What oil do YOU use?

[HarukoE30]

Once I get my Engine dropped; I'll give this Brad Penn 20-50w a shot & try to keep an eye on my findings. E30 325i

Edit: I actually ended up running with Kendall GT-1 20w-50 No issues thus far.

[lateracer]

2 qts every 3000 miles! That 's an awful lot of oil. I hope his engine can hold more than 4- 5 qts of oil. Mine does not burn any oil at all or very little...for a 23 yrs old car.

Nah, that's not a lot of oil for racing a motor like that. All things considered, it's actually pretty good. Sounds like what most of us see under track conditions with old motors.

If you look here, you'll see it's not just BMW's that burn this much.

[DrLeadFoot]

Brad Penn! It's green and American!

I'm not trying to sell Brad Penn, just providing my opinion and some of the information I used to come to that opinion. My specific opinion is use the oil that was designed for the engine at the time the engine was designed, they were made to work together. Newer is not always better.

Everyone has their own experiences and preferences. My experience is racing a stock M30 motor that had 92,000 miles on it when I started racing with it. Now the motor has just over 95,000 miles on it. 3,000 plus miles of racing, only racing. It has just recently started using more than 1 quart of oil for every 8 to 10 hours on track. It's a testement to the motor for sure, but I have to believe the oil had something to do with that.

I also subscribe to the school of thought that race engineering leads to better engineering for the masses. So I plan on using Brad Penn in my e30. Yeah, it's more expensive, but to me it's more than worth the few dollars difference. My dad runs Penzoil 10/40 in his Dodge, it has over 200,000 miles and only uses two quarts every 3,000 miles. Wouldn't be my first choice, but it works great for him. In the end, a lot of oils are the same, weight may not make a big difference, and to each their own. +1 for Z and P! :)

[dnguyen1963]

I'm not trying to sell Brad Penn, just providing my opinion and some of the information I used to come to that opinion. My specific opinion is use the oil that was designed for the engine at the time the engine was designed, they were made to work together. Newer is not always better.

Everyone has their own experiences and preferences. My experience is racing a stock M30 motor that had 92,000 miles on it when I started racing with it. Now the motor has just over 95,000 miles on it. 3,000 plus miles of racing, only racing. It has just recently started using more than 1 quart of oil for every 8 to 10 hours on track. It's a testement to the motor for sure, but I have to believe the oil had something to do with that.

I also subscribe to the school of thought that race engineering leads to better engineering for the masses. So I plan on using Brad Penn in my e30. Yeah, it's more expensive, but to me it's more than worth the few dollars difference. My dad runs Penzoil 10/40 in his Dodge, it has over 200,000 miles and only uses two quarts every 3,000 miles. Wouldn't be my first choice, but it works great for him. In the end, a lot of oils are the same, weight may not make a big difference, and to each their own. +1 for Z and P! :)

2 qts every 3000 miles! That 's an awful lot of oil. I hope his engine can hold more than 4- 5 qts of oil. Mine does not burn any oil at all or very little...for a 23 yrs old car.

[603Racing]

I'm not trying to sell Brad Penn, just providing my opinion and some of the information I used to come to that opinion. My specific opinion is use the oil that was designed for the engine at the time the engine was designed, they were made to work together. Newer is not always better.

Everyone has their own experiences and preferences. My experience is racing a stock M30 motor that had 92,000 miles on it when I started racing with it. Now the motor has just over 95,000 miles on it. 3,000 plus miles of racing, only racing. It has just recently started using more than 1 quart of oil for every 8 to 10 hours on track. It's a testement to the motor for sure, but I have to believe the oil had something to do with that.

I also subscribe to the school of thought that race engineering leads to better engineering for the masses. So I plan on using Brad Penn in my e30. Yeah, it's more expensive, but to me it's more than worth the few dollars difference. My dad runs Penzoil 10/40 in his Dodge, it has over 200,000 miles and only uses two quarts every 3,000 miles. Wouldn't be my first choice, but it works great for him. In the end, a lot of oils are the same, weight may not make a big difference, and to each their own. +1 for Z and P! :)

[dnguyen1963]

generally it seems that ~1100-1300 or so is a good guideline

you're kidding yourself if you think a 5w30 oil is going to adequately protect the camshaft, for example. Or a low- ZDDP formula 10w40 even. the weight of the oil doesn't matter much to the cam since it doesn't develop an oil film like the crank bearings do. the volume of oil makes no difference - the camshaft and rockers are under extreme pressure. the only thing protecting them is ZDDP.

metal on metal..

I never race my car and for the last 13 yrs I have put 5w30 in the engine...have not seen any problem. Knock on wood. What would you recommend to use when the temp is below zero? I drive my car year round and found that 5w30 works the best when the temp is that cold. Summer is not that hot up here either.

[nando]

generally it seems that ~1100-1300 or so is a good guideline

you're kidding yourself if you think a 5w30 oil is going to adequately protect the camshaft, for example. Or a low- ZDDP formula 10w40 even. the weight of the oil doesn't matter much to the cam since it doesn't develop an oil film like the crank bearings do. the volume of oil makes no difference - the camshaft and rockers are under extreme pressure. the only thing protecting them is ZDDP.

metal on metal..

[dnguyen1963]

we have camshafts with metal on metal contact. That's not just marketing BS - it needs protection.

Yeah, but at ppm level? One thousand parts of zinc:detergent in a million parts of oil. It is hard to believe. There is oil lubricating the camshaft, right?

[Eric]

I run joe gibed gt5 in my euro S50. Its good up to 280f and I regularly see 260f.

In the e28 M5 I use Bmw bottled castrol 5w30.

[nando]

we have camshafts with metal on metal contact. That's not just marketing BS - it needs protection.

[dnguyen1963]

On page 3 of this thread I posted a link to research done by LN Engineering on engine oils. It will answer your question on zinc. The very very short answer is, higher levels of zinc are better for motors designed 30 years ago. But there's more to it than that.




I order my oil from Autowerks of America. They have a website but they don't have oil/fluids listed on the site. It's easiest to call 1-888-4awerks to order it.

Ok, so it is not the zinc, but the zinc:detergent complex that offers anti-wear properties. These detergents needed to have counter ions and Ca2+, Mg2+ did not work well. Calcium and magnesium tend to form oxide crystals which can be really bad for an engine. The article did not provide any specific data on wear. I would be interested to see actual comparison between oil with and without zinc:detergent additive. How much more wear can one observe or measure without the use of additive? Is this a marketing scam to get us buying more expensive oil for a miniscule improvement in wear? I can see that race car drivers can benefit from the use of expensive oil, but for average drivers are we wasting money?

[603Racing]

So...what does zinc do to the engine at ppm? Lower grade oil might have the same amount of zinc, but the company probably did not want to have additional cost of testing for zinc concentration.

On page 3 of this thread I posted a link to research done by LN Engineering on engine oils. It will answer your question on zinc. The very very short answer is, higher levels of zinc are better for motors designed 30 years ago. But there's more to it than that.

I use Mobil One 15w50, for the zinc
where do you buy the Brad Penn 20w50?

I order my oil from Autowerks of America. They have a website but they don't have oil/fluids listed on the site. It's easiest to call 1-888-4awerks to order it.

[Gubernaculum]

I use whatever comes in the "17 oil change" deal at autozone. Hell, at least I'm changin' it. And my car is mui scheisslich. A Mobil1 oil change would probably represent 5% of the value of my car.

[SpecM]

I use Mobil One 15w50, for the zinc

where do you buy the Brad Penn 20w50?

[dnguyen1963]

To go along with digger's post, here is the ZDDP data on the Brad Penn oils:

Brad Penn Product Blackstone Southwest Research

Penn Grade 1 zinc 1,214 ppm zinc 1,540 ppm
20W-50 #7119 phos 944 ppm phos 1,319 ppm

Penn Grade 1 zinc 1,424 ppm zinc 1,565 ppm
10W-30 #7150 phos 1,139 ppm phos 1,332 ppm

Brad Penn PCMO zinc 689 ppm zinc 1,051 ppm
20W-50 SJ #7123* phos 522 ppm phos 901 ppm

So...what does zinc do to the engine at ppm? Lower grade oil might have the same amount of zinc, but the company probably did not want to have additional cost of testing for zinc concentration.