Looking for advice to know how good of an oil is Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W-40 vs performance oil?

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Hello all. For context I have a 2011 BMW 335is DCT which has the N54 engine. The current oil I use is Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W-40 pretty much since it's the cheapest local oil I can get which has the BMW LL01 spec, although I don't specifically care for the spec anymore since my conclusion is more for long term oil changes I figured why not it means it's reputable oil and bottles are cool yellow.

My question is, how good is this oil for cars that are used more aggressively? Like I have no doubt the oil is great for a commuter and it matches myowner's manual spec (they say 0W-40, 5W-40, 0W-30 or 5W-30 all acceptable) but if you drive your car in a more sporty matter most of the time or if I take it to a track time attack event on one odd day for example, how well is it in those regards? And also how does this oil comapre to Motul or LiquyMoly or RedLine performance oriented oils? I'm trying to consider if it's worth to pay more for those or not.

I don't know much in what are good numbers for oil specs and what those specs translates to, so it's why I'm making this post and see if y'all can help me out and translate that into layman terms haha. I saw some threads about Pennzoil but I can't conclude how it compares. Also if the benefits from those oils are only marginal as well perhaps and it's more marketing.
 
It is just as good as any other oil with the LL01 rating. Is it good oil.

Compared to something like Redline it will not hold up to heavy track use quite as well mainly because it is not as thick, but Redline doesn’t carry the necessary approvals either so there are other shortcomings with it.

Personally for some track time here and there (say like a few 20 minute sessions) I would just stick with LL01 myself. Dedicated track car I would use a track oil.
 
It is just as good as any other oil with the LL01 rating. Is it good oil.

Compared to something like Redline it will not hold up to heavy track use quite as well mainly because it is not as thick, but Redline doesn’t carry the necessary approvals either so there are other shortcomings with it.

Personally for some track time here and there (say like a few 20 minute sessions) I would just stick with LL01 myself. Dedicated track car I would use a track oil.

Alright I see. And yeah for the track, I guess when my oil temps start to hit a certain point that's when I know to chill a little bit and be ok. Or can the oil still not hold up and not be related to heat necessarily? But yeah it's definitely under 20 minutes and maybe like 1 or 2 time a year at most for the moment. Do a few laps of a very small circuit.
 
If I were tracking a car I wouldn’t use anything but an oil designed for such use. HPL and Red Line know what they are doing.

Ok let's just disregard the track part for now. I barely do it. Just imagine it's me driving sporty on a normal road because honestly that's kinda what I do on the "track" it's just a time attack thing.
 
Alright I see. And yeah for the track, I guess when my oil temps start to hit a certain point that's when I know to chill a little bit and be ok. Or can the oil still not hold up and not be related to heat necessarily? But yeah it's definitely under 20 minutes and maybe like 1 or 2 time a year at most for the moment. Do a few laps of a very small circuit.

I’d stick with what you’re doing.
 
For regular public-road type hooning - whatever oil you are using will be just fine.
 
First of all, I would ALWAYS choose Pennzoil over Liqu Moly! Liqui Moly is not anything but at best average oil.
Second, you track car occasionally. Anyone will tell you to use street oil like that PPE 5W40.
N54 are notorious when it comes to cooling. Issue is not oil. That oil can take beating and limp mode will be activated long before you reach temperature where oil might suffer.
Most people who track N54, especially those with DCT upgrade cooling. Mostly they go larger CSF coolant radiator as that one is responsible to cool off DCT too through heat exchanger. Then bump size of oil cooler. I often seen N54’s with double oil coolers.
Run on track 10% coolant concentrate and 90% distilled water. That will increase your heat dissipation.

PPE is fine on track. I ran it in my N52. I personally think Castrol 0W40 is better choice just bcs. Castrol is more consistent in formulation. One thing I noticed with PPE is drop in flash point.
Don’t go Mobil1 0W40 in N54 bcs. CBU issues. M1 has really high SAPS levels.
Motul X-CESS 5W40 GEN2 is another good choice.

If you worry how your oil will do on track, solution, a real one, is not trying to find better oil over really good one, but increase cooling capability of vehicle.
Personally, I would be more worried about DCT than engine. Get CSF upgraded coolant radiator!
 
@TheMidnightNarwh more important thing than whether you are running PPE or Motul or whatever, is oil level in N54 when you track.
N54/55 are notorious for oil starvation under high G load. It cannot happen of course during spirited/hard driving, but on track it happens, a lot. When car enters long left turns and G load is high, pressure can drop. It happens also on long stretches under hard braking.
This is mostly confined to vehicles with upgraded suspension and track tires or slicks. Only solution is accusump. But for you that is not worth it as you don’t track a lot. So make sure you are at absolute maximum oil level if not 1/2qt above.
 
Maximum fills usually impart extra windage down below and up top. If you have a motor with known problems (most wet sumps unless like a 4B11T which had factory tests up to 3.5G), invest in a pressurized add-on like accusump. Adding more oil to a wet sump application (without accusump) isn’t the best solution. Could/would most certainly add other potential problems.

I not getting into catalyst degradation. Motor specific.
 
I you’re doing time attacks, you probably have some money to spend.

Also, I’ll point out that a 2g stopper is a 2g stopper whether it’s a Time Attack or 20-30min Track Day session. If you disagree, I’d very much like to hear your reasoning.
 
Maximum fills usually impart extra windage down below and up top. If you have a motor with known problems (most wet sumps unless like a 4B11T which had factory tests up to 3.5G), invest in a pressurized add-on like accusump. Adding more oil to a wet sump application (without accusump) isn’t the best solution. Could/would most certainly add other potential problems.

I not getting into catalyst degradation. Motor specific.
It won’t. BMW’s run from get go big sumps and people go sometimes over 1 1/2qt.
Accusump is not worth it for him. He tracks 1-2 times a year. Probably no track tires in that case=lower G loads.
 
It won’t. BMW’s run from get go big sumps and people go sometimes over 1 1/2qt.
Accusump is not worth it for him. He tracks 1-2 times a year. Probably no track tires in that case=lower G loads.
Pan Capacity has absolutely nothing to do with windage. It’s all on design.

With that said, some vehicles you CAN go over without causing an issue…..But, that’s not a common trait.

Accusump would be worth it to prevent failure. Could be 1 day or 30 track days from now.
 
Pan Capacity has absolutely nothing to do with windage. It’s all on design.

With that said, some vehicles you CAN go over without causing an issue…..But, that’s not a common trait.

Accusump would be worth it to prevent failure. Could be 1 day or 30 track days from now.
I agree it is worth to prevent failure but failures in these engines happen only under certain conditions. Tracking 1-2 times a year, I highly doubt he runs 100-200wt tires and this happens only when cars are running those tires and seriously upgraded suspension.
BMW engines can run 2qt more with no issues. I understand what you saying, but not an issue in BMW.
 
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