Activ8 friction reducer?

[marcc]

anyone have experience of this stuff? the youtube video looks impressive however i can't or rather dont understand how it doesn't balls up wet clutch systems... any thoughts?

http://youtu.be/1ldl01tUaM4

[DJ123]

From their website:

Will ACTIV8 Friction Reducer cause my wet clutch to slip in my motorcycle? (http://activ8lubricants.com/node/25)

No. Because ACTIV8 contains no solids such as PTFE, Zinc, Silicone, Molybdinum, etc., ACTIV8 doesn't coat and therefore will not interfere with fibre, cork or kevlar (all mineral surfaces OK!) working surfaces. Also tested with and used successfully in composite soft sintered/mineral plates. ACTIV8 Friction Reducer only works when the working surfaces are metal to metal and will not negatively effect non-metal working surfaces.


http://activ8lubricants.com/faq-page#t2n25

[Biker Biggles]

Theres no need for this stuff,or any other similar snake oil products.Just use proper engine oil and change it as normal.Why spend extra money when you are already maintaining your engine?

[marcc]

Theres no need for this stuff,or any other similar snake oil products.Just use proper engine oil and change it as normal.Why spend extra money when you are already maintaining your engine?

my line of thought exactly, i was just puzzled how it didn't intefere with a wet clutch system. The video is however very impressive

[jambo]

That is a very impressive demonstration of something that when applied directly to a metal surface at room temperature has a very low friction coefficient.

However, that's not really what the inside of an engine is for very long, and as this will be mixed with oil, and have to deal with a broad range of temperatures, compressions, dissimilar metals, and other forces, it's a little simplistic for telling us how much good it would do.

I have in my garage an SV650 track bike, it's 13 years old, has done around 100,000 road miles, still makes near as damn it new factory spec compression on both cylinders and is, I believe on the original clutch. No Snake oil was used during its lifetime.

So the key thing here would be to understand how this works inside the engine, whether it provides any useful protection under normal running conditions, whether it actually improves longevity in lab tests which simulate real world conditions.

Generally, if this stuff worked as well as demonstrated the major companies would be keen to promote it.

Jambo

[embee]

As I understand it (may be wrong, do your own research), similar products are essentially (or contain) chlorinated paraffins. These compounds will act as friction reducers under extreme pressure and I believe are still used in some cutting fluids for machining.
I believe they were originally used in the 1930's in heavy duty transmissions but were quite soon phased out for various reasons. They are not stable at higher temperatures such as experienced in engines, particularly on cylinder walls/piston rings and can produce acidic compounds.
Engines are designed to operate with maximum contact stresses limited by the materials and lubricants normally used, critical areas such as cams/followers.
Chlorinated paraffins will give very impressive results in disc friction tests, these are often used in demonstrations to sell the products.
Engines and transmissions are designed to avoid contact stresses which will exceed the capability of good quality commercial oils, they will not experience the sort of stresses applied in these disc tests.
These additives have no effect at all under full hydrodynamic lubrication situations such as in full rotating bearings (mains, big ends, cam bearings etc).
As said earlier, use a well known branded oil which already has all the additives it needs and there's no need for you to use other additives.

[NTECUK]

Would it have saved Matt-euc sv on the TOGMIE run.
I guess we're never know.......

[Matt-EUC]

Oil of any description probably would have helped...

[Spanner Man]

Good morning all.


Yet another wonder product it seems. There have been many of these appear over the years. Molyslip, Slick 50, Lubron & so on.
They may have a slight effect on engines that have been run on average oil, & are ready for an oil change, but it's only temporary. On an engine that has had regular oil changes of high quality oil there will be no effect, (except on your pocket).

As has been said. Use a quality oil, & change it regularly. We managed to get my mates XJ900F despatch bike to 215k on it's original engine, & clutch etc. That was using Castrol fully synthetic changed every 4k along with a genuine filter, & not a trace of 'Snake oil'.


Cheers.

[yorkie_chris]

You can wear bikes out on normal oil no problem, the engine still works by the time the rest of the bike's fooked so why worry.

Loada rubbish all these things and lots of them potentially harmful.

[timwilky]

Oh what a bunch of cynic we orgers have become.

That said, I totally endorse the T'is snake oil mentality. Safe in the knowledge that if engine manufacturers with the billions poured into research globally could identify a product that would significantly reduce wear characteristics beyond that of normal lubricants, they would be screaming for, nah demanding its use.

I remember a project I undertook 30 odd years ago, investigating wear to cams/followers. Months on rigs, different oils, different heat treatments of wear surfaces, how to profile the cam follower to ensure proper rotation. (yes you want the follower to turn to ensure the cam does not wear a grove over time) etc. I had colleagues investigating the same on cranks etc. So presume all engine manufacturers undertake such studies.

[embee]

TW - I used to go to the "Cam and Tappet Wear Group" meetings at Abingdon years ago, somewhere around 1980, gripping stuff!

The main point about the chlorinated paraffins (if this is what the snake product contains) is that it is not a suitable additive for engine oil.

[nikon70]

I saw this at mcn a few years ago, they said car or bike engines worked great on the demo I tried my hardest to wear down some metal, albeit only 30seconds...

[yorkie_chris]

Lets be honest how many people would know what wear rate to expect if they were using beef dripping as lubricant or even nothing