Official S65 Rod Bearing Condition Example Thread

[M3 2ENVY]

Here are the rod bearings out of my 2011 E92 M3 Competition. Not to bad for 98k on the clock. Bought the car with 58k, always did the oil changes around 8k, always let the car warm up for at least 5min before driving.

[velociti]

Originally Posted by M3 2ENVY

Here are the rod bearings out of my 2011 E92 M3 Competition. Not to bad for 98k on the clock. Bought the car with 58k, always did the oil changes around 8k, always let the car warm up for at least 5min before driving.

I replaced my bearings last week with VAC bearings at VAC. They suggested that a long warm up like that could be problematic...keep the revs down until the oil is warm, but drive it straightaway. Just a thought.

Glad you did it though - I am too. The peace of mind is nice to have!

[M3 2ENVY]

Originally Posted by velociti

I replaced my bearings last week with VAC bearings at VAC. They suggested that a long warm up like that could be problematic...keep the revs down until the oil is warm, but drive it straightaway. Just a thought.

Glad you did it though - I am too. The peace of mind is nice to have!

Nice, yes definitely peace of mind. 5 min warmups wasn't all the time, sometimes 2-3 mins if I was more in a rush. But yes definitely kept the revs down until the temps were up

[SoCalRPM]

Originally Posted by M3 2ENVY

Nice, yes definitely peace of mind. 5 min warmups wasn't all the time, sometimes 2-3 mins if I was more in a rush. But yes definitely kept the revs down until the temps were up

You should be fine to drive sooner. Just wait for cold start to cycle through, about 60-90 seconds, then start driving. Keep the revs down to about 3 or 4K RPMs until the engine reaches operating temp. The car will warm up unevenly if you let it sit idly for too long

[magicaltrout]

Posted in wrong location earlier. Sorry.

Rod bearings at 110,xxx miles off a 2011.5

Done by SV Bimmer in Santa Clara, CA

Reports seemed pretty good the last 20k miles. Start up procedure was wait until warm up phase completes and drive normal with low rpms until fully warmed up. Since most of the car's life was under two other people's ownership I can't say whether owner error attributed to excessive rod bearing wear. First oil report I got back mentioned previous owner might have put in 10w30 which was not very reassuring.

[Stanbul_76]

Originally Posted by M3 2ENVY

Here are the rod bearings out of my 2011 E92 M3 Competition. Not to bad for 98k on the clock. Bought the car with 58k, always did the oil changes around 8k, always let the car warm up for at least 5min before driving.

98,000 Km or miles?

[M3 2ENVY]

Originally Posted by Stanbul_76

98,000 Km or miles?

98,000 miles

[TX]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Lang also sells ACL mixed sets.

bumping an old thread and a very old post.
I contacted Lang. They do sell mixed sets of ACL, but they ***DO NOT*** measure any bearing from any set prior to selling. I was specifically told they only mix the sets and sell, as the measuring was supposed to be done by ACL so it wasn't their responsibility to check them. If I wanted lang to measure a set before selling it to me, then it would be several hundred $ more, and would essentially be the same cost of BE bearings.

[BasedHark]

2011 M3 Comp, third owner, and it has 75k on it. Replaced them with BE Bearings![IMG][/IMG]

[deansbimmer]

Originally Posted by TX

I contacted Lang. They do sell mixed sets of ACL, but they ***DO NOT*** measure any bearing from any set prior to selling. I was specifically told they only mix the sets and sell, as the measuring was supposed to be done by ACL so it wasn't their responsibility to check them. If I wanted lang to measure a set before selling it to me, then it would be several hundred $ more, and would essentially be the same cost of BE bearings.

I've been saying this for a while. It's not good practice. I've seen other vendors claim they measure them but I have doubts.

ACL ships sets as 8 shells per pack with two packs in each S65 kit. ACL measures each shell from their assembly line and packs similar thickness shells together into those packs of 8. With a target bore diameter in mind, they match a pack of "thin" shells with a pack of "thick" shells, combining them into a full set that will yield the proper bearing clearance.

Therefore, if you blindly take half of an HX (extra clearance) set and put them with half of a set of H (std clearance) bearings, you have no idea whether you're mixing those "thin" shells with other "thin" shells, or vice-versa. I've measured HX shells with the same thickness as their standard H shells. This is a simplified explanation but the only way to ensure sets are being matched properly is to measure them.

[MisterClutch888]

Just did mine yesterday. Bought this 2008 6MT coupe a month ago, first thing in my mind is rod bearings before driving it. Now i can really enjoy driving it. Cylinder 1 and 7 seems to show a hint of cooper and clearance is actually just within specs according to plastigauge. 0.038? Replaced with BE bearings and BE ARP bolts and engine mounts. Wonder whats going to happen down the road? Is at 93000km now. Ig @awxfr92

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by MisterClutch888

Just did mine yesterday. Bought this 2008 6MT coupe a month ago, first thing in my mind is rod bearings before driving it. Now i can really enjoy driving it. Cylinder 1 and 7 seems to show a hint of cooper and clearance is actually just within specs according to plastigauge. 0.038? Replaced with BE bearings and BE ARP bolts and engine mounts. Wonder whats going to happen down the road? Is at 93000km now. Ig @awxfr92

0.038? What is that number?

And how does plastigauge verify whatnow?

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

0.038? What is that number?

And how does plastigauge verify whatnow?

0.038mm, sounds close enought to BMWs spec.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

0.038mm, sounds close enought to BMWs spec.

More to the point, plastigauge verifies verry little.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

As said by Scharbag , zero engine losses due to BE failures. People may 'hear things', but BE has a warranty on their shells if installed properly which is well documented. Am I supposed to believe someone paid a ton of money to fix their engine instead of making a scene about BE not honoring their warranty? Seems unlikely

It may be inevitable or not, but I don't think people really think it through.

Cool story:
A student at VIR in 2019 told me he thought the rod bearings were blown out of proportion so he hadn't done them to his low mile 2013. Guess what, he blew his engine up that same weekend. In the green run group, his first track weekend, he used stock tires and brakes without even camber plates. He did not win the HPDE trophy.

People also have pretty interesting ideas of what happens when you blow an engine. I've seen some people say 'it's 10k'. Well I'm sorry to be that guy, but just like the stupid Porsche discussions of fairies and unicorns, I'm going to reset expectations for a second.

When you blow your engine:
-You have to get the car back home or to a shop. You'd better have AAA platinum with extended towing or get ready to pay 1k in towing
-You need a new engine, which you buy off eBay or something. 10k. 10k for a random piece of crap you have no history on, no warranty on, may never have had an oil change in its life. Then, assuming the person is intelligent enough to do rod bearings this time, add 2k for that. I think if your engine has failed due to rod bearings and you did not think you rod bearing issues really exist, you should not change them.
-You pay 5k to the shop to remove your old engine and put another one back in. They will likely leave your car out in the lot for a minimum of 6 months while they 'schedule you in' while it gets burnt by the sun and pooped on by every bird in that zip code
-You need another car, unless you keep a spare car sitting around for these situations. So factor that into your numbers.

So let's add that up:
1k towing
10k ebay shit engine
2k rod bearings
5k in 'R&R'
-------------------
18k


Ah, I contacted my student and he still doesn't have his car back. It blew up Sep 1. We are in June 18.


I lost an engine due to main bearing failure and it took an entire year to be back up and running. Fortunately I have a third M3 I can use, so as long as everyone else also has a spare track car and owns multiple extra street cars they should be good

This made me feel a little better about having a second M car....

[akkando]

Originally Posted by tsk94

Lol, come on. You know that's not true. I may not be able to DIRECTLY monitor specifically bearing wear, but I can could still use oil analysis to see wear of tin and aluminum. If it suddenly spikes then chances are the bearings are wearing.

Like I said it will be done as preventative maintenance going forward. I'd be surprised if I put on more then 5k miles between rod bearing change intervals.

If you're going to do rod bearings every 5k miles you should try different ones just for the sake of science and see which ones wear, and which ones don't.

Also that's insane.

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by akkando

If you're going to do rod bearings every 5k miles you should try different ones just for the sake of science and see which ones wear, and which ones don't.

Also that's insane.

Wouldn't be a bad idea actually haha

[SSR Performance]

A few more examples of cars we did here at SSR Performance. Been crazy busy so have not had time to upload. These photos came out darker than I would have hoped, but you get the point.

1/20/20


1/21/20


1/23/20


2/5/20

[deansbimmer]

A few more recents from here in Texas.

[thereverendgarnt]

Couple photos of my bearings when they were replaced at MRF last fall. 2011 with ~80k miles.

[rks68rt]

2013 E92 rod bearings replaced with 34,726 miles;
I'm 2nd owner since 20,700 miles;
oil changed every 5k miles or 6mos, which ever comes first with only Castrol TWS 10w-60.
Oil always properly warmed up before driving hard.

First owner service records show only annual oil changes by dealer with first 1200 mile service delayed until 2800 miles, if that has anything to do with proper break-in and early bearing wear.

Replaced with BE rod bearings and BE ARP bolts.

If anyone in Portland area looking to change out RBs to the back-ordered BE kit, give AR Auto Service in Lake Oswego, OR a call. They have two more pre-purchased BE kits waiting for a customer as of July 1st.

[Sea93]

Update on the class action lawsuit:

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/di...s-class-76754/

They appear to have been denied class status because they could not pass the Rule 23 numerosity requirements. IANAL, so maybe I read the details wrong.