Amen to the government wasting! I am not happy either.
My rules for the additive is valve spring pressure and cam profile. If you can't move the spring just a little by prying on the rocker arm, the oil should have some, and if the cam is not a stock grind, the oil should be doctored. The bigger the cam, the more it gets. New cams get the full treatment. $20 on top of $1000's doesn't seem like to bad of insurance.
So many cars and trucks are modified, one set of rules will not cover all of them. Most will error on the safe side and run the best oil with the most additive. Then the are the few that use the cheapest oil made and never have problems. So who is right?
I for one have seen aftermarket cams go bad and had to deal with the clean up and rebuild, but I have yet to see a stock, well used engine have a cam go bad due to oil. A stock 216 or 235 may have 70 to 90 psi valve spring, most aftermarket cams that need additive have springs in the high 200 psi range or higher and this is where most of the confusion comes from, grouping all engines together.
To each his own I guess,
Joe
