VLS
Understanding complexity, assuring compliance at Automechanika 2025 with VLS
Alan Outhwaite, Chairman - Technical Review Panel, VLS
The Verification of Lubricant Specifications (VLS) is celebrating a successful Automechanika 2025. Over three busy days, the independent body of lubricant companies welcomed workshop owners and representatives from across the industry to the stand to discuss the complexities of the lubricants market and VLS’s work to protect workshops and end users by investigating and resolving product complaints.
New automotive market standards and OEM specifications are being launched constantly while owners are holding onto their vehicles for longer, causing increased complexity for workshops in using the right lubricant.
Backed by Trading Standards, VLS aims to uphold standards of compliance by providing a credible and trusted means to verify lubricant specifications.
VLS Chairman Harald Oosting commented, “Workshops face many challenges currently. Economic pressures are hitting garages and fleet operators hard. Workshops are trying to save money wherever possible by reducing ranges while maximising the number of specifications claimed. However, using cheaper, poorer quality oils or ones that do not meet the correct specification risks the protection needed for owners’ vehicles.
Poor quality or the wrong oil can cause damage to emission control systems, accelerated wear in gears and bearings, and the formation of piston deposits, leading to increased maintenance costs and, if left
54 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.188 AUGUST 2025 unchecked, eventual engine failure.
Modern vehicle engines require sophisticated lubricants using advanced chemistry. Even the slightest change in the formulation has the potential to reduce performance over the short term and cause engine damage over the long term. Compared to standard formulations, cheaper products might contain reduced quality base oils, fewer additives or even untested additives. This can significantly affect the lubricant, resulting in poor or possibly even dangerous performance compared to genuine products.”
The ageing vehicle parc is also adding to engine oil complexity.
“To meet government requirements for reduced emissions and consumer needs for economy and performance, smaller engines are running at higher temperatures to maximise efficiency, power output and fuel economy. Longer oil drain intervals, taken together with smaller sumps and the need to minimise emissions, have created the need for less viscous, synthetic or semi-synthetic oils to provide the lubrication required in these challenging conditions.
Traditionally, when newer oils were developed, some were designed to be ‘backwards compatible’.However, with an increasingly complex range of industry and OEM specifications, backwards compatibility cannot be assumed. OEM specifications can change over time, too. Subtle yet important differences concerning viscosity or performance characteristics and/or additive
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