Best Oil Grade to use?

[DaveZ3]

Hello,

Which grade of oil do you use in your cars? Having looked in the owner’s manual it all seems a bit ambiguous as to which grade you should use.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Big Daddy]

I use Mobil 1 10W30 in my M roadster.

 

[B M W]

I use Mobil 1 15W50 in my e36 M3. Although, my car has some mods.

 

[arditarighi]

I was using Mobile1 20W50 in my 99 528i, but I started using 0w40, and the engine is running much smoother - I have also noticed a quieter engine start, specially now with the cooler weather ...

/a

 

[DaveZ3]

The reason I ask is that I had to top up my oil the other day - I used Castrol Magnatec GTX (SAE 10W-40 viscosity). But in the future I will be using Mobil 1 - just need to go somewhere that sells it.
Having looked at the Mobil 1 website it would seem that 0W40 is the recommended Oil to use - check out the link http://www.mobil1.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_0W-40.aspx

 

[arditarighi]

Dave,

I buy mine at WalMart, $5.38 a Quart, but I am not sure you have WalMart stores where you live in UK. Have you tried Aldi?? (if I rememebr the name correctly!)

/a

 

[DaveZ3]

Cool - I will try going to an Asda Superstore (WAL-MART own these guys). I'm sure I'll find Mobil 1 somewhere, I’m just worried that I might have topped up with the wrong stuff. After searching the Internet it looks like BMW use 0W40 oil (or Longlife as its branded) - the oil I used the other day was a 10W40 grade. My previous car (the Alfa) used to drink the oil at a rapid rate. Not having had the Z3 very long I can't really comment on the oil consumption but how do you guys find the Z3 when it comes to oil?

 

[arditarighi]

I wouldn't be worry about that - Most Synhetic oil are comaptible with conventional oil and there is no harm mixing them up with slightly different grade of oil for a short period of time. FYI, I was using Mobile1 20W50 for 6 years in my e39 and the engine sounds perfect after 128K miles on it.

Cheers,
/a