nell

Would it be safe to assume the Castrol European 0-30 is the same product that BMW sells? OR are they different blends with all syn. out of Germany and a syn. blend in the BMW product?

turnbowm

Reportedly, GC 0W-30 is a "true" synthetic and BMW 5W-30 is not (hydro-cracked dino base that meets the LL-01 spec). Check out BobIsTheOilGuy forum for more info...

kingofire

I have been a member on BITOG for 5 years now and the newest speculation is that BMW 5w30 is the same as Castrol Edge 5w30. Yes GC is a "true" synthetic, a group IV synthetic. I liked it when the original GC used to be green in color, loved pouring that in my engine and the lime green color in the sunlight. In my soon to be gone Acura TL, I have been using Red Line 5w30, which is a Group V synthetic which is a Polyolester(POE). The car runs super smooth and idles so smooth. In all the Virgin Analysis of Red Line oils they put a ton of molybdenum usually in the 500ppm range and is a great anti-frictional agent that cuts down on a lot of vibration I have noticed. It also has a very high HTHS(High Temp. High Shear)rate at 3.4 which means it holds up well in extreme heat. I will be using this oil in about 1000 miles on the 535i exclusively.

mfrasca

If you want the best here it is.

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/p...t0000540e.html

kingofire

Best is subjective. To me there is no best oil

dentity

Any thoughts on Red line 10W30 Motor Oil for a 07 550i?

red line product link... tell me what you think?

kingofire

RL 10w30 would work just fine but it has a high HTHS of 3.8 which is inversly proportional to gas mileage so you will take a hit on that. I would personally recommend their 0w30 oil. It has a viscosity index of 183 which means it has less viscosity index improvers thus a purer base compared to 10w30 which has a viscosity index of 142. 0w30 has a HTHS of 3.2 which is what many over the counter 5w30 have like Mobil 1, Castrol and Pennzoil Platinum. Red Line 0w30 will give you superior protection during winter and superior protection in the extreme heat of summer. A great all around oil. If I hadn't stocked up on 24 quarts of 5w30 Red Line I'd be ordering RL 0w30. Bavauto by far has the best prices on Red Line oil if you buy $100 and get free shipping.

dentity

will look into it more... I have bought enough for two oil changes... and that would put me with 2 oil changes from bmw... so I have the RL 10w30 for a bit

mhs525

I use Red Line and think it's great. I have a 545i with a motor that ticks when cold. It's much quieter when running the Red Line. Now that my free maintenance is over I use Red Line for every oil change. I compared it to BMW oil by doing an extra oil change between the free factory oil changes over the last two years. I think the motor is quieter and smoother on Red Line. I use 5-30W but am thinking of going to 5-40W based on Mike Miller's (BMW CCA) recommendation

girmis

check this out

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/faq...=haas_articles

according to the article, any oil is too thick when cold...so use 0wXX oils...