Quote:
Originally Posted by TrackRat
Your warranty is in effect if you do.  Unless YOU are paying for my warranty I'm following the car makers recommendations not forum advice. Millions of BMW owners follow BMW's recommendations every year all around the globe, with zero issues. What you chose to do is entirely up to you.
Changing the oil early is not the same as abusing your engine during break-in. One is preventive maintenance and the other damaging abuse, which can void your powertrain warranty. People go 15K on oil all the time without issue. |
I believe what he was getting at is that often people cite that BMW engineers know best about "break in" as they designed and tested the cars. But, then, when it comes to following BMW's recommended maintenance intervals, which are given by those same BMW engineers who designed and tested these cars, those same people disregard the BMW manual's maintenance intervals.
The question isn't that one is "abuse" and the other is good insurance. The question is; why accept BMW's "break in" recommendation, but not the maintenance intervals? It's logically inconsistent to accept BMW's experience and knowledge in one area of mechanical operation, but then not accept BMW's experience and knowledge in another area of mechanical operation.
TrackRat:
"BMW backs your vehicle with a 50K mileage warranty if you use their prescribed break-in procedure because they have the most expertise on your engine, ...."
"If"? What "if" you don't?
Your implication is that if one must follow BMW's prescribed break-in procedure in order to have BMW's warranty backing.
That's not true.
Show me where someone has had their warranty coverage denied because they didn't follow the "break in" procedure.
I didn't follow it completely, and had no trouble with warranty in the the least.
I do think a sound break-in procedure is important for best performance of the engine, and for it's longevity. BMW's break-in recommendation also allows non engine parts to "break in" for their best use, such as; transmission, clutch, brakes, tires, water pump, etc...
Going WFO to red line in every gear as soon as you drive it off the lot, is not a sound break in procedure. But, it's not going to void your warranty either.
Also, I do use BMW's recommended maintenance intervals. I followed them for my 2003 E46, my 2006 Audi A4 (per Audi's intervals), and am following the intervals for my 135i.