Maintenance considerations for frequent tracking E92?

[myBailey07]

Hi guys, I am wondering about special maintenance considerations for m3 tracking? I tried to search, but info is scattered all over the place, or pretty limited.

(Stock ZCP, DCT, camber plates, square 18 setup, 35k miles…)

My question therefore is, what additional maintenance considerations come into play, in addition to the normal and/or obvious, scheduled maintenance?

Examples:

How frequently do we need to change oil due to tracking, say every X track days, or do we stick to around every 7500 miles?

Shocks, springs and any other suspension parts? Does tracking materially alter any of these items' lifetimes and what can be done here as pro-active maintenance to keep suspension "well and alive”?

Anything else that is important to consider, maintenance wise, now that the car is being stressed more than usual. DCT? Diff? Bushings, mounts, etc?

Ay help will be appreciated?

[lutfy]

Hi Michiel,

Regarding oil changes, I stick with 7500 oil changes. Never had an issue.

May flush out old DCT fluid (the 4-5 bottle flush vs complete drain) including coolant at 70K only since I was tracking heavily.

Standard maint. I did go with PF 2 piece rotors (reduced consumable cost) with Pagid Yellow or PF08 pads. Upgrade to SRF otherwise you will be bleeding your brakes each weekend after track.

Car under CPO, knock on wood running solid. I do hear a thump from the rear diff and it could be the bolt (known culprit). Covered... Both my front motor mounts had sheared and the motor almost dangling on the front subframe. Horrid vibration and power steering shreaks but fixed under warranty. Mass Air Sensor gave up the ghots at 60K miles. Again warranty.

Shocks are somewhat of a weak link on this car. You'd feel lack of rebound (dancing feeling especially at the rear end). Fixed with Bilstein EDC shocks.

Apart from brakes, fuel and tires (with regular oil changes), car is solid after tracking for 3 years.

Cheers,

Lutfy

[WinterSoldier]

Originally Posted by lutfy

Hi Michiel,

Regarding oil changes, I stick with 7500 oil changes. Never had an issue.

May flush out old DCT fluid (the 4-5 bottle flush vs complete drain) including coolant at 70K only since I was tracking heavily.

Standard maint. I did go with PF 2 piece rotors (reduced consumable cost) with Pagid Yellow or PF08 pads. Upgrade to SRF otherwise you will be bleeding your brakes each weekend after track.

Car under CPO, knock on wood running solid. I do hear a thump from the rear diff and it could be the bolt (known culprit). Covered... Both my front motor mounts had sheared and the motor almost dangling on the front subframe. Horrid vibration and power steering shreaks but fixed under warranty. Mass Air Sensor gave up the ghots at 60K miles. Again warranty.

Shocks are somewhat of a weak link on this car. You'd feel lack of rebound (dancing feeling especially at the rear end). Fixed with Bilstein EDC shocks.

Apart from brakes, fuel and tires (with regular oil changes), car is solid after tracking for 3 years.

Cheers,

Lutfy

Great info Lutfy, thank you...Bilstein EDC Shocks vs JRZ Pro or KW Club Sports? Great value if effective. Do you have experience with more advanced suspension kits? The Bilstein option interests me, but I prefer a track suspension w/ blowoff capability. Thoughts?

[M4isKing]

the car is pretty solid. only little squeaks and crap after a track day. must be a rock lodged somewhere. then i go to another track day and the car is still solid. repeat.

[kaiv]

I would strongly recommend to change transmission fluid sooner than 70k especially if you track the car. That's just an absurd recommendatioin.

Keep trans and diff fluids fresh (and engine oil but that goes without saying).

[SenorFunkyPants]

If you are seeing high oil temps I would seriously look at a better oil cooler.
The viscosity of lightly used Castrol 10W60 at 210F is 18 cSt
The viscosity of lightly used Castrol 10W60 at 245F is 11 cSt
The viscosity of lightly used Mobil 0W40 at 245F is 8 cSt

With the S65s constant volume oil pump, thinner oil means less oil pressure and a weaker film strength.

[lutfy]

Originally Posted by WinterSoldier

Great info Lutfy, thank you...Bilstein EDC Shocks vs JRZ Pro or KW Club Sports? Great value if effective. Do you have experience with more advanced suspension kits? The Bilstein option interests me, but I prefer a track suspension w/ blowoff capability. Thoughts?

Michiel,

I had a race car with JRZ, have tried revalved KW (which is what clubsports are) before along with Bilstein Clubsport (or whatever they were called) on the GT4 Aston. That said, my goal was to have a street car (at the end of the day you are still compromising it on the track) without losing too much on comfort. Hence happy with Bilstein EDC shocks, Eibach springs and HR Front bar with -2.5 camber up front. Car is very quick on east coast tracks. And its a great drive back home and date nights. I wanted to keep it simple and would do it again in a heartbeat. In event you want to upgrade the Bilsteins to something more stout, you can have them revalved for diff spring rates, these are for stockish type springs. Basically they are electric single adjustable (compression only) shocks.

Originally Posted by kaiv

I would strongly recommend to change transmission fluid sooner than 70k especially if you track the car. That's just an absurd recommendatioin.

Keep trans and diff fluids fresh (and engine oil but that goes without saying).

Kaiv, this is a DCT car and most folks who have been tracking it tried to flush it and the oil came out pristine (there is a thread on blackstone report out there too) including a local fellow here. This is precautionary for me as its a lifetime fluid from BMW (if there is such a thing). Manual is a diff ball game ofcourse. Diff fluid I change every 3rd oil change. Whats your transmission type?

I also forgot to mention one more thing, get a power steering hose (there is a write up out there) extension/catch can. My fluid did turn a bit dark and I pulled out the old fluid with a baster and put a bottle of new CHF. Again this was done after 2 years.

Apart from that, none of the E36 power steering fluid, E46 subframe BS plagues this car. Enjoy the car!

Lutfy

[M3 Esq]

I've been changing the oil every 4 track days or so. It's just cheap insurance IMO. I also do a full tranny and diff flush at the end of the season.

[1MOREMOD]

I would change differential, tranny and power steering fluid once a season. Oil I base on my Blackstone report which has lead me to about 8-10 track days between changes. Depends on how much you stress the car. Wheel studs also should be changed about annually. Rest of car should get good once over after each track day to verify no loose or broken components.

[CalSE]

I get an oil change every five track days for peace of mind. I don't want to blow up another motor.

[VictorH]

Originally Posted by lutfy

Hi Michiel,

Regarding oil changes, I stick with 7500 oil changes. Never had an issue.

May flush out old DCT fluid (the 4-5 bottle flush vs complete drain) including coolant at 70K only since I was tracking heavily.

Standard maint. I did go with PF 2 piece rotors (reduced consumable cost) with Pagid Yellow or PF08 pads. Upgrade to SRF otherwise you will be bleeding your brakes each weekend after track.

Car under CPO, knock on wood running solid. I do hear a thump from the rear diff and it could be the bolt (known culprit). Covered... Both my front motor mounts had sheared and the motor almost dangling on the front subframe. Horrid vibration and power steering shreaks but fixed under warranty. Mass Air Sensor gave up the ghots at 60K miles. Again warranty.

Shocks are somewhat of a weak link on this car. You'd feel lack of rebound (dancing feeling especially at the rear end). Fixed with Bilstein EDC shocks.

Apart from brakes, fuel and tires (with regular oil changes), car is solid after tracking for 3 years.

Cheers,

Lutfy

Wise words and is very similar to my schedule. My car is my daily driver. I am at 75,000 miles and will change my DCT fluid after my next track event (VIR Nov 15-16, PCA). The only thing I would add re the shocks, I'd suggest changing only when your skill level warrants it (my opinion only). The stock shocks are a very durable unit and work well. The are not optimized for track use at all but they are pretty good for most folks. I run JRZ now but only because I thought it would be more fun, provide more control and I was ready for a change. Remember, parts don't make you a better driver.

[lutfy]

Originally Posted by VictorH

Wise words and is very similar to my schedule. My car is my daily driver. I am at 75,000 miles and will change my DCT fluid after my next track event (VIR Nov 15-16, PCA). The only thing I would add re the shocks, I'd suggest changing only when your skill level warrants it (my opinion only). The stock shocks are a very durable unit and work well. The are not optimized for track use at all but they are pretty good for most folks. I run JRZ now but only because I thought it would be more fun, provide more control and I was ready for a change. Remember, parts don't make you a better driver.

VictorH, spot on! I was going to comment on the shocks part as well.

Stock shocks are VERY good and with -2.5 degree camber up front, I didnt get that much faster with the setup I have. Only small issue I had was lack of rebound with street/track time. Our cars are fantastic from the getgo, like you I did it out of trying something new not that I needed it regardless of how much logic I throw at it

Car is bullet proof (knock on wood).

Lutfy

[myBailey07]

Great info overall. Thx. Again, I fully agree that I am the limiting factor in the car so far as going faster, but the question I am wondering about is still what would the average life expectancy be of the oem shocks (and springs?) with frequent track use? I have no idea what track use would do to these and whether there is a good point at which these can/should be replaced as part of pro-active maintenance? My understanding is that the stock shocks should give you around 70k miles with normal use. Surely track use would substantially shorten that and with 36k (halfway) on the clock now, I was wondering whether it is time?

Also, if you do go with something like the Billstein EDS shocks, do you run them with the stock springs or better to upgrade springs as well to something like Eibach pro's?

[VictorH]

Honestly, I don't think you need to worry about your shocks. You won't have a sudden failure, they are more likely to get slowly worse over time and you'll know when they are done. I used my stock shocks for 50,000 miles with 6-8 track events per year and when I removed them the seals looked good and their street function was fine. I couldn't tell any decline in function on the track either. Mostly what you'll notice as you become a better driver is where the standard shock performance starts bothering you because the damping is not as good as it could be.

At my nearest track there is a bump in the middle of a high speed kink that with stock shocks you need to avoid as the whole car will jump sideways. Solution is drive around it. With a good set of high performance shocks you can drive over this same bump and the car stays put even at higher speeds.

Your springs are unlikely to wear out so no worries there. I switched out my front tension arm bushings at 60,000 miles because I was able to buy a set of mono-balls for a really good price. However, those bushings when I removed them still looked new with no visible wear. Overall, the suspension parts on our cars are very high quality and durable.

The only caveat re my experience is I run DOT, street legal tires on the track, i.e. high-performance summer tires (RE-11, AD-08) and don't run slicks or R-comp tires. If you run sticky rubber you will wear out suspension components faster as the loads are significantly higher. Though I don't hear those guys complaining about suspension problems either.

[knolow]

Regarding rear differential fluid.... How often are you guys changing for track use?

[bigjae1976]

Depends. I go 2x per year but I think most will be fine with 1x per year.

I wouldn't go more than 3-4 events on the engine oil especially if it's hot out.

I'd keep the p/s fluid fresh. I just suck out what's in the reservoir and replace (duh) every oil change.

Spark plugs more often too.

[WinterSoldier]

Great info all.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by knolow

Regarding rear differential fluid.... How often are you guys changing for track use?

I do tranny and differential once a year

[3002 tii]

Engine oil every 5,000 miles or 6 track days, whatever comes first
Diff fluid once per season
Trans I do once every 2 years

No real science behind my rationale aside from the trans fluid is supposedly lifetime so I assume I can go with longer intervals.

Coolant every 30k since I do water pump & T-stat every 60k so may as well do the coolant once in between. Probably overkill

FCAB & RTAB, whenever I notice they need replacement but the OEM ones typically last me every 40k.

[Killerfish2012]

Got an '09 M3 W/ 97K miles in May, and did 3 full track days this year. Currently has 104K on the odo. I plan to use it as a daily driver as well as a track car. Did the following so far:

-Motor flush, changed oil to total 10W50, and will put in M1 0W40 for the winter
-fuel system cleaner
-power steering fluid flush
-Brake fluid flush (track capable fluid)
-DCT trans flush X2
-rear diff fluid flush
-full coolant flush
-F/R rotors, pads, and sensors
-rear wheel bearings
-right rear axle
-new battery w/ registration
-L/R front Upper and lower control arms
-L/R tie rod ends
-Air filter
-cabin air filter
-wiper blades

Over the winter I'm planning on doing belts, idler pulley, valve cover gaskets, and motor mounts (since someone mentioned that his went caput) Hope this helps.