We’ve come to expect BMW Motorsport engines to be engineered to require some pretty intensive maintenance. The rod bearings on the S65 engines don’t seem to last anywhere near as long as they do on the standard 3 series engines. Since the labor is straightforward to replace the rod bearings on this V8 we have begun offering this service for our customers. This preventative maintenance is best to do at your next oil change interval and every 60k to 100k miles that your engine sees. If your engine is supercharged this service should be done more often. On heavily tracked or raced cars we will do this every season.

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We like to use BMW factory bearings with WPC treatment. WPC treatment has shown to increase rod bearing load bearing capacity and extend service life on all bearings. We also have found the Carrillo WMC for the S65 rod bolt to be the ideal bolt for this rod. With careful in house measurements we were able to determine the correct torque procedure for installing the Carrillo bolt in the stock rod that does not distort the rod roundness. This is critical in the stock rod because we can’t measure rod bolt stretch like we typically would on any other engine or in aftermarket rods. While the stock bolt is at yield at the torque spec BMW uses for this rod, the Carrillo bolt is well within its stretch specifications and can be reused in the future.

We realize of course that the stock bolt has not been failing and is the most economical replacement solution for this engine so we keep these in stock as well and use them whenever our customers request us to.

Please contact us to schedule your appointment to have your rod bearing service performed.

Posted in Road Racing, Street

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