RS-R RAN-UP oil additive

[Symbiont]

Many of you may have seen me post on here over the past few months. If so, you know that I tend to be skeptical, passionate, and demanding. I am also very devoted to my BRZ, but not oblivious to its shortcoming. After driving the car for around 6200 miles and putting an intake and tune on the car, I was becoming more and more aware of various little noises coming from the engine bay.

I had been talking with Moto about his RS-R coilover setup, and happened to drop by their site to see what information they had available on it, and stumbled across a rather odd product for a suspension component (and, in the past, exhaust) manufacturer. They had a rather innocuous bottle of oil additive that made some rather suspicious (to my skeptical mind) claims. You can see the site here.

I asked Moto about it, and he was very effusive and ebullient in his praise of the product. I was astonished, to be honest; I really expected it to be rather underwhelming.

I decided to give it a try, as smoothing out the idle and reducing the engine noise sounded pretty good to me, although I didn't expect any HP or TQ gains. 50 dollars every 4000 miles or so was more than worth it, to me, to have a more sublime motoring experience. I frequently cruise canyon and beach roads with the engine down, and I had been noticing that there were numerous high-pitched and raspy noises that were either beginning to show up, or I was beginning to be aware of. Either way, I wanted to see if I could squash them.

I added the bottle to my online cart and hit 'order', and then realized I'd have to pay shipping and tax on it, so I dropped them a quick email and asked if I could pick up a bottle or two in their Santa Ana location, as a 10 minute drive sounded better than 10 dollars in shipping charges.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email back inviting me to come down to their facility for the day to do some before and after pulls, as well as allowing them to add it to the engine themselves. While I wasn't too concerned with my ability to pour a small bottle of product into my oil reservoir, I gratefully accepted the opportunity and set up an appointment to mosey on down to their location and meet these kind gentlemen.

First I stopped by a friend's shop and had him change the oil. He used the same stock 0W-20 Idemitsu synthetic oil that came in the car from the factory, as well as an official Subaru oil filter. There wasn't any problem getting it, as my girlfriend's dad works at Worldpac and made sure it was on hand. I wanted the car to be as close to stock as possible, and remove any variables that may affect the before and after results I was looking to evaluate. Interestingly enough, even after 6200 miles and 1 oil change (at 3k miles), the oil was still very clean. I probably didn't need to change it yet, but I wanted to be sure to get the most use out of the product I was going to be testing today.

I drove around for about 30 minutes to verify that the engine sounded the same. I have VTuning's Stage 1 ECU flash and the Injen BRZ intake on the car. I absolutely LOVE the engine note and acceleration the car has, but anyone who has the intake or the flash knows that their engine has gotten a bit more unruly. While I am a fan of this overall, there is a definite 'rasp' to the engine in the 3500-4500 RPM range. It was a bit disconcerting the first time I heard it, but it is not entirely unpleasant. That being said, there are times when I do long for a slightly quieter engine. Laying off the throttle makes a big difference, but there's nothing you can do about the idle sounds... or so I thought.

I arrived at RS-R after my customary morning coffee (after driving up and down the street a few times, getting myself lost). The guys there were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and I really enjoyed talking with them. I feel like a complete novice when it comes to cars; I'm more of a computer guy. I knew enough to swap out my intake and generally poke around in the engine bay, but that is not my forte by any stretch of the imagination.

We put the car up on their Superflow dyno and started doing some pulls. For those of you unfamiliar with the Superflow product, it is an AWD dyno with two rollers connected by a shaft. It is both load and non-load bearing, depending on what type of test you are doing, and closely simulates real-world driving conditions. It is probably closest to a Mustang dyno, for those familiar with that option, rather than the Dynojet I had previous experience with. They dyno is relatively new (< 1 year old) and is calibrated every 3 months or so, so I trusted the results.

After numerous pulls at the same oil and coolant temperature, they added the RAN-UP and I went for a quick spin or two around the block in a slightly modded tC and xB while the BRZ w/ RAN-UP was broken in. Man, I love those RS-R coil-overs... but that's a topic for another post in a month or two.

Interesting side note here; the FR-S and BRZ get extremely high oil temperatures for a NA car. The oil in my car was easily hitting 235 degrees while just cruising at 60MPH. After talking with Ben about it, he said all the FR-S he had tested were showing the same results. While this is not past the danger point where the 0W-20 synthetic in our cars will start to break down, it is still very high. Now I know why Moto wanted that oil cooler... scary!

After the car was ready, we did some more pulls on it. While there was no significant increase in my tuned car in HP or TQ, there were some pulls that showed it peaking a HP or two higher than stock. This is probably to be expected in the normal variation between dyno pulls, however, so I was not floored by the results. I didn't expect to be, however, as this wasn't the real reason I was there. For me, the 'feel' of the car is vastly more important than what numbers show up on a computer graph, so I eagerly awaited the chance to take it around the block.

One of the nicest things that came from the 'after' testing was that the oil temperature was down about 10 degrees under the same testing conditions. (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater)

As the car came down off the dyno, I was immediately shocked. I could barely hear the engine idling. At first I thought it was the comparison between hearing the 7800RPM pulls bouncing off the walls, so I let Ben take the car around the block to feel the difference between the FR-S and BRZ stock suspension while I let my ears acclimate. When he pulled back up, we chatted for a bit about the pitch on the roads with the BRZ and how it feels stiffer then the FR-S, and then it was my turn to take a drive.

I got in the car, shut the door, and left the windows down. The idle engine note I noticed was immediately and shockingly apparent. It felt and sounded like the engine bay had been wrapped in Dynamat. The high frequency noises the engine makes were all muted. The 'raspiness' of the FA20 was almost completely gone. I blipped the throttle a couple times and noticed something else, too; the throttle response felt slightly quicker and smoother, as well. Also, the gear shift had noticeably less shimmy in my hand. I honestly thought I was imaging these things, as I truly did not expect any difference.

After driving around the block, my initial impressions held true; this sounded and felt like a completely different car. The throttle response was the smoothest it has ever been, the unpleasant engine noises were quieter (the intake growl and high RPM under load were still as aggressive as ever, though), and the idle was much smoother. Even though the car wasn't really making any more power, the power felt like it rolled on quicker when I did want it.

It felt like getting out of a Toyota and getting into a Lexus. The car felt so much more refined and well-mannered. I could hear the noises I wanted to better, and was much happier with the feel of the engine, in general.

For 50 dollars an oil change, this may not be the cheapest product in the world, but I will be using a bottle in my car every time my car is up on the lift to have its changed. Count this skeptic a believer.

One thing to note for those who may have been hoping otherwise; the fuel pump 'chirping' is still there. Not that I expected differently, but I felt I should mention it.

Here are some pictures and videos. Yes, I know the iPhone is horrible at video and I'm a bad person for not editing the video, but it's late and I'm tired.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixz4n40bEbU"]Subaru BRZ on the dyno at RS-R USA for RAN-UP testing. - YouTube[/ame]


Pics from RS-R USA's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...0815818&type=1

[Memphis]

I have this stuff in my car as well. Its a good product.

[brichard0625]

Nice..i've heard of this stuff and was thinking about doing it next oil change..and i've read many of your posts so if u like it, it must be great lol....by the way what were the dyno numbers

[Dai Lo]

You should do a used oil analysis at the end of your interval. Curious what the additives are. I'm guessing the additive adds a lot of moly.

[Hawaiian]

Originally Posted by Dai Lo

You should do a used oil analysis at the end of your interval. Curious what the additives are. I'm guessing the additive adds a lot of moly.

Moly and unicorn tears!

Kidding aside, but for the price it seems like a lot to pay to cure a little rasp. My car also ran a little more smoothly post stg1 tune.

The oil cooler however, I am interested in. One with a thermostat.

[Symbiont]

Originally Posted by brichard0625

Nice..i've heard of this stuff and was thinking about doing it next oil change..and i've read many of your posts so if u like it, it must be great lol....by the way what were the dyno numbers

Before and after dyno*:


Before and after oil temps:


*For reference purposes, my car pulled around 169whp with the intake (no tune) on a Dynojet (my car @ Injen = http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11118). The Superflow was showing around 161whp WITH the tune, which has been shown to get around a ~14whp increase on a Dynojet (http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...6&postcount=28) over completely stock. I know these are different dynos/cars and calibrated differently, but this is just for reference purposes. Superflow even has a 'Dynojet correction' reading, which amused me for some reason. Another FR-S with an Apex-i catback exhaust pulled 150whp, for comparison's sake.

Basically, my car seems to be showing an increase of around 10% horsepower over stock, which is about what I expected based upon all other tests.

Originally Posted by Hawaiian

Moly and unicorn tears!

Kidding aside, but for the price it seems like a lot to pay to cure a little rasp. My car also ran a little more smoothly post stg1 tune.

The oil cooler however, I am interested in. One with a thermostat.

Tell me about it. Me too.

The price will definitely be a concern to some people. If I do get 3-5% better fuel economy, though, it pays for itself (and then some) by the next oil change.

[Stu baru]

...and your engine's a lot happier, and a happy engine is a what it's all about. Thanks to the OP, I'm sold, just ordered a bottle to try.

[AJUSA.com]

"Should i pose like this?? I mean... i used to be a hand model HAHA"


Great review of an awesome product. Thanks for sharing!

[arghx7]

Given the sensitivity of preignition to oil additives/composition, how do we know this additive will not cause problems? What about carbon deposits or additional oil consumption?

There's no durability data on this product.

[Element Tuning]

You may just want to try a higher quality oil that has more "add pack" in it such as Redline or Amsoil which might have a similar effect with less cost. I would bet the additive would have been more quantifiable if added to a basic oil.

While there are lots of snake oils out there I have tested "magic" in a bottle before and recorded remarkable and quantifiable results so it really does exist. Selling someone ounces of additive that costs $100 is a tough sell when there are others products that claim the same results for $10 even though there are no results.

Hey if you feel it's worth it, then it is Probably better than wasting $50 at the bar!

[shinjiro n]

I have it in my car as well, pretty much agree with everything Symbiont has experienced, good stuff!

[chulooz]

Wait, how did you get your oil up to 235?

[Symbiont]

Originally Posted by chulooz

Wait, how did you get your oil up to 235?

Coasting at 60mph in 6th. That's normal for these cars.


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[jpit]

http://www.importtuner.com/tech/impp..._oil_additive/

http://www.importtuner.com/powerpage...optimizer.html