BE bearings - progress reports

[FazerBoy]

Hi,

There must be quite a few folks like me who are concerned about the s65 rod bearing premature wear issue and are considering pre-emptively swapping out their rod bearings with the BE replacement bearings but are just a bit nervous about deviating from the stock BMW clearances, as although the evidence appears to be strong that the stock clearance is too tight for the recommended 10W-60 oil I'm not sure this theory has been conclusively proven at this point. (This thread is not intended to ignite further debate regarding this - it's just my opinion).

So I think it would be really helpful if we could have a thread where owners who have carried out this swap could check in every so often to update the community as to their progress ie. how many miles done on the BE bearings, which rod bolts used, stock or supercharged, driving styles, any track work etc. This way we could build up a picture over time of owners successfully passing various mileage milestones with no issues and the thread would serve to assist those contemplating the swap to proceed with confidence. Obviously if there are failures we would like to hear about these too (hopefully there won't be any!).

I know that BE are doing testing on one car but that's no substitute for real-world feedback from lots of different owners even if the reports are just anecdotal and not scientific.

So if any of you BE guys and gals want to chime in with an initial post and then a quick update every few thousand miles I'm sure there are lots of us sitting on the fence who would be grateful to have the benefit of your experience.

Cheers

Jack

[jamba]

subscribed

[JRV]

BE Bearings
OEM rod bolts
Amsoil 5w-50
Done 1-10-16 @ 49k miles
Currently have 55k miles
No Track time
BPM Stage 1
Zero issues

[4130]

BE bearings
BE ARP bolts
Liqui Moly 10W60
Done around 3k+ miles ago (last March)
NYC area driving
No track time
No issues

[shimmy23]

considering people are swapping out bearings prior to "failure" who's to say that they inevitably were headed to failure with oem bearings? only way to really provide any value is to reopen a set of be installed bearings after a substantial amount of miles.

[pbonsalb]

I agree.

[FazerBoy]

Originally Posted by shimmy23

considering people are swapping out bearings prior to "failure" who's to say that they inevitably were headed to failure with oem bearings? only way to really provide any value is to reopen a set of be installed bearings after a substantial amount of miles.

I stated in my initial post that I didn't want to start a debate here. I just want guys who have installed BE bearings to post up their experience.

If you want to have a discussion about whether their engines would have failed with OEM bearings etc please start your own thread.

Thanks

[FazerBoy]

Originally Posted by JRV

BE Bearings
OEM rod bolts
Amsoil 5w-50
Done 1-10-16 @ 49k miles
Currently have 55k miles
No Track time
BPM Stage 1
Zero issues

Thanks. Perhaps check back in at 60k miles :-)

[FazerBoy]

Originally Posted by 4130

BE bearings
BE ARP bolts
Liqui Moly 10W60
Done around 3k+ miles ago (last March)
NYC area driving
No track time
No issues

Thanks. This is the set-up I am planning to go with.

[javistor]

BE Bearings, ARP Bolts
Only 800 miles on the set up so a bit early to tell, so far so good...
10W60 LM
Will continue updating... currently 75K miles on the car

[SYT_Shadow]

I have a set of BE bearings and BE-ARP bolts installed on an E90 M3 which is dedicated to the track.

I will open the engine up again after racking up a lot of miles and open a thread to see how they are doing

[jeff@autocouture]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I have a set of BE bearings and BE-ARP bolts installed on an E90 M3 which is dedicated to the track.

I will open the engine up again after racking up a lot of miles and open a thread to see how they are doing

Patiently waiting

We had one customer who did this on the wpc coated bearings we installed with no signs of wear, i personally dont think there was enough time to make a decision based on that though, we are hoping to open another car once it gets some miles on it to get an idea


We are also a dealer for BE Bearings on that note and no issues either

[Mvy]

How about VAC users? Maybe a comparison?

[pbonsalb]

Malek at MRF uses the Vac bearings. He has done something like 180 sets of bearings and has opened up about 20 for a second time, after either some mileage or some racing, and they have looked good. His experience is presently the most informative on the subject of replaced bearing wear. Even this experience is of limited value, since the mileage interval is low.

In time, others will catch up. But these reports of "5k miles and no issues with BE bearings" are ridiculous and tell us absolutely nothing other than that the bearings were not installed by a monkey with a sledge hammer. I have over 20k miles and 2.5 years on replacement bearings, but that tells us nothing as well. When people start replacing them for a second time at 3-5 years and 40-60k miles, then we will know more.

I would go back in and do the bearings again based on how they looked the first time. If they were trashed at 20k, I'd be going back in at 20k. If the replaced bearings look good, I would still change them and go back in at 40k for the third time. Mine still had life left at 60k although they had some copper showing around the parting lines and down the sides, so I am thinking of going back in a little earlier -- probably 40-50k.

[doogee]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Malek at MRF uses the Vac bearings. He has done something like 180 sets of bearings and has opened up about 20 for a second time, after either some mileage or some racing, and they have looked good. His experience is presently the most informative on the subject of replaced bearing wear. Even this experience is of limited value, since the mileage interval is low.

In time, others will catch up. But these reports of "5k miles and no issues with BE bearings" are ridiculous and tell us absolutely nothing other than that the bearings were not installed by a monkey with a sledge hammer. I have over 20k miles and 2.5 years on replacement bearings, but that tells us nothing as well. When people start replacing them for a second time at 3-5 years and 40-60k miles, then we will know more.

I would go back in and do the bearings again based on how they looked the first time. If they were trashed at 20k, I'd be going back in at 20k. If the replaced bearings look good, I would still change them and go back in at 40k for the third time. Mine still had life left at 60k although they had some copper showing around the parting lines and down the sides, so I am thinking of going back in a little earlier -- probably 40-50k.

I have to agree. We won't be needing a thread like this for a few years based on most peoples driving.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by doogee

I have to agree. We won't be needing a thread like this for a few years based on most peoples driving.

Agreed. You need lots of miles

[tdott]

Agreed, I'd be interested in a thread dedicated to showing what replaced bearings look like after they've been replaced for a second time.

But as mentioned above, it's too early for that.

[doogee]

Originally Posted by tdott

Agreed, I'd be interested in a thread dedicated to showing what replaced bearings look like after they've been replaced for a second time.

But as mentioned above, it's too early for that.

I've put 35,000km (21k miles) on my VAC bearings and still don't plan on pulling them for another year. I can't wait to get that done and share.

[pbonsalb]

Malek may have posted some pictures of used vac bearings or maybe he just reported that they looked great. There is one person (squartus ?) with a supercharged engine that let go about 10k after replacing the bearings, and he posted pictures of perfect looking used vac bearings (his front main bearing was the culprit I think). And jcolley reported worn wpc treated stock bearings from two M5 motors, but no pictures.

Those are the only examples that I recall, in case someone wants to search for them and put links in this or another thread.

There are literally hundreds of people with replaced bearings of all types, all apparently doing fine -- maybe over 1000, but their reports of no issues mean little to nothing.

[doogee]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Malek may have posted some pictures of used vac bearings or maybe he just reported that they looked great. There is one person (squartus ?) with a supercharged engine that let go about 10k after replacing the bearings, and he posted pictures of perfect looking used vac bearings (his front main bearing was the culprit I think). And jcolley reported worn wpc treated stock bearings from two M5 motors, but no pictures.

Those are the only examples that I recall, in case someone wants to search for them and put links in this or another thread.

Yeah multiple examples have been shown of VAC bearings looking brand new after significant mileage.

I think BE Bearings are going to solve the problem as well as VAC's. In the case of BE, they already have plenty clearance. With VAC, the bearing has OEM spec clearance with the coating, so worst case scenario, the coating wears down and clearance will be somewhat close to BE.

[Green-Eggs]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Malek may have posted some pictures of used vac bearings or maybe he just reported that they looked great. There is one person (squartus ?) with a supercharged engine that let go about 10k after replacing the bearings, and he posted pictures of perfect looking used vac bearings (his front main bearing was the culprit I think). And jcolley reported worn wpc treated stock bearings from two M5 motors, but no pictures.

Those are the only examples that I recall, in case someone wants to search for them and put links in this or another thread.

There are literally hundreds of people with replaced bearings of all types, all apparently doing fine -- maybe over 1000, but their reports of no issues mean little to nothing.

I'm still waiting to see pictures of these non-BE bearings posted without the added bore distortion of the rod bolts that were used. The bore distortion adds extra clearance at 90-degrees. I've still never seen any links or pictures of those. We posted pictures of these non-BE bearings on OEM bolts (no bore distortion) after 1500 miles, and the bearings were already showing signs of severe wear. Those photos are posted on this site, if interested, I'll go find the link.

[doogee]

Originally Posted by Green-Eggs

I'm still waiting to see pictures of these non-BE bearings posted without the added bore distortion of the rod bolts that were used. The bore distortion adds extra clearance at 90-degrees. I've still never seen any links or pictures of those. We posted pictures of these non-BE bearings on OEM bolts (no bore distortion) after 1500 miles, and the bearings were already showing signs of severe wear. Those photos are posted on this site, if interested, I'll go find the link.

Keep in mind those were OEM bearings with the Calico coating. Not what VAC currently sells.