[W288SH]

What (self imposed) rev limit is everyone holding themselves to until the break in service?

[warcity]

I'm keeping it under 5K until the break-in service. Although it's really hard to control myself.

[vetteflier]

Gone over 5500 several times. With a 7250 redline, the car should handle it. You just don't want to push it through the gears. After 500 miles, while I won't jack rabbit it, I definitely won't have any problem going over 6000 and dropping back. 500+ hp cars aren't Hyundais and should be built strong enough to handle an aggressive break-in. Parts will wear in with mileage--the rpm is secondary. There was a comparison on 2 newly built engines--one broken in like a sissy; the other very aggressively. At 1000 miles, there was no difference in wear.

[Ximian]

I let it auto shift and don't push it at all. It's been below 3000 RPM although once it went to 4000 RPM when I accidentally switched it to manually shifting.

There was a comparison on 2 newly built engines--one broken in like a sissy; the other very aggressively. At 1000 miles, there was no difference in wear.

The concern here is if your engine is the one that sheds more material so at higher RPM, it would cause more wear/damage. You won't know until it's too late.

Doesn't BMW still think 1 liter of engine oil consumed per 1000 miles is just fine? I'll choose to drive carefully for a few weeks, just in case.

[OneCleanBMW]

These engines have been peak redlined at the factory, long before we all took delivery. Anyone who says you need to drive at low ranges, no high revs, before break-in, needs to stop spreading bs information. It's 2021. Do you think a major car manufacturer like BMW is going to allow redlines, speed governor removals etc from 0 miles, if it was going to effect your vehicle?

Try going on super car forums once in a while. The people that have zero (near zero) problems, are the ones that use their cars "properly" from day one. The owners that have tons of problems are usually the ones who let their cars sit for long periods, or drive them like a Camry.

Break in periods are there to protect the manufacturer, in case something does go wrong with your new car. Now if you drive it like you stole it from day one, they could deny your claim because, "you didn't follow our break in standard." Which would never happen anyway. No mods = no question on your warranty being valid.

Don't worry about high revs and similar. Enjoy the car. We all earned it.

[vetteflier]

Agree with OneClean. Common sense says not to use launch control or bounce off the rev limiter often. Dipping into the 6-6500 range once in a while isn't going to hurt a car with a 7250 redline, so long as you drop it back and run it 4-5500 the majority of the time. For 200 miles, brakes and suspension break in are more important. 500+ hp engines aren't meant for cruising at 3000 rpm in comfort mode.

[kingmonkeyjr]

I drove the car as I have driven all my others. Let's be honest if you really baby the car for 1200 miles you got no back bone lol. I'm sure they say keep it under 4k rpm so people aren't wrapping them around poles off the get go

[warcity]

Originally Posted by kingmonkeyjr

I drove the car as I have driven all my others. Let's be honest if you really baby the car for 1200 miles you got no back bone lol. I'm sure they say keep it under 4k rpm so people aren't wrapping them around poles off the get go

Yeah. They told me keep it under 5K and I'm "trying" to listen.

[filostrato]

Originally Posted by OneCleanBMW

These engines have been peak redlined at the factory, long before we all took delivery. Anyone who says you need to drive at low ranges, no high revs, before break-in, needs to stop spreading bs information. It's 2021. Do you think a major car manufacturer like BMW is going to allow redlines, speed governor removals etc from 0 miles, if it was going to effect your vehicle?

Try going on super car forums once in a while. The people that have zero (near zero) problems, are the ones that use their cars "properly" from day one. The owners that have tons of problems are usually the ones who let their cars sit for long periods, or drive them like a Camry.

Break in periods are there to protect the manufacturer, in case something does go wrong with your new car. Now if you drive it like you stole it from day one, they could deny your claim because, "you didn't follow our break in standard." Which would never happen anyway. No mods = no question on your warranty being valid.

Don't worry about high revs and similar. Enjoy the car. We all earned it.

Totally agree. I wonder where these myths that there is a factory ECU mod that unlocks 20% more power and that there is a built in limiter at 5500 RPM, etc... come from

I wouldn't be surprised if the dealer wasn't even doing the fluid changes at 1200 miles

[DS_BMW]

Originally Posted by filostrato

Totally agree. I wonder where these myths that there is a factory ECU mod that unlocks 20% more power and that there is a built in limiter at 5500 RPM, etc... come from

I wouldn't be surprised if the dealer wasn't even doing the fluid changes at 1200 miles

Extra power thing after break in service is placebo and not true. I'm not sure why this gets spread around so much.

[warcity]

Originally Posted by DS_BMW

Extra power thing after break in service is placebo and not true. I'm not sure why this gets spread around so much.

Yup. You're 100% right

[Ximian]

Originally Posted by OneCleanBMW

Do you think a major car manufacturer like BMW is going to allow redlines, speed governor removals etc from 0 miles, if it was going to effect your vehicle?

It took me this long to stop laughing at this idea. Yes, they would allow you to destroy major parts that they're hoping will fail after the warranty is up. BMW doesn't always do a great job building everything out to last, but at least with this generation, it seems they have put more effort into it. See: "rod bearings are consumable item like brake pads"

Try going on super car forums once in a while. The people that have zero (near zero) problems, are the ones that use their cars "properly" from day one. The owners that have tons of problems are usually the ones who let their cars sit for long periods, or drive them like a Camry.

Nonsense. "Survivorship bias" is a thing. For regular cars, people will go online to complain about things that failed. You're not going to see tweets or forum posts of "My AC still works fine and my transmission is intact."

Once you get to the more expensive end of the market where the manufacturers can be selective of their customers, the reverse happens where people will talk about the positive aspects to keep the resale value high while not publicizing the failures. Ferrari isn't going to be eager sell you Ferrari 993248.73321 or whatever their model numbers are at now or to fix an issue without hassle if you're talking poorly about the brand.

If a car has 5 miles on it and it's been sitting for years, certainly those might have an issue but that issue isn't necessarily caused by it sitting idle. Could have been something that was overlooked at the factory or delivery center. It also could have been done by a soft-headed owner who turns the car on and revs the engine right away, followed by turning it off seconds later.

Break in periods are there to protect the manufacturer, in case something does go wrong with your new car. Now if you drive it like you stole it from day one, they could deny your claim because, "you didn't follow our break in standard." Which would never happen anyway. No mods = no question on your warranty being valid.

Don't worry about high revs and similar. Enjoy the car. We all earned it.

I think this should come with a poll of "Did you lease or buy your car" as that might be more informative. If you have a couple of years on a lease, I'm assuming that's going to be the camp to not care about the revs before the break-in service. It's certainly not their responsibility to make sure the next owner gets a great deal on a car that was taken care of well. I know I wouldn't waste 1200 miles out of a 36000 mile lease on babying a car that I'm not going to keep.

In my case, it's my intention to keep my G80 until it's not feasible to have it so if that means an easy break-in period to extend the lifetime of the car, I'll go with that.

[Tricky D]

I was driving the car pretty normally for about 600 miles (under 5500 RPM), until a Tesla Model Y performance started egging me on, I put the car in M mode for about 10 seconds and took him to task......so hard to control your impulses while driving this thing! I dont how much longer I will be able to last..........

[StevenCooke]

Those of you that do not see the importance of break-in have clearly never built an engine by hand themselves and understand the dynamic of heat cycles, seating, and debris in the oil.

While I do think throwing an arbitrary mileage at it is misleading, break-in is important for several reasons as I stated above. This philosophy about not needing it because your uncles, brothers, grandfather said it wasn't important and their engine lasted forever is misinformed and ignorant.

Engines have a seating process, mainly in the rings and bearings. These items need heat cycles and should they have any reason to fail you need an opportunity to catch it early and before major failure happens, hence the low mileage oil change. Why do you think break-in oil is a thing? Aside from seating, most mass-produced engines, even these S58s are prone to imperfections. These imperfections are caught and rectified in the break in period before major failure happens. Should the manufacturer warranty imperfections? Yes of course, should you avoid aggressive break-ins, yes of course. While BMW may still warranty regardless of your break in habits, the downtime is something you brought upon yourself.

So take my advice for what you will. I've assembled high-performance engines professionally for years. 1200 miles may be excessive on miles for break-in, heat cycles and engine assimilation to gradually rising load is where the money is at.

[evobeatsti]

Originally Posted by W288SH

What (self imposed) rev limit is everyone holding themselves to until the break in service?

I did euro delivery on my f80 m3, took it straight from the factory to the Nurburgring to do some laps and frequently drove it at 140 mph. No harm done, tuned it later and it put out 550 whp

[evobeatsti]

Originally Posted by StevenCooke

Those of you that do not see the importance of break-in have clearly never built an engine by hand themselves and understand the dynamic of heat cycles, seating, and debris in the oil.

While I do think throwing an arbitrary mileage at it is misleading, break-in is important for several reasons as I stated above. This philosophy about not needing it because your uncles, brothers, grandfather said it wasn't important and their engine lasted forever is misinformed and ignorant.

Engines have a seating process, mainly in the rings and bearings. These items need heat cycles and should they have any reason to fail you need an opportunity to catch it early and before major failure happens, hence the low mileage oil change. Why do you think break-in oil is a thing? Aside from seating, most mass-produced engines, even these S58s are prone to imperfections. These imperfections are caught and rectified in the break in period before major failure happens. Should the manufacturer warranty imperfections? Yes of course, should you avoid aggressive break-ins, yes of course. While BMW may still warranty regardless of your break in habits, the downtime is something you brought upon yourself.

So take my advice for what you will. I've assembled high-performance engines professionally for years. 1200 miles may be excessive on miles for break-in, heat cycles and engine assimilation to gradually rising load is where the money is at.

To be fair, I just rebuilt the motor on my Mitsubishi evo ix and took the break in very seriously, but I think that's a different scenario than a new bmw. Ferrari basically takes every new car and runs it around Fiorano for a few miles at the limit to make sure it's all working properly. I think you're pretty safe with new cars and the tolerances built in. Different story if you're rebuilding a block and head from scratch as some material will scrape off into the oil pan etc

[RichJ1s]

https://youtu.be/mJQ8o-aRYKM
This video has some good info if you want to listen to what BMW has to say about break in period.

[kgelfen360]

Here is video of the guy who works at the BMW shop explaining break in service:

https://youtu.be/nTVfypgUivI

It sounds like they initially put oil with detergent into the engine and rear diff.

It also looks like they “code” break in service. My guess so there is hard evidence of service been complete.

[kgelfen360]

Originally Posted by RichJ1s

https://youtu.be/mJQ8o-aRYKM
This video has some good info if you want to listen to what BMW has to say about break in period.

Thank you this sums it up pretty clearly.

[RichJ1s]

Originally Posted by kgelfen360

Thank you this sums it up pretty clearly.

No problem! I’m going to follow this whether or not it’s necessary… it’s only 1200 miles and a LOT of peace of mind.

[aremmell]

I have had many a sports car (and motorcycle) in my days on earth, and I have never once gone easy on the vehicle except for perhaps the first few hundred miles.

I've also never experienced a mechanical problem with any of those vehicles, so I'm in the "drive it like you're going to drive it" camp and nobody can change my mind.

[christianb5s4]

I kept it under 5,500 but made sure to vary rpm often, accelerate then allow the engine to decelerate, etc. Common sense is the best approach in my opinion and keep it sane but not baby it.