BMW B58 Engine Oil Recommendation
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I beg to differ with you. The B58 was designed with an xW30 oil in mind. European cars get either a 0W30 or a 5W30 oil.
No it will not. This is a very old misconception/urban legend.
Viscosity modifiers do not protect engines directly, they just define flow characteristics. Other capabilities of oil are far more important.
You are not disagreeing with me, you are disagreeing with my 2021 model year BMW Owners Handbook.
I will side with BMW on this, just because BMW USA have been convinced to have different oil specs for the USA doesn’t change what the engine was designed to use.
I respectfully disagree.
Otherwise when a vehicle is tuned, like people do with the Subaru WRX and B58 engines vehicles they would advise going for a thinner oil.
And BMW would advise a thinner oil for their M cars, not thicker.
It is not designed with any viscosity in mind. You can run 0W12 or 20W60.
Recommendation BMW gives is based on specific markets, emission requirements, gas quality, competitive OCI to other manufacturers.
Euro 40 is the effectively the same as a Euro 30, since both are near 3.5 HTHS. In fact, in terms of HTHS, Ravenol VMP is thicker than M1 0W-40.
A higher HT/HS always results in less wear.
Seems obviously true if the Anti-wear additives are equal. But surely this may not be true if the higher HT/HS oil has inferior anti-wear additives...or what would be the purpose of anti-wear additives?
Higher HTHS gives more “cushion” for the lack if better word. More margin. Manufacturers when choosing low HTHS oils, and with that improving efficiency, calculate majority of drivers and whether low HTHS will cause premature wear for that majority. But, if majority is the one expected to use vehicle hard, then you get approvals like Porsche C40 or VW511.00. That tells you that there is no substitute for HTHS. Otherwise, VW would recommend for RS6 also VW508.00 and not VW511.00. They would also gain performance too, not just save few drops of gas.
Generally, higher HTHS oils pack more Zinc etc.
Of course, I get the idea that the greater the HTHS the greater the protection. I also understand that high HTHS oils generally have some higher Zinc, etc.
Assume there are two identical HTHS oils, one with a superior anti-wear pack. Surely it would provide better wear protection than one with inferior anti-wear pack. So, take the concept further: if you had an HTHS oil with a superior anti-wear pack compared to an oil with a slightly higher HTHS, the lower HTHS oil with a better anti-wear pack could match or even outperform the wear rate compared to an oil with higher HTHS but an inferior additive pack.
If not true, then the anti-wear pack is serving no real purpose relative to wear. That's why I questioned the statement that higher HTHS "always results in less wear" in the previous post.
Remember many common engine oil additives are multifunctional so it's not just one type for wear and one type for cleanliness etc. Anyways, the consumer isn't going to know whether the addpack is "good" or "inferior". You can't go by amounts off a UOA either because some base oil blends may require more additives vs other blends to meet the same performance requirements of the approval. Example is QS Euro 5w40 vs Pennzoil Euro 5w40 GTL. The GTL base is superior and a UOA will show a reduction in some additives vs the QS but that's doesn't mean the QS is "better" because it has "more". Also some additives don't appear in UOA's and there are different versions of an additive such as ZDDP where a UOA won't tell you which version you have.
Now you're on the right track that addpack becomes more important as the HTHS is reduced. The 20 and sub-20 grade oils the addpack is extremely important because the HTHS is so low which means more opportunity for an event where only the AW layer keeps the metal apart.
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That is believable.
All, I ordered some M1 5w-30 ESP for my B58 340i from Autozone.
I like using their M1 special so I can get the wife's Honda M1 EP filter included.
Looks like they gave me a 5qt of the new formula C3 SP LL-04 and two quarts of the older C2/C3 SN stuff.
Is this worth exchanging, or should I just use two quarts as they came?
My thoughts are no since it's VW504 and MB229.52, so it can't matter all that much.
I like using their M1 special so I can get the wife's Honda M1 EP filter included.
Looks like they gave me a 5qt of the new formula C3 SP LL-04 and two quarts of the older C2/C3 SN stuff.
Is this worth exchanging, or should I just use two quarts as they came?
My thoughts are no since it's VW504 and MB229.52, so it can't matter all that much.
which is it? BMWturbo's answer is fromIt is not designed with any viscosity in mind. You can run 0W12 or 20W60.
Recommendation BMW gives is based on specific markets, emission requirements, gas quality, competitive OCI to other manufacturers.
BMW 230i (B46) oil topic.
Just use it.
They are not designed with grade in mind. Different markets have different recommendations. Initially, that engine in Europe was recommended for LL04, here LL01FE, now LL17FE, and moving to LL19FE and LL22FE. The reason is CAFE and WLTP. Tuned B58 are running 15W50 and 5W50 on tracks in many instances.
This is no surprise here. Many of use BMW owners have been saying this for years.
Valueable post, thanks for this. So you're saying for wear protection, go with the highest HTHS oil and highest ZDDP pack? That seems to line up with my limited research. The only thing that still throws me for a loop is high ZDDP is one thing, but what about calcium/magnesium to ZDDP ratio? Is an oil at 1300 ZDDP with 2600 Cal more effective wear add pack than 900 ZDDP and 700 Cal and some magnesium sprinkled in. That part I am not sure of, what say you?
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