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      11-19-2018, 12:17 PM   #1
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1st 1200 miles - RPM Protocol

Can someone tell me categorically what the protocol is for 1st 1200 likes re RPM limit..? I’ve also got a lot of freeway drives I have to do - should I worry about the relative evenness of this re RPM?
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      11-19-2018, 12:49 PM   #2
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The manual spells out this out for you:

Up to 1,200 miles/2,000 km
Drive at varying engine and road speeds, but do not exceed 5,500 rpm and 106 mph/170 km/h.

Avoid full load or kickdown under all circumstances.

At 1,200 miles/2,000 km
Have drive-in checkup maintenance performed.

From 1,200 miles/2,000 km to 3,100 miles/5,000 km
The engine and road speed can gradually be increased to a constant speed of 137 mph/220 km/h.

Use the maximum speed of 155 mph/250 km/h only briefly, for instance when passing.

Tires
Tire traction is not optimal due to manufacturing circumstances when tires are brand-new; they achieve their full traction potential after a break-in time.

Drive conservatively for the first 200 miles/300 km.

Brake system
Brake discs and brake pads only reach their full effectiveness after approx. 300 miles/500 km. Drive moderately during this break-in period.

I see no reason to do anything other than what's in there.
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      11-19-2018, 01:14 PM   #3
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Whats a kickdown? Downshifting?
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      11-19-2018, 01:20 PM   #4
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Kickdown, with an automatic (DCT too, I'm sure?) where the transmission downshifts to the lowest possible gear, such as when you floor the gas to do a pass.
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      11-19-2018, 02:06 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M2CLBB437M View Post
I’ve also got a lot of freeway drives I have to do - should I worry about the relative evenness of this re RPM?
From the brief description, It sounds like you have a long road trip during break-in. I think the cautions can best be summarized in 4 words: don't use cruise control

Especially in the first few hundred miles, you really don't want to get on a board-flat highway, set the cruise control to XX MPH and cruise. Vary your speed a bit, maybe run in 5th (MT) or 6th (DCT) for a little while if you really want to get crazy. You will be fine

The other things such as not going full throttle at low RPM (i.e. lugging the engine), running it out to redline at full throttle, etc are covered pretty clearly in the manual
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      11-19-2018, 02:09 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M2CLBB437M View Post
Can someone tell me categorically what the protocol is for 1st 1200 likes re RPM limit..? I’ve also got a lot of freeway drives I have to do - should I worry about the relative evenness of this re RPM?
What was typed in the first response above and:

I would be concerned about repeated static engine speed on the highway for any length of time you should refrain from repeated daily highway speed droning. You can be creative about varying engine and road speed. Other than the obvious best scenario of choosing a non-highway alternative route, try choosing a lower gear while not over revving but maintaining a safe highway speed, adding time consuming off-ramps, etc, . This can sometimes be more difficult given congested high speed traffic. The fewer cold starts the better, so take a weekend and ramp up as many miles as possible. As your mileage increases the likely hood of causing an issue diminishes.

The manual reads up to 3,100 miles to gradually increase engine and road speed. Although I would not go to the track until after 3,100 miles, it is difficult to be gradual when break in allows up to 5,500 rpms (which should be used during this period) and red line is 7,600. Considering power falls off well before that, there's not a lot of progression.
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Last edited by devo; 11-19-2018 at 02:23 PM..
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      11-19-2018, 04:59 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orangeglim View Post
Kickdown, with an automatic (DCT too, I'm sure?) where the transmission downshifts to the lowest possible gear, such as when you floor the gas to do a pass.
There is a button on the floor and when you push the pedal all the way down in auto mode it will then shift to the lowest safe gear.
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      11-24-2018, 03:23 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by devo View Post
What was typed in the first response above and:

I would be concerned about repeated static engine speed on the highway for any length of time you should refrain from repeated daily highway speed droning. You can be creative about varying engine and road speed. Other than the obvious best scenario of choosing a non-highway alternative route, try choosing a lower gear while not over revving but maintaining a safe highway speed, adding time consuming off-ramps, etc, . This can sometimes be more difficult given congested high speed traffic. The fewer cold starts the better, so take a weekend and ramp up as many miles as possible. As your mileage increases the likely hood of causing an issue diminishes.
I collect my car on a weekday and will be using it to commute to work, roughly 70 miles a day. Majority is motorway driving but because it'll be rush hour time there will be usual congested spots. Speed will vary from under 10mph, 15mph, 40mph, 60mph & 70mph, will this constant change in speed be a problem?
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      11-24-2018, 05:44 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aim.F32 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by devo View Post
What was typed in the first response above and:

I would be concerned about repeated static engine speed on the highway for any length of time you should refrain from repeated daily highway speed droning. You can be creative about varying engine and road speed. Other than the obvious best scenario of choosing a non-highway alternative route, try choosing a lower gear while not over revving but maintaining a safe highway speed, adding time consuming off-ramps, etc, . This can sometimes be more difficult given congested high speed traffic. The fewer cold starts the better, so take a weekend and ramp up as many miles as possible. As your mileage increases the likely hood of causing an issue diminishes.
I collect my car on a weekday and will be using it to commute to work, roughly 70 miles a day. Majority is motorway driving but because it'll be rush hour time there will be usual congested spots. Speed will vary from under 10mph, 15mph, 40mph, 60mph & 70mph, will this constant change in speed be a problem?
No, it will be a blessing!
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      11-24-2018, 06:56 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aim.F32 View Post
I collect my car on a weekday and will be using it to commute to work, roughly 70 miles a day. Majority is motorway driving but because it'll be rush hour time there will be usual congested spots. Speed will vary from under 10mph, 15mph, 40mph, 60mph & 70mph, will this constant change in speed be a problem?
As he said ^ constant change is excellent. In a perfect world you would not be sitting still in traffic and have a little more air flow but you'll be okay.

Be sure to deactivate / turn off the auto stop function so you are not shutting down and starting the engine repeatedly during break in. This is especially more important when the engine is cold but I would still discourage this once warm while completing break in.
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Last edited by devo; 11-24-2018 at 07:11 AM..
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      11-24-2018, 07:13 AM   #11
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Just don't abuse the car if you really are concerned. All of this overly focused rpm watching is ridiculous. I just drive normal when the car is new but I definitely like pushing it a bit. Never ever had any issues. It's an over-built engine that is already redlined before you even get it. Just enjoy the car. It's not your wife.
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      11-24-2018, 07:25 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trey100 View Post
Just don't abuse the car if you really are concerned. All of this overly focused rpm watching is ridiculous. I just drive normal when the car is new but I definitely like pushing it a bit. Never ever had any issues. It's an over-built engine that is already redlined before you even get it. Just enjoy the car. It's not your wife.
An over built engine has nothing to do with proper break in. That makes zero sense.

The engine has not been redlined at the factory. This process used by some manufacturers was abandoned years ago. Even then, the controlled process in the controlled environment was much different than simply revving an engine to redline before delivery.

This reminds me why I never buy used high performance cars unless I know the previous owner.
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Last edited by devo; 11-24-2018 at 07:32 AM..
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      11-24-2018, 08:41 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by devo View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by trey100 View Post
Just don't abuse the car if you really are concerned. All of this overly focused rpm watching is ridiculous. I just drive normal when the car is new but I definitely like pushing it a bit. Never ever had any issues. It's an over-built engine that is already redlined before you even get it. Just enjoy the car. It's not your wife.
An over built engine has nothing to do with proper break in. That makes zero sense.

The engine has not been redlined at the factory. This process used by some manufacturers was abandoned years ago. Even then, the controlled process in the controlled environment was much different than simply revving an engine to redline before delivery.

This reminds me why I never buy used high performance cars unless I know the previous owner.
I'm pretty sure BMW still does their test before shipping out the cars. At a minimum they did previously and to no detriment. You can convince yourself that the crazy break-in is beneficial but I've had plenty of cars and have have enjoyed them from day 1 for many miles. Once again, I'm not heading to the track with it out of the dealership lot, but spending the first month or 3 watching your rpms is silly. It's a mass produced car - enjoy the thing.

PS - your last post somehow confuses abusing cars with driving normal (Not buying high performance cars used). What you are trying to follow is one end of the spectrum. The other end is total abuse. I'm just saying you don't need to be on your end of the spectrum. But hey it's your car and your life. I'm just posting my experience.
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      11-24-2018, 08:48 AM   #14
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The engine in fact really isn't what we are breaking in here...

What we are braking in certainly is the rear diff and the transmission. And last but not least also ourselves getting used to the new car
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      11-24-2018, 09:31 AM   #15
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To each their own. This is in part from Andreas Preuninger Porsche's Head of GT cars development:

"I can only tell you how I personally do it, or how we do it at Weissach – for the first 500 kilometres or 300 miles, we don’t drive that car car ever over 5000 rpm, never. From then on, every 200 kilometres, we up the rpms by 500,
so we end up at 1300, 1400 kilometres at the threshold before we can really go full throttle, at 800 or 900 miles”


^ Granted this is the procedure for a 9k rpm GT3/RS engine. However, I would still defer to an engine break in being a good practice and to at least use the owner's manual as a gauge.
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      11-24-2018, 10:39 AM   #16
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Absolutely agree, i wouldn't go beyond the mentioned 5500 rpms during the break-in period. Always properly warming up the entire car is hardly assumed...

This fits the S55:

- first 300km up to 3'500 rpm
- 300km to 600km up to 4'000 rpm
- 600km to 1'000km up to 4'500 rpm
- 1'000km to 1'500km up to 5'000 rpm
- 1'500km to 2'000km up to 5'500 rpm
- 2'000km -> Break-In Service
- 2'000km to 2'500km up to 6'000 rpm
- 2'500km to 3'000km up to 6'500 rpm
- 3'000km give it the beans but not faster than 220km/h
- 5'000km maximum speed allowed
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      11-24-2018, 10:56 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ///M Houbi View Post
Absolutely agree, i wouldn't go beyond the mentioned 5500 rpms during the break-in period. Always properly warming up the entire car is hardly assumed...

This fits the S55:

- first 300km up to 3'500 rpm
- 300km to 600km up to 4'000 rpm
- 600km to 1'000km up to 4'500 rpm
- 1'000km to 1'500km up to 5'000 rpm
- 1'500km to 2'000km up to 5'500 rpm
- 2'000km -> Break-In Service
- 2'000km to 2'500km up to 6'000 rpm
- 2'500km to 3'000km up to 6'500 rpm
- 3'000km give it the beans but not faster than 220km/h
- 5'000km maximum speed allowed
I am going to need to fight the urge to drive it like its stolen for a while
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      11-24-2018, 02:46 PM   #18
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This is a controversial subject. I think trey100 is spot on and @///M Houbi is correct as well when he talks about #1 below.

So I think we can all agree that...
1. There is a lot to the "you getting used to the car"
2. It is true that the brakes BMW uses need time
3. It is true that the diff needs a bit of time - but that is not bothered by RPMs
4. Consistent RPMs are bad
5. The engine should be up to temp before you get on it

As for the engine, the controversial part, I personally subscribe to this:
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
and you can see some mention here as well
http://blog.jepistons.com/how-to-break-in-an-engine
that basically says the WORST thing you can do for a new engine is a light load.

Finally, my last 4 or 5 BMWs were picked up out of state. So I just varied the RPMs on my drive - spent some time in lower gears and higher gears.

And at the end of the day, while we can argue the right or best way to break in an engine - BMW (and most car manufacturers) do a great job on building these things and it is very hard to hurt the motor unless you do something silly like driving it hard when it is cold. So don't stress it and don't freak out about 5,500 RPM being some "magical number".
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      11-24-2018, 09:21 PM   #19
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It's less the motor and more the DSC/clutch, diff etc. You can break-in a newly built engine on the dyno in less than an hour and get excellent ring seal. I haven't gone full load or over 5500rpm on my 2018 (service due in 800km) but it's fairly straightforward to break in new engines An early oil change is a must though.
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