Classification and selection of additives

Currently, many family car repair businesses display various vehicle maintenance products in their showrooms, such as fuel additives, lubricant additives, or other additives for various automotive systems. When customers come in for repairs or maintenance, salespeople or technicians recommend these maintenance products to help the business generate more profit. However, many marketing personnel and even technicians at these maintenance companies only understand the basic functions of these maintenance products, such as cleaning and lubrication. They know very little about why these maintenance products achieve these effects. Therefore, under this marketing approach, many customers are skeptical, and some even believe that additives are useless and deceptive because they don't see a significant improvement in vehicle performance after using them. Some repair companies even share similar views.

Are additives useful for vehicles? The answer is yes. So why do so many car users and even repair technicians misunderstand additive products? This is mainly due to their insufficient understanding of additive products.

Automotive additives are diverse and can be mainly divided into the following categories. When choosing, it is necessary to consider the vehicle type, usage needs, and actual conditions comprehensively.

1. Fuel Additives

• Cleaners and Dispersants: Primarily used to remove carbon deposits, sludge, and sediments inside the engine, restoring the cleanliness and injection efficiency of the fuel system. By decomposing and dissolving carbon deposits, they improve fuel injection, reducing problems such as power loss and increased fuel consumption caused by carbon deposits.

• Comprehensive Additives: Combining cleaning and power enhancement functions, they can both remove carbon deposits and optimize combustion efficiency, improve power performance, and may also protect engine components and reduce exhaust emissions.

2. Engine Oil Additives

• Cleaners: Help remove impurities, sludge, and carbon deposits from the engine oil, maintaining the cleanliness of the oil and extending its service life.

• Anti-wear Agents: Add anti-wear components to the engine oil to reduce friction and wear between engine parts, improving engine durability.
• Antioxidants: Slow down the oxidation and deterioration process of engine oil, maintaining the stability of the oil's performance and extending the oil change interval.

• Cold Flow Improvers: Improve the fluidity of engine oil in low-temperature environments, ensuring that the engine receives good lubrication quickly during cold starts. Generally, the lubricants we purchase already contain various additives, so we don't need to add any additional additives when adding engine oil.

However, for some older vehicles or those operating under high-load conditions, adding specialized additives, such as extreme pressure anti-wear agents, can enhance lubrication.
Generally, aftermarket additives are more of a "nice-to-have" rather than a "must-have." Whether it's fuel, engine oil, or coolant, qualified products already contain the necessary additives, which are perfectly sufficient for most vehicles.
Finally, to be completely honest: consistently performing regular maintenance is more effective than using any aftermarket additives!