"" As far as staying clean
"" As far as staying cleaner, I don't buy it."
You know what dirty oil looks like on a white paper towel and after wiping my hands, the regular oil was darker after the change, even though it was basically the same color as the synthetic when it was fresh.
I know a few people at GM's Desert Proving Grounds in Mesa, AZ and they agree about at least keeping the oil clean, but they have seen and done testing related to oil quality and run cars or trucks in destructive tests to see what they'll take, like using oil for a really long time with no filter change or draining the oil and seeing how long it lasts while driving the vehicle on their test track in stop/go and at highway speeds. The motors with synthetic did wear less and lasted longer after the oil was drained. The car with regular oil- they drove it for 250 miles before it finally seized.
I worked on boats for two dealers and you would be disgusted by some of the things I saw people do to tehir boats, then get mad because "My car never did this". 3 years between oil changes on a Malibu ski boat, the guy's kid tried to remove the filter and shredded it. I had to do three oil changes before the oil was actually clean and this was on a $45K boat. The oil was black, even after the first change, just from what was still in the motor. Other people- multiple overheats because they didn't read their manual and think that there could possibly be a bunch of weeds in their oil cooler.
Private labelling is nothing new- at least they use decent oil. Again, I agree that keeping it clean and cool is the best policy."