BMW 550xi oil recommendations

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
4
Location
MI, Oakland County
I have a 2011 BMW 550XI with just under 50000 miles and my warranty runs out real soon. After warranty I need to start doing my own oil changes and want to know the best oil for my situation. I drive mostly highway during the week around 35 miles to work and I take it to high speeds on a regular basis. I also like to occasionally track my car and do have some mods coming soon to it. I have upgraded downpipes and full exhaust and getting the ecu tuned in 2 months. I should be putting over 150 hp and around the same tq over stock when finished. I am have really liked the motul brand of oils as well as royal purple and redline. I know the BMW rating is LL-01 and they recommend 5w30 but I'm in Michigan so the weather goes from -20 F in winter to 90 F in the summer. I don't mind short intervals if it gets me more performance oriented oil that will protect my motor better. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Can you track oil temperature? Usually the default recommendation is Mobil 1 0w-40 or Castrol 0w-40, but if you are making 150HP more than stock, you may need a higher HTHS than those lubes provide. In that case, BMW's TWS 10w-60 may actually be more appropriate.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Can you track oil temperature? Usually the default recommendation is Mobil 1 0w-40 or Castrol 0w-40, but if you are making 150HP more than stock, you may need a higher HTHS than those lubes provide. In that case, BMW's TWS 10w-60 may actually be more appropriate.

How about Mobil 1 5W50 ?
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Can you track oil temperature? Usually the default recommendation is Mobil 1 0w-40 or Castrol 0w-40, but if you are making 150HP more than stock, you may need a higher HTHS than those lubes provide. In that case, BMW's TWS 10w-60 may actually be more appropriate.

How about Mobil 1 5W50 ?


Another option, yes
smile.gif
 
Since you mentioned Royal Purple how about trying out the HPS 5w30. I have a modified Audi A6 thats putting out around 475hp and RP is doing well. I'm approaching 12,000 miles and its only burned about a quart. This includes racing and dyno runs. I'd give it a try.
 
With those engine mods I'd certainly install oil gauges or at least an oil pressure gauge which will allow you to monitor your operational viscosity.
Unless you'll be seeing high oil temp's you likely won't need to run anything heavier than the spec' 5W-30 or the heavier M1 0W-40.
 
My engine temps run around 230, I've never seen it get to 250 yet. I don't have an oil pressure gauge but I used to have an obd bluetooth dongle that would connect to my cell as long as my vehicle has the sensor that compatiable with the app. I should purchase a new dongle and check.
 
a shop recommended motul 8100 x-max 0w40 and I was wondering if I would see any better performance or better cold starts in the winter with it.
 
Originally Posted By: Milad
a shop recommended motul 8100 x-max 0w40 and I was wondering if I would see any better performance or better cold starts in the winter with it.

Better compared to what?
 
Originally Posted By: Milad
a shop recommended motul 8100 x-max 0w40 and I was wondering if I would see any better performance or better cold starts in the winter with it.

Verses the spec' BMW 5W-30 it will be marginally
lighter on start-up in your climate but nothing you're really going to notice.
 
yes I was comparing to bmw spec 5w-30. My car will be my daily driver in winter as well as the vehicle I take to the track so I just want the best performance and protection all year round. I still care about the flow rate of the oil so I don't feel that slow revving sluggish feel I get from some oils.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: Milad
a shop recommended motul 8100 x-max 0w40 and I was wondering if I would see any better performance or better cold starts in the winter with it.

Verses the spec' BMW 5W-30 it will be marginally
lighter on start-up in your climate but nothing you're really going to notice.


I did this a long time ago: Take Mobil1 5w-30 and get it to -5 degrees Fahrenheit, same for M1 0w-40. The 5w-30 was actually thinner slightly. The "0w-" part of 0w-40 doesn't mean it flows better at most temperatures typically encountered. Possibly diff story at 20 below though!
Might try it again soon. Did that experiment outside on a cold night. Freezer is at -1 F, so thats close enough to take a look.
 
Originally Posted By: fredfactory
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: Milad
a shop recommended motul 8100 x-max 0w40 and I was wondering if I would see any better performance or better cold starts in the winter with it.

Verses the spec' BMW 5W-30 it will be marginally
lighter on start-up in your climate but nothing you're really going to notice.


I did this a long time ago: Take Mobil1 5w-30 and get it to -5 degrees Fahrenheit, same for M1 0w-40. The 5w-30 was actually thinner slightly. The "0w-" part of 0w-40 doesn't mean it flows better at most temperatures typically encountered. Possibly diff story at 20 below though!
Might try it again soon. Did that experiment outside on a cold night. Freezer is at -1 F, so thats close enough to take a look.


Yeah, the crossover for M1 0w-40 and 5w-30 would be somewhere below 0C, happening before -30C but probably not until at least -15C.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL

Yeah, the crossover for M1 0w-40 and 5w-30 would be somewhere below 0C, happening before -30C but probably not until at least -15C.


We need full viscosity line graphs for all oils by law. Wouldn't that be nice.
 
Alpina often makes OEM BMW engines with extra power. Maybe you could look into what Alpina recommends on their special edition models.

Oils that meet BMW specs often meet Benz specs. AMG makes extra powerful Benz engines, and if they use a different oil from ordinary Benz model, you might want to use that oil.

Since you have AWD, have you looked into fluids for the driveline? They might need to be special to cope with extra torque. Looking at driveline fluids for an Alpina BMW or AMG Benz may help you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top