2011.75 E92 with 35k miles - when should I do the Rod Bearings?

[PKL]

What a tired topic!!

But it's important so we discuss it endlessly.... ?

I just purchased a one-owner 2011.75 E92 ZCP DCT with 35,000 miles.

The car was babied since new, only driven in the summer months, never saw rain, supposedly warmed up fully every time it was driven, and generally just never driven like a hooligan. Thanks so much to the original owner.

I don't know when I should do the Rod Bearing job. Part of me wants to do it now for peace of mind, part of me wants to wait because my car has such low miles.

I don't plan on driving my car more than 5-7k miles per year or so.

And when the time comes I will get the job done by Malek at MRF Engineering based on the glowing reviews from this community.

Pic because threads are worthless without pics

[MidnightM3]

Unless you track the car or drive it hard regularly you should be fine. I would drive it 80-100k miles before I did them. A car like this should be able to go to 100k miles without having to do the rod bearings. Just make sure you do the regular service maintenance and oil changes.

[kscarrol]

Agreed. I have 72k on my 2011.5 and have had a few track days but not a lot. No immediate plans to do the rod bearings...

[///Mbitions]

Beautiful car. It’s all up to you if you want to risk it or not, if you even think it’s a risk or not. The people that do it preventably wanted the piece of mind of knowing they’ll be able to start the car everyday and not have that linger in back of their minds. I’m sure you’ve read on the forums here it’s hard to tell if it’s from track days, if it’s not proper warm up, if it’s diff types of oils etc etc to have a real definitive time frame when bearings should be done. My opinion $2k-$2500 is not a huge amount of money to see the condition of your current bearings, let’s you know how your particular M3 is wearing. If the bearings are real bad you’ll be so happy, if theyre great, well you’ll also be happy knowing the new sets will definitely be fine years down. At least that’s how I see it, then there are others that might be against it for now because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I don’t have that kind of cash flow to just drop on a new engine out of the blue so The thought of a paper weight m3 scares me to death! Of course even if you do the bearings the Mains can also go right after too! Lol fuck if you do fuck if you don’t! I haven’t driven mine in weeks as I’m waiting for my TAs to be done/shipped. Miss that sound

[Aktavate]

Personally, if I were you and planned on keeping the car long term, I'd get it done sooner rather than later just for peace of mind. You'll probably be fine for quite a while but if you have the budget for it then why not.

[sibhusz06]

For starters, change the oil and send an oil sample so you can get an idea of how the metals are wearing in the engine.

[jaehshim]

I have an 09, about 49K on chassis, 19K miles on the motor (Brand new motor (long block) from BMW installed in 2013 so "later model bearings").
It's my weekend ride, drive properly (always warm engine before driving), oil change every 5K miles.

I just did my rod bearing last month, NOT because I had symptoms of rod bearing, but because I had to change other things (Motor mounts were real bad showing bad shakes at idle and stop, needed oil pan change) - remember, my car is 09, nearly 9 yrs old now despite its low mileage.

The endless dilemma with bearing is that,
1. It is a very rare case (rod bearing failure) that is 500% exaggerated in the internet community
2. But engine failure due to Rod bearing DOES happen and it is a FACT that OEM bearings have less clearance and will eventually damage our engine at some point whether you have an 08 or 12+ model
3. so wtf do we do?


From my recent experience of changing bearings, the bearing wasn't bad, but did show some wear. Yes it was a bit early to change my bearings but now I know my bearings (WPC treated with ARP bolts) are safe to run on local/track freely.

You don't need to change bearings right now, but keep in mind you wanna change them at some point. Changing them along with motor mounts etc (wear and tear items over the yrs) will save you money.
1. Do oil analysis every oil change and keep bearings in check
2. When it's time for changing motor mounts, pan etc or 60~80K miles, start considering new bearings (WPC or BE I'd recommend)

[MidnightM3]

Originally Posted by sibhusz06

For starters, change the oil and send an oil sample so you can get an idea of how the metals are wearing in the engine.

There are Blackstone reports that came back positive, but the rod bearings were worn down more then anticipated upon replacement (if going off the reports). It seems a bit more difficult to catch a trend on his model year and newer, then it was on the earlier year models that would show copper.

However, Blackstone reports seems to be the pill that calms the gremlins in our minds.

[M43S7RO]

If they go tomorrow you'll kick yourself for not getting them done today. No one can tell you when it's more likely that they'll give out.

How much do you like to gamble?

[OneSickM]

An advice from someone who recently changed his rod bearings. If I can go back in time, I would not do it and would save myself from spending $2500. My rod bearings where in excellent conditions and mileage on car is 100K miles

Unfortunately coming to this forum and reading people's feedback/experience made me believe this hysteria of rod bearings even though many of trusted shops in my area told me this is an overblown issue and I shouldn't be worried about it.

[Transfer]

If you don't have a warranty or $15-20k to replace the motor, I would do it now. The German lottery is real and while you're unlikely to win, it's real bad if you do!

[NeverL8]

Originally Posted by OneSickM

An advice from someone who recently changed his rod bearings. If I can go back in time, I would not do it and would save myself from spending $2500. My rod bearings where in excellent conditions and mileage on car is 100K miles

Unfortunately coming to this forum and reading people's feedback/experience made me believe this hysteria of rod bearings even though many of trusted shops in my area told me this is an overblown issue and I shouldn't be worried about it.

I recently changed my bearings on my 2013 with 50k miles...I’m happy I believed in all of this hysteria

[pbonsalb]

They might be fine. Only a few percent have failed. You will be fine unless you are among the few percent. You won’t know whether you are until your engine fails, though. Although the odds were in my favor, I changed mine when my extended warranty expired. If 90% of the rod bearings coming out of these cars looked good, I would feel differently. Instead, it’s about 5% that come out looking good.

[PKL]

Originally Posted by MidnightM3

There are Blackstone reports that came back positive, but the rod bearings were worn down more then anticipated upon replacement (if going off the reports). It seems a bit more difficult to catch a trend on his model year and newer, then it was on the earlier year models that would show copper.

However, Blackstone reports seems to be the pill that calms the gremlins in our minds.

I got an oil change when I got the car and had the black stone analysis and it was positive, nothing to report. Oil only had 2,000 miles on it though...

I'm sure I could go another 50k miles fine but part of me really wants to do it now

[serranot]

Now.

[Dr. Dre]

Let's see if you driving along and your engine fails. All these guys who are telling you not to worry about it. You know what they will say "man that sucks" while they'll keep driving their cars.

In the scheme of things $2500 is nothing. Why would you not spend the money.

There was another member who use to talk shit about people spending money to do the bearings until engine started knocking and he pretty much pissed his pants. He wasn't talking shit anymore. He got extremely luck. Usually once the knocking starts it's too late.

[deansbimmer]

Replace the bearings. It's cheap insurance. Or gamble and potentially be on the hook for $10k+ and lots of heartache.

In all the hundreds (thousands?) of original bearings we've seen come out of these engines, none were acceptable according to industry standards. Why would you risk it?

FYI to those suggesting oil analyses: 2010+ MY cars don't have copper/lead bearings. It's good to have done to establish trends but you're not going to be alerted to abnormal bearing wear like you are with the earlier cars. All the more reason to replace the bearings preventatively.

[Mvy]

Yesterday. Like it or not, rod bearings are a maint. item on this car. You can go down gambling or just get it done. Do the motor mounts while you are in there. It makes a huge difference in the feel of the car. And if you want to address all the Achilles heels, do the throttle actuators and then you can say you knocked out the likely failure points.

[OneSickM]

Originally Posted by TheRussski

I recently changed my bearings on my 2013 with 50k miles...I’m happy I believed in all of this hysteria

You really see rod bearings in this condition bad?

There is not even scratches on them

[deansbimmer]

Originally Posted by OneSickM

You really see rod bearings in this condition bad? There is not even scratches on them

I think having pictures of S65 bearings as the only context in which to judge normal/abnormal condition has really skewed people's ability to understand whats truly normal bearing wear and what's not.

That kind of wear in 50k miles is not good. But typical of S65 wear because all S65 bearings wear poorly.

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by deansbimmer

Replace the bearings. It's cheap insurance. Or gamble and potentially be on the hook for $10k+ and lots of heartache.

In all the hundreds (thousands?) of original bearings we've seen come out of these engines, none were acceptable according to industry standards. Why would you risk it?

FYI to those suggesting oil analyses: 2010+ MY cars don't have copper/lead bearings. It's good to have done to establish trends but you're not going to be alerted to abnormal bearing wear like you are with the earlier cars. All the more reason to replace the bearings preventatively.

My 2011MY came with lead/copper bearings. I think it is a production date cutoff. My car was made in 04/2010. Not sure the exact date that the bearings changed though.

Cheers,

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by M43S7RO

If they go tomorrow you'll kick yourself for not getting them done today. No one can tell you when it's more likely that they'll give out.

How much do you like to gamble?

It's really that, it's a question of how comfortable you are with risk.

You do not amortize the existing rod bearings. If you ever plan on changing them you might as well do it now. The increased clearance rod bearings will be fine.

I changed rod bearings on both my E92 M3s and also on my E46M before then. All three cases were beat to crap.
I choose to gamble and not replace the main bearings although that is a much, much smaller likelihood than the rod bearing failure.
In other words, I was uncomfortable with a 2% probability of failure but comfortable with a 0.2%. There is also a risk and cost factor.
Rod bearings: 2% failure rate, 2500 to replace in a shop
Main bearings: 0.2% failure rate, 5000 to replace in a shop

Well guess what, my main bearings failed. Do you know how much it will cost to get the car working again? A lot.


Personal finances also play a role in this. I have friends with Ferraris that use liability-only insurance as they prefer to save the money over full coverage and they have the means to pay for a new Ferrari if it blows.
So if you have 15k just sitting around and can pay that for a new engine, definitely gamble!

If you're like most people who would need to sell their children into slavery to get 15k for an engine replacement, well, you're probably better off keeping the stock exhaust instead of whatever aftermarket junk people buy and taking care of your rod bearings