HOUSTON – Quaker State is calling for an end of the “Wear Wars” by challenging its motor oil competitors to a head-to-head motor oil comparison. Quaker State has issued a challenge to Mobil1, Valvoline and Castrol to prove that that no leading full synthetic SAE 5W-30 motor oil provides better wear protection than Quaker State Q HorsePower — not Castrol, not Valvoline, not Mobil 1.

“In recent months we have seen all of the claims going back and forth from some of the brands we have challenged claiming superiority over one another,” said Steve Harman, president, Quaker State Americas. “This must be confusing to consumers. Today, we hereby pledge to bring clarity to this ‘Wear War,’ by making public the scientific data that illustrates for consumers the actual wear rating of each brand’s full synthetic motor oil.”

Quaker State says it is so confident that none of its competitors’ currently available ILSAC GF-4 full synthetic motor oils are better at wear protection in the Sequence IVA test that it wants to prove it. A letter, penned by Steve Harman was sent to senior managers at Mobil, Castrol and Valvoline, and a reprint of that exact letter was published in a full-page advertisement in last Thursday’s edition of USA Today to make the motoring public aware of the challenge.

Quaker State has arranged for a respected, third-party applied research and development organization to conduct the one-time, unbiased ASTM Sequence IVA test. If the challenge is accepted, the independent testing firm Test Engineers Inc. will purchase off the shelf at a major national retailer the product that each brand respectively identifies for testing. The products will be marked as blind samples for the test.

Competitors have been given until Friday, March 27th at 5 p.m. EST to respond. If a competitor chooses to participate, the results of the test will be released publicly to end the “Wear Wars.”