328i Track car oil recommendation

[gtstarped 73]

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice on what oil would suit a 328i which is going to a track hack/ race car solely.

Going Castrol range and although its recommended as 10w40 (magnatec), i'm wonder whether this is high performance or not and would rather go the Edge range, however there is no 10w40 only the following;

0w40

10w60

Thoughts?

Cheers

[swordfish 30]

Castrol Edge 10W60. I wouldn't go any lower than this to be honest. 0w40 is a commute oil! Not for track for sure.

[Allanw 1071]

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice on what oil would suit a 328i which is going to a track hack/ race car solely.

Going Castrol range and although its recommended as 10w40 (magnatec), i'm wonder whether this is high performance or not and would rather go the Edge range, however there is no 10w40 only the following;

0w40

10w60

Thoughts?

Cheers

0w-40 and 10w-40 are the same weight when hot anyway, so makes no difference, 0w40 gives better cold start up flow as it is less thick than the 10W-40 when cold and thins to the same viscosity when hot. the W rating makes no difference to the operating temperature viscosity.

If you going to be really hard on the thing, you'd probably want ot be a bit heavier than a 40 weight summer rating, like the 60 mentioned above - the M3's are supposed to use 10W-60 - if it gets TOO hot, there will be some additional viscosity margin there.

[gtstarped 73]

There is another couple in the range but I think I've discounted, 5w -30 and a 25w-50 mineral oil.

I've done plenty of web surfing and there appears to be no definative for a M52 for racing. I was told the other day that with a older engine a 25w - 50 would be good but this is not synethic as I assume the car used all its life.

Would go 10w-60 but I've read no where that its for a M52, only for M series cars. I guess I want the best lubrication I can get a a high temp, so I assume thats 10w - 60?

Cheers

[Allanw 1071]

There is another couple in the range but I think I've discounted, 5w -30 and a 25w-50 mineral oil.

I've done plenty of web surfing and there appears to be no definative for a M52 for racing. I was told the other day that with a older engine a 25w - 50 would be good but this is not synethic as I assume the car used all its life.

Would go 10w-60 but I've read no where that its for a M52, only for M series cars. I guess I want the best lubrication I can get a a high temp, so I assume thats 10w - 60?

Cheers

The actual lubrication will be similar for similar oil types, but the thicker oils will move out of the bearings slower, meaning that in theory the oil pressure inside each bearing is higher and can support more load (such as at high RPM).The pressure fed bearing in an engine don't actually rub on each other, the oil is pumped in to hold the metal sufaces apart from each other.

Starting with a 25W anything means much higher cold oil pressure. the 10W60 is probably a better bet, as your oil may not be upto 100C before you are giving it the welly - oil that's too thick when cold can give you some REALLY high oil pressures which isn't always a good thing. The 25W-50 cold oil pressure (80cSt) is 3-4 TIMES the thickness of a 10W-60 when cold, (25 cSt ish)

the 10W-60 is probably a good allrounder, giving the roughly the same viscosity when cold and hot (25 cSt), but overall thicker , which should be more than enough to support constant high RPM etc (the 40 weight should do it fine too anyway) - the M3 revs quite a lot higher than an M52 anyway. It's easily usable in winter and summer, and it will only be synthetic (if it's a good oil anyway!) as only synthetic can cover that kind of viscosity range without running risks of oil shear and breakdown into running crappy "oil".

[gtstarped 73]

The actual lubrication will be similar for similar oil types, but the thicker oils will move out of the bearings slower, meaning that in theory the oil pressure inside each bearing is higher and can support more load (such as at high RPM).The pressure fed bearing in an engine don't actually rub on each other, the oil is pumped in to hold the metal sufaces apart from each other.

Starting with a 25W anything means much higher cold oil pressure. the 10W60 is probably a better bet, as your oil may not be upto 100C before you are giving it the welly - oil that's too thick when cold can give you some REALLY high oil pressures which isn't always a good thing. The 25W-50 cold oil pressure (80cSt) is 3-4 TIMES the thickness of a 10W-60 when cold, (25 cSt ish)

the 10W-60 is probably a good allrounder, giving the roughly the same viscosity when cold and hot (25 cSt), but overall thicker , which should be more than enough to support constant high RPM etc (the 40 weight should do it fine too anyway) - the M3 revs quite a lot higher than an M52 anyway. It's easily usable in winter and summer, and it will only be synthetic (if it's a good oil anyway!) as only synthetic can cover that kind of viscosity range without running risks of oil shear and breakdown into running crappy "oil".

Thanks, will run with the 10w 60 then. Cheers

[hybrid 1043]

After that its pretty much to Motul 300v 5w-40.

Castrol 10w60 is a good all rounder however and fine for track / race.

[kim0663 0]

I would recommend Mobil 1 5w50 for track use and castrol 10w60 as the second choice. However, the castrol edge stuff isn't really that flash as they're hyped up to be.

I need to contact you for some more parts for my e36 too!

[gtstarped 73]

I would recommend Mobil 1 5w50 for track use and castrol 10w60 as the second choice. However, the castrol edge stuff isn't really that flash as they're hyped up to be.

I need to contact you for some more parts for my e36 too!

Thanks, running on Castrol now. Yep give me a bell.