Shell or Castrol... what's in the BMW bottle now?

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Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
I have a strong suspicion that Gena will not, or cannot answer any of the subsequent questions regarding bottle changes, etc.

You're probably right. However, often times for legal reasons, official company representatives are not allowed to divulge anything outside of what their approved marketing collateral or PR news announcements contain. Such is the corporate life we live in. This is also why I was quite disappointed with Pennzoil's Q&A a while back.

Yet, SOPUS is no different than all the other oil companies out there in that respect. Have we ever received any juicy detail from any of the official company representatives that revealed something beyond what could be deciphered from their marketing literature?

On top of that, companies now force their employees to amplify the marketing message through social media at every step of the way. Hence, after answering the question, she then went into the PurePlus song. I came to expect it nowadays.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
And then Gena posts this PR statement. Given BITOGs history and desire for hard information, I'm am surprised at the positive comments she's received for such useless information.

Relax. She did answer your original question, didn't she?

However, neither her answer nor the link that OneEyeJack posted explain how we can tell the two products apart, since both will just say "BMW High Performance Synthetic" on the label. That's why I asked her to clarify.

Just because SOPUS started making it on Jan 1 does not mean that BMW dealers still don't have big stashes of the old Castrol stuff on their hands.



It's pretty easy to tell the new stuff apart. BMW is taking the opportunity to change the design and branding

The new stuff looks like this

643070_x600.jpg


643076_x600.jpg


643078_x600.jpg
 
Hi, Terraphantm! Welcome to BITOG. I know you from M3F.

Got any pics of the back of the 10w-60 bottle, where it has the list of approvals that doesn't include any turbocharged M cars?
 
There it is! M5/M6 through MY2010, M3 through MY2013. Those cars were all naturally aspirated (as they bloody well should have been).

Hooray for "Twin Power Turbo" oil that isn't approved for any TwinPower Turbo engines!
 
Thanks but no thanks

I'll take this all day long
Redline:
ACEA Service Class A3 B3/B4
API Service Class SN/SM/SL/CF
SAE Viscosity Grade (Motor Oil) 10W60
Vis @ 100°C, cSt 25.9
Vis @ 40°C, cSt 170
Viscosity Index 187
CCS Viscosity, Poise, @ °C 65@-25
Pour Point, °C -45
Pour Point, °F -49
NOACK Evaporation Loss,1hr @ 482°F (250°C), % 6
HTHS Vis, cP @150°C, ASTM D4741 5.8
 
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What engine are you running that requires an HTHS of 5.8? I'm curious, as that's a really bloody heavy oil!
 
I got a dealer oil change on my car in late January and I saw someone at the parts counter buying a few oil bottles. They appeared to be the new blue bottles. Makes me wonder which one (Castrol or Shell) they put in my car..?

I have one of the N54 "real" twin-turbo engines in my 335i. My car has the oil cooler and manual transmission (MT 335i's run cooler). My oil temps run from about 220º to 245º F, fully warmed up, in ambient temps 60º-100ºF. Hottest I've seen is 255ºF after a 50 second autocross run. On the track these cars will push 300ºF+ oil temps before going into "limp mode" (the DME begins to cut engine power at 299ºF oil temp).

I think 5W-30 is just barely adequate for these engines. Having had my last dealer oil change, I will most likely be going with 0W-40 or 5W-40. I'm of the opinion that the 5W-30 oil is for fuel economy (CAFE) purposes (although its a heavy 30 weight). For a track day I wouldn't run anything other than 10W-60.

IMHO, the reason that the 10W-60 is only specced for the naturally aspirated M cars, is that the late model ones all got hit with the gas-guzzler tax anyway, so it's no loss to reduce the MPG a tiny bit more with the thicker oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Leonardo629
is the new blue BMW 0W40 = Penn Platinum Euro 0W40?

Only SOPUS can answer this for sure. The rest of us can only guess.

However, when you look at PP Euro 0w-40's TDS, it does not list any BMW specs.
 
TDS for the 0W40 Euro is not available on pennzoil.com, can you provide a a link?

Also, this is the description BMW has for the new blue bottle oils

BMW has taken the “crude” out of our engine oil, formulating its base oils purely from natural gas. The result: crystal clear base oils with virtually none of the impurities found in crude oil. It’s a major breakthrough in how engine oils are formulated, providing enhanced viscosity, reduced friction and lower volatility. They’re the best choice of oils to use for all BMWs.

I'm gonna bet my money the new BMW 0W40 oil = Pennzoil Platinum 0W40 Euro, and it's no wonder it's not available at Walmart in cheap 5-liter jugs. SOPUS probably made a deal with BMW not to undercut them at a retail level.
 
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Originally Posted By: terraphantm
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
And then Gena posts this PR statement. Given BITOGs history and desire for hard information, I'm am surprised at the positive comments she's received for such useless information.

Relax. She did answer your original question, didn't she?

However, neither her answer nor the link that OneEyeJack posted explain how we can tell the two products apart, since both will just say "BMW High Performance Synthetic" on the label. That's why I asked her to clarify.

Just because SOPUS started making it on Jan 1 does not mean that BMW dealers still don't have big stashes of the old Castrol stuff on their hands.



It's pretty easy to tell the new stuff apart. BMW is taking the opportunity to change the design and branding

The new stuff looks like this

643070_x600.jpg


643076_x600.jpg


643078_x600.jpg



told ya.
 
Originally Posted By: Leonardo629
and it's no wonder it's not available at Walmart in cheap 5-liter jugs.

Pennzoil Euro has been around long long before the whole BMW-SOPUS deal got signed, yet it has never been available at Walmart, much less in 5-qt jugs.

SOPUS has historically struggled with their Euro oils' distribution at retail level. Or maybe that was intentional, I don't know.

Their Euro 5w-40 has only recently become available at stores such as AAP and AZ, and PepBoys.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Leonardo629
is the new blue BMW 0W40 = Penn Platinum Euro 0W40?

Only SOPUS can answer this for sure. The rest of us can only guess.

However, when you look at PP Euro 0w-40's TDS, it does not list any BMW specs.


Guys, guys; Gena explained it all below! And just as I predicted she'd disappear after posting the boiler plate SOPUS marketing blurb.

The new BMW oil is probably the same oil as PP Euro 0w-40. It's all MARKETING! Tell you what, I will buy a quart of this new 0W-40 and get a Blackstone analysis. Give me a week or two.

Scott

Originally Posted By: GenaFishbeck
Hi SilverC6, on January 1, 2015, BMW genuine motor oil began being made exclusively by Shell utilizing Pennzoil PurePlus Technology. PurePlus Technology is a patented, revolutionary process that converts pure natural gas into the first-of-its-kind, high quality full synthetic base oil. Additionally, Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic motor oil with PurePlus Technology is the only aftermarket motor oil recommended by BMW in North America. - The Pennzoil Team
 
Castrol is the best hope for DIY guys.

We already have Castrol 0W-40 and GC 0W-30 at reasonable prices.

If Castrol would just bring the Euro 5W-30 and TWS to discounters at competitive prices, everyone would benefit.

TWS is available now at O'Reilly but it's $12.99/liter.

I would enjoy a future where a 5.1 quart jug of TWS and a Wix filter could be had for $32.95 with a $10 rebate to boot.
 
Originally Posted By: SLO_Town
Tell you what, I will buy a quart of this new 0W-40 and get a Blackstone analysis.

Appreciate your willingness to contribute another VOA to our repository. Although I'm not sure how getting it analyzed is going to prove anything, unless you have a sample of PP Euro 0w-40 to compare it to, and as of yet, this oil is nowhere to be found.
 
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