Long term track use: How are people's cars holding up??

[omgzirra_exe]

Just to clarify what I meant when I said Liqui Moly sucks.

I’m specifically talking about track use. For street driving and occasional spirited runs, modern synthetic oils, including Liqui Moly, are generally very good.

My experience with LM 10W60 came from longer track sessions, where it didn’t behave as well for my setup compared to Redline 5W50. During sustained high-RPM running, the engine became noticeably louder once fully up to temperature, and it felt less eager at the top end. The car still ran fine, but it didn’t pull as cleanly as it normally does.

Once temperatures stabilized, the oil seemed to remain comparatively viscous, which likely increased pumping and churning losses. When the engine was fully heat soaked, the combination of operating viscosity and shear behavior over long stints made it feel less happy at high RPM.

I don’t have data to directly measure internal oil behavior, but the difference in how the car felt early in a session versus mid-session was very noticeable to me.

Because of that behavior during extended stints, I ultimately found Redline 5W50 to be a better fit for my track use, even though Liqui Moly remains a solid option for non-track applications.

[m3peat]

Thanks for the explanation and background of your choice.

[pirategenes]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

Just to clarify what I meant when I said Liqui Moly sucks.

I’m specifically talking about track use. For street driving and occasional spirited runs, modern synthetic oils, including Liqui Moly, are generally very good.

My experience with LM 10W60 came from longer track sessions, where it didn’t behave as well for my setup compared to Redline 5W50. During sustained high-RPM running, the engine became noticeably louder once fully up to temperature, and it felt less eager at the top end. The car still ran fine, but it didn’t pull as cleanly as it normally does.

Once temperatures stabilized, the oil seemed to remain comparatively viscous, which likely increased pumping and churning losses. When the engine was fully heat soaked, the combination of operating viscosity and shear behavior over long stints made it feel less happy at high RPM.

I don’t have data to directly measure internal oil behavior, but the difference in how the car felt early in a session versus mid-session was very noticeable to me.

Because of that behavior during extended stints, I ultimately found Redline 5W50 to be a better fit for my track use, even though Liqui Moly remains a solid option for non-track applications.

+1 here. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Redline has been great on track for me. I use a blend of 8qt 5W50 and 2qt 10W60 for a little more high RPM protection. Engine temps are good on track (I have do88 oil cooler and radiator). When I push hard-ish on warm days (here in Michigan, so relative...) I see oil temps (measured though CANBUS, not cluster dummy gauge) in the 260F range. Temp drops noticeably (~15F) within one lap when I push less hard. I change the oil every ~3 track days and send off to blackstone for testing and it looks good. Could probably go for longer oil usage, but I love the engine too much

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by m3peat

I’ll start asking here and tried searching a little here and there but will move it to the full track section if no solutions.
I have an 09’ with 170k miles and all the usual suspects replaced/upgraded/maintained (sans main bearings) but haven’t touched the radiator.

Car runs really well and engine feels good.

I’ve done one track day and oil temps were as expected, maybe a little over halfway to the 255* mark. It was also December, so cooler here in SoCal.
I have autox’d the car quite a bit and feel like oil temps come much closer to the 255* mark after each event and also closer than the one track day.

I have fresh oil (10w/60 LM) and the updated water pump (metal impeller).

Outside of upgrading my radiator, is there other solutions that won’t cost much?

I’ve put redline water wetter in before but can’t recall if the current coolant tank has it in there (if that even helps oil temps).

FWIW, the Autox’s I generally run at are 60-70 second runs and 8-15 minute breaks between each run. I push the car but generally in 2nd gear the whole time and rarely hit the limiter.

I had to replace the radiator on my E92 M3 at around 170,000. In relatively low heat, driving on the highway, water temp was setting off warnings and I had to slow down and run with the heater on to get home. (I replaced water pump with no improvement).

I think that radiator replacement is coming soon and you're playing with fire about those rod bearings.