Is Synthetic Oil More Slippery?

There seems to be this misconception out there that synthetic oils are "more slippery" than conventional oils, but used oil analysis has shown this to be untrue. The engine wear numbers that people are getting from conventional motor oil are just as low as the wear numbers from synthetics. So it's not really the base oil which determines how your engine is going to wear, but the additive package in the oil. That's not to say that synthetic oils don't have their benefits, as they certainly do. They are better in extreme cold, as the oil will flow better, and in extreme heat it resists oxidation better as well (making them the best choice for turbocharged or supercharged engines) Synthetic oils also allow you to extend your oil change intervals a bit longer than conventional oil as well. I will say this though, with each time the API comes out with a new quality spec (such as the current one, SM) the quality of conventional oil gets that much closer to synthetics. In fact, since most of the name brand conventional oils contain a group 2 or group 2+ base oil, in essence these are already partially synthetic oils, even though they aren't advertised as such.