C55 AMG - Oil recommendations for Track usage?

anderzen

anderzen

Joined
Dec 16, 2020
Messages
36
Location
Seattle, WA
Hello Everyone, long time reader and visitor, first time posting...
I have an 05' C55 AMG with a 6 speed manual swap. Most days I get to drive it now are either backroads weekend fun or auto X/track days.

In my ownership thus far, I began with Mobil 1 0w40 4 years ago, but the car would chew it up anytime I was really pushing it. To the tune of about 1.5quarts every <=1k miles, which lead me to switch to Castrol Edge 0w40. This improved things a bit but still, after about 3k miles the car had consumed about 2 quarts. An improvement but maybe there is a better option some can recommend?
My next change tomorrow I will be trying out the Valvoline Advanced Euro 5w40 (Formerly Synpower idk?) since it meets spec and because I got a great price at $2qts

I have been playing with the idea of trying out something like Valvoline VR1 offering in either the conv or synth, but don't know which weight would be better suited, 10w30 or 20w50... And would I be fine using the conventional VR1 if either of those weights work?
I have also considered mixing equal parts of Valvoline 0w40 + VR1 20w50 or mixing Mobil 1 0w40 + 15w50 or just running Mobil 1 5w50 or Mobil 1 10w40 HM.....
Open to other suggestions as well.

The lowest temps the car see on start up are around 35-40F, the highest Coolant temps I've tracked are around 95c. However, for Mercedes heads, it is known these AMG m113's run pretty hot when being pushed, which is why i'd like an oil that can withstand consistent high temps.

My OCI's are usually at most 3k miles or 1-2 times per year. Repeated track days I would change it more frequent.

So all in all just looking for guidance. Appreciate any feedback, knowledge or personal experience.

Thx,
Anderzén
 
Hats off to you for tracking a Mercedes Benz!!!

There's always some oil consumption associated with AutoX/Tracking. It just comes with the territory. How many miles on the engine? Have you performed leak down test? You may find that the engine is just tired. As for temperatures I would look at adding an aftermarket oil cooler first.

As for oil on a dedicated track car I would look at what the manual says. Perhaps something with less of a viscosity spread (20w50) however on a tired engine it may not matter.

Redline oils are fairly well regarded among the BMW track community in the US.
 
I think Ravenol makes some nice "race" oriented oils. Expensive, but I've read only good things.

I think that engine specs a 229.5 oil, but I'd defer to the experts.
 
anderzen said:
Hello Everyone, long time reader and visitor, first time posting...
I have an 05' C55 AMG with a 6 speed manual swap. Most days I get to drive it now are either backroads weekend fun or auto X/track days.

In my ownership thus far, I began with Mobil 1 0w40 4 years ago, but the car would chew it up anytime I was really pushing it. To the tune of about 1.5quarts every <=1k miles, which lead me to switch to Castrol Edge 0w40. This improved things a bit but still, after about 3k miles the car had consumed about 2 quarts. An improvement but maybe there is a better option some can recommend?
My next change tomorrow I will be trying out the Valvoline Advanced Euro 5w40 (Formerly Synpower idk?) since it meets spec and because I got a great price at $2qts

I have been playing with the idea of trying out something like Valvoline VR1 offering in either the conv or synth, but don't know which weight would be better suited, 10w30 or 20w50... And would I be fine using the conventional VR1 if either of those weights work?
I have also considered mixing equal parts of Valvoline 0w40 + VR1 20w50 or mixing Mobil 1 0w40 + 15w50 or just running Mobil 1 5w50 or Mobil 1 10w40 HM.....
Open to other suggestions as well.

The lowest temps the car see on start up are around 35-40F, the highest Coolant temps I've tracked are around 95c. However, for Mercedes heads, it is known these AMG m113's run pretty hot when being pushed, which is why i'd like an oil that can withstand consistent high temps.

My OCI's are usually at most 3k miles or 1-2 times per year. Repeated track days I would change it more frequent.

So all in all just looking for guidance. Appreciate any feedback, knowledge or personal experience.

Thx,
Anderzén
Click to expand...
What is your approximate location. Are you in the states? That may help determine which oils are available to you.
 
Hello All, thank you for the responses. Couple pieces of important information missed originally to answer some of your questions:

Mileage:
The car has 158k miles, the possibility of things being a bit tired inside the motor is likely such as valve stem seals etc. I received some liqui moly motor oil saver 2020 I plan on using after testing the first 1k with the Valvoline 5w40, as kind of a harmless opportunity to maybe rejuvenate internal rubber components a tad. The motor is dry externally from all gaskets, even the rear main seal was bone dry which was inspected during transmission swap not long ago. I have not preformed a leak down test. These motor have an oil cooler from factory but it would be possible to add an aftermarket front mount unit. Oil pressure gauge is also on the list of things I plan to add this year.

All considered, the motor runs excellent and I do know these engines were 'designed' to consume a bit in situations like spirited driving/track usage. My only goal is limiting that where possible and more importantly protecting internals as best as possible.

This motor does call for MB 229.5, or 229.3 previously, I also look for Porsche A40 since I've heard that is a good standard to look for?

Location:
Seattle, Washington. So the car primarily is seeing temps of around 55-60F on average throughout the year, Winter 35-45F, Summer 80-90F
One of biggest questions is how comparable are a 0w and a 15w at lower temps I see? I know they are quite a bit different at temps 0 and below, but this car will never come close to that...

I prefer oils I can find nearby and always aim for less than $60 for 10qts, most of the time I can stay under the $50 mark, I got 12qts of the Valvoline Euro 5w40 for $33. Most of the Mobil 1 options are really easy to find near me, beside things like Formula M and the 5w50. The 15w50 I strongly considered but didn't know if the winter viscosity was too much.
 
Last edited:
Run on track Mobil1 15W50. Cheap in Wal mart, made for track use. In winter use M1 or Castrol 0W40.
Do not worry about oil consumption on track. Some VW's go through 1qt during single track day.
 
Thank you for that info SR5.
Considering my temps...
Do you all think I would be okay running the Mobil 1 15w50 year round, or only the 5w50?
And what are thoughts about running the conventional or synthetic VR1 20w50?
 
Last edited:
anderzen said:
Thank you for that info SR5.
Considering my temps...
Do you all think I would be okay running the Mobil 1 15w50 year round, or only the 5w50?
And what are thoughts about running the conventional or synthetic VR1 20w50?
Click to expand...
If you don’t do track days in winter, run 0W40. It is not cold cranking, but resistance during warm up. VR1 has very high ZDDP levels. Your uber expensive catalytic converters will not like it.
if you track during winter, Mobil1 5W50 if you can find it cheap at Advanced Auto Parts (they always have sale). Of tracking in summer, just go 15W50.
you could try Motul Sport 5W40 or 5W50. It is designed for track and available on Amazon. Motul 300V would be probably best choice, but if it uses a lot of oil, might be expensive proposition.
 
Thank you, more info, I am doing track days all year round. I also no longer have secondary cats on the car and am not concerned about the primary cats as I have 200 cell metal cats that will replace them soon, no emission checks in WA anymore also.

This may be dumb.. but the thing I don't understand about the winter viscosity charts is, would all these mentioned flow similarly at my low temp of 35F and only become drastically different at the specified zero and below temp limit? In example, at 35F on start-up, would a 0w40 outflow a 15w50 or would that viscosity margin only be noticeable at much colder temps?
 
Last edited:
anderzen said:
Thank you for that info SR5.
Considering my temps...
Do you all think I would be okay running the Mobil 1 15w50 year round, or only the 5w50?
And what are thoughts about running the conventional or synthetic VR1 20w50?
Click to expand...
My pick would be M1 15W50 great oil
 
anderzen said:
Thank you, more info, I am doing track days all year round. I also no longer have secondary cats on the car and am not concerned about the primary cats as I have 200 cell metal cats that will replace them soon, no emission checks in WA anymore also.

This may be dumb.. but the thing I don't understand about the winter viscosity charts is, would all these mentioned flow similarly at my low temp of 35F and only become drastically different at the specified zero and below temp limit? In example, at 35F on start-up, would a 0w40 outflow a 15w50 or would that viscosity margin only be noticeable at much colder temps?
Click to expand...
0W40 has better CCS at 32 than 15W50. Probably not better than 5W, but 15 is pushing. That being said, 15W will be fine at 32f, I would just give it a bit more time to warm up, meaning I would be easy on throttle and allow transmission to shift around 2,000rpm until oil reaches operating temperature, and if you cannot see oil temperature, I would be easy for first 10 miles. Oils take a lot of time to warm up, especially such thick oil and size of sump you have.
Before moving to US I used mostly 15W40 and 10W40 oils in Bosnia. Bosnia has brutal winters, and it was fine. Today engines are more complex, but in your climate it will be fine.
 
edyvw said:
But, if it is using a lot of oil, Redline becomes expensive very fast. Mobil1 15W50 is $24 in Wal Mart for 5qt.
Click to expand...
Agree, but I didn’t see any financial considerations in the OPs post. Seems to me he just want to have fun tracking his AMG year ‘round.
 
OilReport99 said:
Agree, but I didn’t see any financial considerations in the OPs post. Seems to me he just want to have fun tracking his AMG year ‘round.
Click to expand...
I agree, but M1 15W50 is actually dedicated track oil. ZDDP is higher than Redline.
That being said, yeah, maybe Redline 10W40 would work? Motul 10W40 300V? It should be more stable.
 
One more thing about oils like VR1. Dedicated racing oils don’t have very good detergent properties. You really don’t know oxidation resistance. Mobil1 specifically says not to use their racing oils 0W30 and 0W50 in daily use. Mobil1 15W50, Motul 5W40/50 are API SN andM1 is also ACEA A3. That means they have to be street capable and have good detergent and anti oxidation properties. Redline would be good as well as Motul 300V. But with Redline and Motul 300V I would not go pass 5k if tracking.
 
Thank you everyone for chiming in, really appreciate it!

Financial considerations definitely are a factor as well as convenience which is why I've tried to stay away from the boutique oils.
I bought this car for $6500 about 4 years ago and have pretty much touched every nut and bolt myself for maintenance and upgrades, including the manual swap. Doing the work myself, and with parts being relatively affordable and this era of MB AMG being somewhat simple and reliable, is what allows me to afford the car. Otherwise I wouldn't have an AMG either... lol.

I also have a 2000 ML55 AMG which we use as our family vehicle that I bought for $4500 and also do all the work myself on. The M113 and 722.6 are very very stout drivetrains and don't require much upkeep, plus FCPeuro makes everything pretty much a one time purchase. The ML55 has the same mileage as the C55 but used less than a quart in 7k miles on the Castrol Edge 0w40.

I will plan on using up this Valvoline Euro 5w40 and seeing how it goes, then switching to the Mobil 1 15w50 since it meets all my criteria and is always readily available and very affordable. I will report back on my experience/findings! Maybe even do a UOA eventually...
If anyone wants to see the car or learn more about it, you can check it out here:

Thx again!
Anderzén
 
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