I really have no comment other than last I heard the FTC was all over them for just selling colored mineral oil. But compared to the tornado thingy, this reall does save gas. They don't have the tornado test up yet but it fail bad.

http://www.13abc.com/index.cfm?Article=2455&SecName=83

Z-Max

With so much uncertainty on where gas prices will be later this year, of course you want better gas mileage in your vehicle. There's a product on the market that claims to give you better gas mileage when you use it ... Question is, does it work?"

It’s called "Z-Max".

The claim is when you add the solution to your engine oil and gas tank every 6,000 miles, you'll get better gas mileage.

For our unscientific test we filled up our tank, reset our trip meter, and drove from Toledo to Findlay-- about a 45-mile trip.

We filled up again in Findlay and figured out from Toledo to Findlay, we got almost 18 miles to the gallon.

In Findlay, we added the Z-Max engine formula to the engine oil and the fuel formula to the gas.

Once again, we reset our trip meter and made the return trip to Toledo.

Back in T-town, we filled our tank again and discovered on our trip back we got around 22 miles to the gallon.

So, it does work.

Mechanic Jeff Strayer told us, "Supposedly, this product is going to impregnate itself into the metal which will help reduce friction. The less friction you have, the easier the parts inside the motor/transmission can move."

And that means better gas mileage for your car.

Is it a good buy? Let's check the math.

We paid $29.95 for Z-Max.

In our test, we increased our fuel economy by 4 miles per gallon.

Gas is about a $1.35 a gallon-- that works out to a savings of almost 5 and a half bucks.

With our vehicle, we figured over 6,000 miles, we'd fill up about 18 times ... that means we'd save over $97 in gas.

Subtract what you paid for for the Z-Max ... and you save $67.25.

That's almost seventy bucks in your pocket in a these high-priced times.

You can find Z-Max at your local auto care store.

4-30-02

 

NEAT!
thanks for testing and posting the results.

 

before you say hail Zmax...... whats the elevation diff between your start and stop points....

going uphill one way, and downhill the other is not a good way to compare 2 things.....

 

I can attest to zmax smoothing out my tranny. Otherwise, I drive to damn hard to notice a difference in gas consumption however, the motor is still puring like a kitten at 200,000km's

 

I used Z-Max about 5 years ago and didn't really notice any significant increase in gas mileage. Sometime last year I received a letter from some federal agency stating that the Z-Max corporation is involved in a lawsuit about false or misleading advertisment claims about this product.

A couple of months ago, I received a check from the Z-Max corporation for $12 as my part of the settlement.

 

Wow, a 45 mile trip. That's got to be accurate.

 

http://www.pecuniary.com/newsletters...additives.html

READ THIS

 

The FTC was going after Z-max awhile back there.

 

Can you have a more unscientific approach to testing? Drive 45 miles each way. No mentions of average speed, traffic conditions, altitude changes (as mentioned before), wind speed and direction, any changes in ambient air temperatures, etc. etc. so many factors will change your gas mileage don't believe any of this modern day snake oil salesman

 

Well yes of course it works at fisrt.

1. You add a friction modifier to the oil. This sorta renews the oil for a little while. Yes it reduces friction a tad but so would a fresh quart of oil.
2. Your fuel economy improves. But what did you do? You just added a quart of Z-max fuel treatment. Of course your going to get more from a tank of gas because you just unknowingly added fuel.
This is why you cannot get your money back you cant loose MPG when your adding.

I'm just supprised to see any improvment over a 90 mile trip, I guess results do vary.

 

id like to point out that i got a 32 MPG tank my last road trip..... sounds unbelieveably high right?




but really, i was on cruise control, no traffic the entire way, and i was on the DOWN SIDE of the mountians.... basicly i was going downhill alot more then i was going up.... of course i got kickass gas miliage....

my avg MPG was still high the whole trip (mid to high 20s) but that was 100% hwy driving, little to no traffic and on cruise the ENTIRE 1350 mile trip.


you do not need crap like Zmax to get good miliage.. you just need a light right foot and a properly running car in good condition.

 

man are a bunch of you just pissy today. Just trying to share some info. I am not the final judge of what works, you are.

The test was done by a local TV station that test products to see if they really work. They did all the testing in NW Ohio, so everything was releativly flat and no real elevation changes. Except for over/under passes.


They should have the tornado results up soon but it failed big time.

http://www.13abc.com/index.cfm?Article=467&SecName=83

 

Years ago when I was car-stupid, I used that Z-max crap... a month or two later, I suddenly got a rod knock on my 91,000 well maintained L98. 2 years later Im finally getting the car back on the road. Z-max as well as all the other bull**** additives are useless. Spend the extra money and use a quality synthetic oil.

 

That link says more about the state of our information media than it does about the product they are supposedly "testing". To admit that the test is unscientific, and then use the results to quantify "savings" is indefensible.

That people fall for this says a whole lot more about the state of education in our society.

That this thread is no longer providing new technical information says something about what needs to be done.

Consider it done...