I was reading on another site and it said zinc has nothing to do with your catalytic converters unless your car burns alot of oil. There is so much different information it's hard to know whats right and what's not.

 

That was going to be my question. Why would your cats get Zinc from oil, unless you're burning it or putting it in your gas tank.

Mobil 1 has quite a bit of zinc in it as well.

 

It's fine. There are many great oils out there. One of the most important things to do is change it regularly and if you live somewhere they actually have cold winters, switch to thinner oils in the winter and heavier in the heat of summer. The car manufacturers have to pick a happy medium oil grade(weight) to satisfy year round driving weather you live in Florida or North Dakota. Telling customers about changing oil weights according to seasonal changes would be a joke. People would confuse the issue, wouldn't do it etc. Would cause many warranty and longevity problems. But if you're an avid car guy or girl you'll do it and benefit from it.

 

I ran Castrol Syntec for the 2nd half of this summer. Put about 700 road course miles on it and 1700 street miles. I'm not changing it until after winter, at which point I'll get another oil analysis done to see how it held up in comparison with Motorcraft 5w50 and M1 5w50 that I have run in the car as well.

Based on driving, the Castrol seemed to do quite well. I log engine temps (and other parameters) during track days, and the car ran a couple degrees cooler than with Motorcraft. Was about the same as with the M1.

Oil analysis will really tell, but it's seemed fine. Engine did not burn any through all the track driving.

 

My car calls for 5w-20 as did my old 3v. I use penzoil platinum for it. Although the 5.0 seems to be harsher on oil than the 3v. If I was tracking it I would definitely go for a 5-40 or a 5-50 even though its not a track pack.

I would stay away from mobil 1 oils though. I stopped using them when I had my 3v and it would turn mobil1 synthetic into black yogurt in 3k miles.....

 

so will 5w-50 solve the engine ticking?