Slick 50 & friends

[Fringe Ryder <fringe@ai.net>]

There's a big difference between milspec and good.  Some milspec is
excellent, some isn't.  Jeeps and other military vehicles are built with
loose tolerances around the cylinders, and have very high maintanence
schedules.  It's not too awfully different from milspec guns - no serious
shooter would use a non-smithed Colt Government 45 or Colt AR-15.  You get
better aiming equipment from the consumer models or other models entirely.
(A Bushmaster V-Match HBAR AR-15 is far more accurate than a Colt, for
example.)  The difference is that the milspec equipment will survive
massive amounts of dirt and abuse.

Similarly, large heavy equipment is different from an Audi.  Redline 10W40
just ain't gonna do your remote-control airplane engine much good, and it's
not going to be sufficient for a Cessna 210, which has a similar
displacement to an Audi engine but entirely different operating
requirements (including much higher detergent needs.)  

Use Militec-1 for equipment it was DESIGNED for, if you use it at all.

One other note.  In addition to a '97 2.8L A4Q and a '95 Subaru Impreza, I
have an '87 Ford Escort Pony.  This car cost me less than $4K new, and was
my transportation until I bought the Audi.  I changed the oil roughly every
2500 miles, but I also drove it HARD.  It has 109K on it, has been through
about 40 tires, eight struts, broken four wheels at different times, two
springs (also at different times), three engine mounts (all at the same
time), and I even broke the steering rack!  I've had to replace the
radiator twice.  And yet the engine is still within new spec for
compression.  It has never had an oil additive.  In my opinion, all you
need to do is change the oil regularly, and the car will last.... even if
you're a bit abusive to it.

Brian Armstead wrote:
>Listers:  If you are in to additives, spend the extra money and use 
>Militec-1.  The stuff is military spec, and has countless endorsements 
>from industrial users:  Large diesel generators, multi-ton air 
>conditioning units, etc.  During "Desert Storm," the military reported NO 
>failures of firearms treated with Militec-1.  Keep in mind the truly 
>harsh environment of the Saudi/Iraqi desert. 
>