Recent content by chris719

Watch Dmitry's Garage on YouTube, he's tested like 20 coatings and none protected his paint chip against UV fading. The coatings say they may have UV protection but what they mean is they have some antioxidant capability to protect themselves from getting destroyed by the sun, but that's it.

CarPro claims their DLight coating has some meaningful protection. I will say that I used it 8 months ago on restored headlights and they have stayed crystal clear so far. It has a noticeably thicker film build than all other ceramic coatings I have used as well. I am awaiting some real...

You could just run Ravenol VMP or ESP 5W-30 in all of them also. VMP is C3 and 3.7 HTHS. The only downside is price.

That is a great oil but it's on the thin side for a 50. The S54 has borderline oil pressure with a 10W-60 so I'm not sure what is to be gained in California with a 5W-50. If you were in New York and it's winter that's one thing.

I'm not sure, I think the ESP 0W-30 and X4 0W-40 are better for most applications at this point. I am not sure if it's statistically significant but I see lower wear metals / 1000 mi with the ESP X4. They are all good, of course.

Main issue is that Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W-40 exists, I think that's a really good oil I doubt anyone knows if ESP X4 is really any better.

Does it really though? I know what’s what the PDF says but it has low detergent for FS and 600-700 ppm ZDDP. Not sure where the SA would come from.

BMW does not want you to run non-FE oils but I don’t see any factual reason there could be harm. If it is, it’s something new we don’t know about. That said; there’s nothing wrong with the 30 grade FEs in my opinion. As mentioned earlier these bearings are IROX coated and look great on stock...

I’d stick with the 40 for the N55, occasional rod bearing issues on non-M2 N55s at high mileage.

LL01FE is fine if you don’t have GPF, it’s X marked for Gen3. Regular is not (no technical issue just compliance). Just run one more FE oil if you’re paranoid.

If you are willing to pay for an oil filter you will not use you can get the X-Cess Gen2 5W-40 from FCP Euro in the bundles. You could also try the 8100 Power 5W-40. The X-Clean 5W-30 (C3) is probably good too.

kschachn won't agree with me ;), but I will say that if you are concerned about viscosity loss among the 0W-40s, it does appear that Mobil 1 ESP X4 0w40 loses less viscosity for whatever reason than FS and Supercar. That is my pick among the Mobil 1 0W-40 offerings.

No issue I'd think, but do note that you should run shorter OCI with the 5W-50, it's got notably lower Ca/Mg.

On the thicker end you could always run BMW TPT 10W-60, Castrol Edge 10W-60, etc. It's low Noack and nice additive package, and on the very thin side of 60. I'm sure it's fine for any car that shipped with 20W-50. I would probably try Mobil 1 FS X2 5W-50 though.

Flawed engine design or metallurgy. BMW S54, S65, S85 all revs 8000+ RPM and have no cam wear issues on 900 ppm A3/B4. The low SAPS versions of those specs have the exact same cam wear limits in the tests.