about the vehicle operating conditions. What may be OK under ideal and perfect conditions is different from most all real situations.

As to Royal Purple being a good synthetic oil? I would say yes it is. Also very expensive particularly with this deal. If it is either the best or worth the price is the larger questions to consider. Is it worth it at this price? I would say NO it was recently on sale for 6.99/quart, at that time or the next time it goes on sale that is the prime time to purchase. Personally I prefer other brands, though my decisions are changing along with the changing of formulations of the oils I use. One should do research in to various synthetic motor oils and consider those as well and decide which one to use. Do not go by marketing claims. There are independent tests and discussions, there is even one with over 1000 posts on this subject on Amazon right now. Many other outside oil forums as well. One can also have their oil tested to compare results vs other brands used at various intervals in their own vehicle if one wants to do that sort of personal research which will yield at least some results. Also formulations are constantly changing so what ingredients used in any particular oil one year may not be what the formulation is today or will be tomorrow. If you research oil and decide that it is worth paying a bit more for a true group IV oil, then that is a reasonable decision to pay a bit more for that oil. I believe this RP is among Group IV oils, meaning it uses 100% synthetic base stocks. But contact Royal Purple to confirm this because their formulations change like all others. Make sure you know what you are buying.

I would also encourage purchasing any oil when it is on a big sale or has a rebate etc.. I believe most synthetics are overpriced and should be purchased only when on sale as this does happen on a regular basis. Check Amazon and other auto supply stores. There are constantly sales on synthetic oils and/or rebates making the cost per quart 6.00 or less on a regular basis, this is the time to purchase your oil. Often there are packages with filters which can be good deals as long as the filter is the one you would like to use also. This nor any other oil will perform well without also using a high quality filter, period. Make sure you are also using a high quality filter. The two need to both be of good quality for best performance and protection.

I give this a 4 star rating due to price. It has been on sale for less recently and that is the time to purchase expensive oils. Plan ahead and buy your oil when on a really good sale. You can save about 50% or at least close to it often times especially when offered with packages including an oil filter (as long as it is a good filter). The star rating reflects the value of this deal at this price.

In the end get a high quality oil but remember no oil is going to be providing its full benefits if it is no longer effective due to excessive use or age. Keep your maintenance schedules up to get the best performance and longest life out of your vehicle.

Royal Purple IS one in the group of top quality motor oils, just where it ranks is much more difficult to determine. Disregard outrageous claims made by any manufacturer or person and do your own research in to various synthetic oils to make a decision on which to use. There are several very good quality brands. Also learn about API, ILSAC and Dexos1 specifications mean. This Royal Purple DOES meet the most current API specification (SF) the ILSAC GF-5 and GM's new Dexos1 requirements. It should be compared against other synthetics that also meet those same specifications. THOSE ARE IMPORTANT RATINGS. These are your best street car motor oils. So YES this is a good oil, NO it will not do anything other high quality synthetic oils in the same class can do, and No this is not the best price I have seen for this oil.

Instead of comparing claims on a bottle (other than those API, ILSAC and perhaps Dexos1 ratings) do some outside research. Ignore outrageous claims and make an informed decision based upon knowledge of the oil and filters you purchase and what an appropriate price to purchase them at is.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Oil, Even Better Support, December 1, 2011

By 

P. Sorornejad - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Royal Purple 12530 API-Licensed SAE 5W-30 High Performance Synthetic Motor Oil - 12 Quart (Automotive)

A lot of reviews here talk about the product itself, and I think they have hammered the point that RP is one of the best synthetics that you can buy, up there with oils like Redline. I purchased my '10 RX8 in May 2010 with 16 miles on the clock and have been babying her ever since. After a few goes at conventional oil to break in the engine, I switched over to the RP after some great suggestions by the rx8 community. In doing so I took care to be very meticulous about my oil changes, performing them every 3000 miles, and saving samples to send to Blackstone labs just to make sure that the oil was doing a good job and that my engine was healthy. I ran the RP 5w30 in the winter, and then ran their 10w40 in the summer and had absolutely no problems. Once I changed out my first interval of the 10w40, I sent the samples over to BSL (~$40 total to sample both) to check the results. Although the numbers were above average, the Viscosity numbers were a tad low .... not alarmingly low, but I expected them to be stable considering that this is a premium oil. The guys over at BSL assured me that this was completely normal, and because my car only has 10k miles on it now, it could just be residuals from breakin/conventional oil use/some 5w30 that stayed in the sump when i put the 10w40. In any case, I sent my reports over to the folks at RP just to have them take a look-see. Within a few hours I got back a reply from the RP team pretty much confirming what the guys over at BSL said. Along with that, they stated that they wanted to continue monitoring my use just to be 100% sure that their assumptions are correct. They sent me free sample kits and told me to send them some samples when I do an oil change again.

There aren't that many companies out there that A. produce a fantastic product, B. advertise without bogus claims, and most importantly C. stand by their product 100%. If anything, this company got my respect and loyalty due to their immediate response and their handling of my concerns. Now again, let me stress, my oil analysis numbers were fantastic and were exactly what was expected of a newer car...but just because I had concerns the folks at RP asked me to send them over more samples so they can run an analysis free of charge.

I hope that helps most of you that are still on the fence about trying this product even though it has a fantastic quality reputation. Hopefully this will convince you that the team also has great relations with their customers.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Quality Oil, August 18, 2010

By 

Kegan Ogletree (Coloma, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Royal Purple 12530 API-Licensed SAE 5W-30 High Performance Synthetic Motor Oil - 12 Quart (Automotive)

As an ASE Certified technician, I understand the (usually unmet) needs of typical passenger vehicles; I would venture to say that Royal Purple exceeds even the most severe service requirements for any application. Worth the extra money, Royal Purple is a product that I would recommend to anyone without hesitation. I changed all the fluids in my 1992 Jeep Cherokee XJ (4.0L HO) over to Royal Purple, and the smoothness and power increase startled me on the first drive. I'm certain that the engine, which was in terrible shape at the time, only lasted as long as it did (220k mi before I crashed it) because of the exceptional quality of RP oil. Now, in my 1999 XJ, I won't use any other fluid. Royal Purple offers a simply amazing product.