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      08-12-2013, 09:21 AM   #59
m6pwr
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Drives: '14 335i M sport
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More on the subject of lighter oils in M cars. This morning I came across a uoa on BITOG from a e39 M5 using Mobil 1 0w40 during the Canadian winter. The oil performed fine. It was run at either 6000 mi or 10,000 mi (the uoa report is hard to read - - can't tell if it's miles or kilometers). The lab flagged fuel dilution as abnormal - - looks like it was up around 5 or 6% which is pretty high but not surprising in winter (most labs consider 2% the upper limit). The oil sheared back to a heavy 30 wt. So it did ok in winter, particularly considering the fuel dilution. Not sure how it would do in Texas summers, at 105 F temp.

As for racing application, a very experienced lubricant engineer (Doug Hillary), who has worked for both Castrol and Exxon/Mobil, told me in an email that the BMW factory team running e92 M3's at the Nurburgring 24 hr race used TWS 10w60. Same for the Audi factory team running the R8's.

There's a current thread on Bitog discussing the use of Mobil 1 0w40 in Porsche engines. In it Hillary makes the following observation: "The Mobil 1 0W-40 at the Nurburgring was standard stuff as was the Castrol lubricants used. And I did spend time with Castrol and BMW's specialist engine development people there as well! As you know I have an extensive history with Castrol and the development of Castrol Formula R Synthetic 15W-50 (red, ester based)(SE) into the 10W-60 that has been so successful for so long."

For anyone interested, the entire thread is here: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...65#Post3091965.

For those that believe "light is right and thin is in", Hillary has also said that some teams at the Nurburgring race were experimenting with 5w20 oils (presumably racing oils, but who knows, maybe street oils).

And 0w15 oils are coming, too.
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