Piston top ring - cylinder liner situation was simulated using a passenger car engine top ring sliding on a cast iron disk. The simulation was done on a pin-on-disk tribo-tester. Friction and wear control performance of neat palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), its ZDDP and dithiocarbamates formulates were evaluated under a severe load (200N) serving condition possible with today/future cars’ internal combustion engines. 0.5%(wt) molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamates (MoDTC), doped PFAD produced lower friction and wear, while 0.1%(wt) ZDDP in the same PFAD offered lower coefficient of friction but slightly higher wear when compared to a commercial premium engine oil tested for benchmarking. PFAD can be a “cost-competitive green base oil” in Malaysia, and a contributor to the growing global bio-lubricants market.