At the risk of starting a dreaded oil thread. From the service history, the last service they used 10w/60 full synthetic which is what's recommended, can someone tell me the good brand to use? The owners manual specifies Castrol full synth but not sure that's available in the US?

Chris

 

Chris, there aren't many choices. If you're going to do oil changes yourself, stop by your local BMW dealer's parts and service department and buy the oil they use for their M cars. It is the correct one for our cars and substantially cheaper than buying it through Aston.

 

Thanks Karl, that's an exc. tip, the bmw dealer is only about two miles away too!

 

The Castrol 10-60 is what AMLI uses -- it's the right stuff.

 

I use Mobil 1 10-60w I believe its also used in Pagani Zonda .

 

Good to hear since I have an E92 M3 and already keep a bottle of Castrol 10W60 on hand. Guess I'll keep two bottles around now.

 

The stuff for your M3 should be the same. It's the Castrol Edge Professional (not Sport). I have a buddy that works at the local BMW dealership, so I get it for $13.50

 

This is how I buy Castrol too. If you ask the guy at the BMW parts counter nicely, you can get it for $13.50 all the time.

 

Liqui moly or elf in 5 or 10w60. Oil can't go more than 5k miles with these oils though. Specialty importers carry it. Can purchase from race wrenches.

 

Thanks for the tip Karl, got some at the BMW dealer this afternoon.

 

Glad to be of service. But didn't you just get your car this weekend? Do you need an oil change already? I would've thought the dealer did this for you—unless you drove 10,000 miles this weekend, of course.

 

Seems odd that oil would be lower quality over in US than in Europe. With synthetics, car manufacturers are all recommending changes at somewhere between 10k to 20k miles over here, if that damaged the car they would recommend shorter intervals.

Is it because you get your oil is so cheap? We usually pay the equivalent of $33 per litre in UK

 

$33!!!! wow!

The oil that should be used in our cars will last 10k miles unless tracked/raced. As I understand it, oil filters often become the reason why oil must be changed on a street car (non- or seldom-tracked/raced). The filter can only hold so much contaminants before it starts blocking flow (think of an air filter - same concept).

On a tracked/raced car, the oil gets subjected to more heat/pressure/contamination, so it needs to be changed more often.

There's no reason a street-only Vantage needs its oil changed every 5k miles unless it's got substandard oil in it.

 

That makes sense.

Incidentally, gas prices over here are now the lowest they have been for three years. Equivalent of $8.33 per US gallon

Expected to go back up to normal levels soon

 

I don't have a buddy but that's also the price I pay.