Just curious what you guys think are the optimal shift points on the 550 V8?

I noticed the BMW V8 is high reving but it seems that there is a slight loss of power when you get too high up. Around 6/7 rpm the power seems to top out and not feel as solid as say 4-5 rpm? The closer to redline is when I find the car seems to scream and not pull as much?

Any thoughts!

 

i would also like to know, very intresting

 

If you really need to, you can always get the torque/hp curves and see exactly where the 550 plateaus and the shift points for optimal power (right before the torque curve starts dipping in the upper rpm range). I can't really look for it now, but if anyone has it, please post dynos of a stock 550 - that should pretty much explain everything.

next

 

There is an old dos software called Cartest that is pretty accurate for calculating many kinds of things, including shiftpoints. You need do use dosbox to run it under some other operating system.

 

The torque curve is available on the Information page at 5series.net. Look under Information (instead of Forums), Engines, 550i engine and then click to show the torque/hp curves. It looks to me like the torque starts falling off just past 4000 rpm.

 

What your feeling at lower rpms is the torque.

If you want optimal performance (like racing) you should shift at redline.