Although I haven't been active here in quite a while, I've recently spent a bunch of time reading in various places including here and I'm looking for a little advice.
I'm currently running a 2011 BMW 535i X-Drive (N55 engine, turbo, DI) running a stage 1 flash tune. The engine is equipped with the better-than-nothing coolant/oil heat exchanger. I'm in the Great Lakes area, garaged at night. Unfortunately there are plenty of short trips for my work commute to the train station pre-COVID. Generally the oil gets over 70C on these trips (i.e. the oil temp gauge comes off the bottom peg) but not all the way to full temp. Other longer trips are mixed in. The car currently has around 85,000km on it. I change the oil ~twice per year or 6,000-9,000km. This is my only car so it's my DD year round. Winters can be cold. On the other hand in the summer oil temps seem to hit 110-115C even just on cruise control in the country (the coolant may actually be heating the oil in this operating scenario).
I have been happily using Edge 0W40 (and GC 0W30 before it) in my BMWs over the years (M52, N52 engines), dabbling a little with Rotella T6 5W40 around 10 years ago.
I generally grab 5L jugs when Canadian Tire had their 45%-55% off sales. The catch is that all my local retailers seem to have stopped carrying Edge 0W40 at all, forcing me to consider something else. I grabbed Edge 5W40 during the last sale when I couldn't get 0W40 but haven't used it yet. I've been thinking more recently that PP Euro 5W40 might be a better choice. For a variety of reasons, I'm not looking to run M1 at the moment (shearing shown in UOA, noisy engines in the 2000s, but I'm not looking for a fight). I'm also not looking to go "FE" at this time.
I've read all about LL-01 being revised and many oils, especially 0Ws, losing official certification. I'm outside of even extended warranty now since Fall 2018, so it's not a concern like it would have been during warranty. Anything else I should consider, or points for or against PP 5W40? KV100 in the 12s seems a little on the thin side for a "5W40" but maybe I should just look past that...
I'm currently running a 2011 BMW 535i X-Drive (N55 engine, turbo, DI) running a stage 1 flash tune. The engine is equipped with the better-than-nothing coolant/oil heat exchanger. I'm in the Great Lakes area, garaged at night. Unfortunately there are plenty of short trips for my work commute to the train station pre-COVID. Generally the oil gets over 70C on these trips (i.e. the oil temp gauge comes off the bottom peg) but not all the way to full temp. Other longer trips are mixed in. The car currently has around 85,000km on it. I change the oil ~twice per year or 6,000-9,000km. This is my only car so it's my DD year round. Winters can be cold. On the other hand in the summer oil temps seem to hit 110-115C even just on cruise control in the country (the coolant may actually be heating the oil in this operating scenario).
I have been happily using Edge 0W40 (and GC 0W30 before it) in my BMWs over the years (M52, N52 engines), dabbling a little with Rotella T6 5W40 around 10 years ago.
I generally grab 5L jugs when Canadian Tire had their 45%-55% off sales. The catch is that all my local retailers seem to have stopped carrying Edge 0W40 at all, forcing me to consider something else. I grabbed Edge 5W40 during the last sale when I couldn't get 0W40 but haven't used it yet. I've been thinking more recently that PP Euro 5W40 might be a better choice. For a variety of reasons, I'm not looking to run M1 at the moment (shearing shown in UOA, noisy engines in the 2000s, but I'm not looking for a fight). I'm also not looking to go "FE" at this time.
I've read all about LL-01 being revised and many oils, especially 0Ws, losing official certification. I'm outside of even extended warranty now since Fall 2018, so it's not a concern like it would have been during warranty. Anything else I should consider, or points for or against PP 5W40? KV100 in the 12s seems a little on the thin side for a "5W40" but maybe I should just look past that...