Time for rod bearings?

[ATB88]

I think you are at pretty much the perfect interval to do them again with your current milage delta since last change at 12.6k miles.
Especially since you didn't own the car since new and you don't know how previous owners drove it.

Just make sure that the service performed isn't a downgrade (in terms of materials used).

Yeah the PO only drove 30k on these bearings, but what I do know is that their oil change intervals appeared much longer than I would have liked (close to 10k miles a couple times, smh). Agree I'm in the sweet spot.

As for quality, I'm looking at just doing OE bearings. Willing to hear opinions otherwise but my inclination from the research and reading I've done is that other than price savings there's no especially strong evidence that aftermarket bearings are going to serve me better, so I'm tempted to stick with OE. That said I am intrigued by the moly coated bearings and high volume oil pump that Anri is doing in Nick's car...

I guess the biggest question for me is: given I have the original M11 re-use style rod bolts, they have already been re-used twice, and this will be their third re-use and fourth set of bearings... while I'd like to keep it simple and re-use the M11s again, is that a bad idea? ARP bolts seem like a headache that I do not want. Re-using original M11 bolts or changing to ARP are really my only options, right?

[bmwfnatic]

Yeah the PO only drove 30k on these bearings, but what I do know is that their oil change intervals appeared much longer than I would have liked (close to 10k miles a couple times, smh). Agree I'm in the sweet spot.

As for quality, I'm looking at just doing OE bearings. Willing to hear opinions otherwise but my inclination from the research and reading I've done is that other than price savings there's no especially strong evidence that aftermarket bearings are going to serve me better, so I'm tempted to stick with OE. That said I am intrigued by the moly coated bearings and high volume oil pump that Anri is doing in Nick's car...

I guess the biggest question for me is: given I have the original M11 re-use style rod bolts, they have already been re-used twice, and this will be their third re-use and fourth set of bearings... while I'd like to keep it simple and re-use the M11s again, is that a bad idea? ARP bolts seem like a headache that I do not want. Re-using original M11 bolts or changing to ARP are really my only options, right?

Yeah that's a difficult one, do you know for sure you have M11's? I mean based on build date you do, but you never know. I have an engine here, engine number checks out, should have M11's, has M10's...
Might be wise to just bring your car to Anri, he definitely seems to know what he is doing.

[ATB88]

Yeah that's a difficult one, do you know for sure you have M11's? I mean based on build date you do, but you never know. I have an engine here, engine number checks out, should have M11's, has M10's...
Might be wise to just bring your car to Anri, he definitely seems to know what he is doing.

Are there really cars as old as mine (01/2002) that have M10s? Damn, that's kind of infuriating lol. Unless there's good anecdotal evidence why not to, I think the reasonable thing to do is reuse the M11s if they're in there and otherwise have a fresh set of OE M10s on hand just in case there are M10s in there? Reusing does sound scary, but I feel more comfortable knowing that if I do have reused M11s then they were done at a dealership, so, hopefully correctly torqued and not stretched. I don't know if I've ever seen a case of failure due to re-use of M11s? Has anyone else?

As for bringing it to Anri, that would be really nice from a peace of mind perspective, but would be too much of a luxury spend in my case. This is definitely a job I can handle, and I really can't justify shelling out a few grand when I can do it myself. DIYing rod bearings and everything else on this car was the deal I made with myself to justify that it made any financial sense. Doubtless that Anri's work is top notch, but I need the money for an interior leather refresh I also kind of look forward to doing it!

[bmwfnatic]

Are there really cars as old as mine (01/2002) that have M10s? Damn, that's kind of infuriating lol. Unless there's good anecdotal evidence why not to, I think the reasonable thing to do is reuse the M11s if they're in there and otherwise have a fresh set of OE M10s on hand just in case there are M10s in there? Reusing does sound scary, but I feel more comfortable knowing that if I do have reused M11s then they were done at a dealership, so, hopefully correctly torqued and not stretched. I don't know if I've ever seen a case of failure due to re-use of M11s? Has anyone else?

As for bringing it to Anri, that would be really nice from a peace of mind perspective, but pretty out of the question. This is definitely a job I can handle, and I really can't justify shelling out a few grand when I can do it myself. DIYing rod bearings and everything else on this car was the deal I made with myself to justify that it made any financial sense. Doubtless that Anri's work is top notch, but I need the money for an interior leather refresh I also kind of look forward to doing it!

I think it's some rare case where something went wrong during the recall (i.e. rounded off bolt head) and therefore they had to fit new connecting rods...
Normally a car from 01/2002 should not have M10's, but I always prefer to just check before ordering anything.

[ATB88]

I think it's some rare case where something went wrong during the recall (i.e. rounded off bolt head) and therefore they had to fit new connecting rods...
Normally a car from 01/2002 should not have M10's, but I always prefer to just check before ordering anything.

Right, that would mean new conrods. And I guess at that point it would have turned into an engine-out? Yuck. I guess I'll just order the parts and tools for either scenario and return what I don't need.

[bmwfnatic]

Right, that would mean new conrods. And I guess at that point it would have turned into an engine-out? Yuck. I guess I'll just order the parts and tools for either scenario and return what I don't need.

If you are doing it in your garage and not in your driveway or something I would just drop the pan first, then start ordering.

[Nate047]

I'm not trying to overthink whether or not I do them, it's definitely time. I guess I'm trying to overthink whether this is a "avoid driving the car and rearrange my life to get it done immediately" situation or "keep driving the car casually and get it done in the next couple of months" situation. But the answer seems to be it's up to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lol

Yea it's a bit of a paradox almost. But, there's no downside to doing it right now. There is potentially a massive downside to waiting.

[ATB88]

If you are doing it in your garage and not in your driveway or something I would just drop the pan first, then start ordering.

It'll be in my friend's driveway, or on a rented lift, so I won't have the luxury of letting the car sit with the pan off unfortunately. But the M10 bolts parts are returnable so I don't really see a downside to just ordering everything I might need?

[sapote]

these oil tests are just time and money wasting. mine came back okay but the bearings didn't looked that great. i'm not doing oil tests any longer. regular oil changes, driving the car warm and cold and changing the bearings every 60-80k miles should be enough. these bearings are from a 116.000miles car. so yeah change your bearings asap.

Can you confirm #1 is on the left and #6 on the right of pic? I believe it is, based on the offset wear to one side on the top shells.

[Bornacane]

Just bought mine at 92k miles and just going to do it anyways. Regardless of oil results.

[eacmen]

Change them soon.

[Zekarus]

Can you confirm #1 is on the left and #6 on the right of pic? I believe it is, based on the offset wear to one side on the top shells.

yes left to right, #1 to #6. and tops are top and bottoms are bottom.