My 2011 Honda Fit now has 114,000 miles on it and my plan is to keep driving it until the wheels fall off or the engine fails or it gets into a wreck. My last car was a 1999 Toyota Solara whose engine failed at 205,000 miles. I was surprised because all I used was fully synthetic Mobil 1 purchased right at the Walmart and the changes were done every 3000 miles like clockwork.

So I decided if I was going to get a new car that it be serviced the right way each and every time as I wanted to get at least 300,000 miles out of it. I did some research and found out the fully-synthetic Honda brand motor oil sold at the dealership is really Kendall GT-1 Fully Synthetic. I came to the logic that it was best to go with Kendall oil seeing as Honda was selling it at their dealership.

I saw on the commercials that Firestone was using Kendall supposedly as their only motor oil brand. When I went to the local Firestone, the manager told me a different story and that they didnt have Kendall, but just about everything else. The local Honda dealership uses Mobil 1 in bulk. Kendall is really no where to be found around here except at the Honda dealership in the parts department under "Honda Geniune".

I found a good place to get Kendall oil online. Comes out to $60 for the entire case with shipping. The local Honda dealership is willing to use my oil when I come in and they give me a heavy discount for doing so.

Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic 0w-20 w/ Ti---BUY IT NOW!!!

I know, I know. I am a bit picky about these things and it may not matter in the end between the big jug of Mobil 1 Advanced for $25 or the Kendall oil.

So far so good. 114,000 miles and most is inner city driving. My car operates 7 days a week and most heavily on the weekdays around New York City for my business. In any event, the Kendall oil is one step better then what they fill your car with at the dealership or oither oil change operation. The Firestone dealership manager even said he had some generic non-synthetic 0w-20. So he might fill me up with some non-synthetic stuff versus the semi-synthetic stuff which Honda mandates? No thank you Firestone.

 

Those Solara motors had poor oiling design and known sludging issues. I know a few people personally that had "early" engine failures with Solaras, I'm not sure if it's fair to blame the oil.

I will say from what I've read that the Kendall oil is excellent though.

 

The Solara issue had nothing to do with oil as Wanderer said. That generation of Toyota engine had major sludge issues whether in the Camry, Sienna or Highlander. Tha fact that you used a synthetic is what got you to 205k. Dino il would have killed the motor at half of that.

 

Yep no Kendall at firestone
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This is how a real Firestone is supposed to look like and they are supposed to pour the Kendall from the bottle just like they say in the commercial. This Firestone is doing it according to their advertised way. However, the one in my town sucks and they dont play by the rules. The manager said they use bulk oil. Some of my relatives have been to that place and have had other issues.

So I guess it depends which Firestone you go to...

 

I've worked for the company for 8yrs now and I've come to realize each store is completely different haha.