High Tin in Oil analysis report - Redline 15w50

[BigRussia]

Hate to create an oil thread, but with oil change time coming up I figured to look into the high Tin reading from my last Blackstone oil analysis report back in April '24 running Redline 15w50 and ask for recommendations if I should switch oil brands. My engine is stock with just tune and full exhaust, rod bearings done @173k miles about 14-15k miles before the report. These days I mostly use the car for track and HPDE, with very little street driving here and there for a cruise or cars and coffee.

This latest report was my first time running Redline 15w50, currently running it now as well. Decided to try it out after reading Bimmerworld's technical article and recommendation since my car is seeing mostly track and HPDE use and it having better high temp shear, also to see if had slightly quicker oil warmup the few times I would street drive the car (been inconclusive, not really noticeable there). Blackstone says no problems stick out other than the high Tin reading. Previous two oil analysis reports with Liqui Moly GT1 10w60 were great and Tin reading was 0 both times.
What is everyone's thoughts? Should I switch to another brand of oil for track use, or is there another underlying problem I should be looking into? Rod bearings were replaced way too long ago for it to be from their break-in, or could they be wearing actually? What is a good oil to run for track/HPDE duty high mileage street car?

[samthejam]

What bearings did you use when you did them @ 173k? I am not 100% sure of the material of the new OE Rod bearings, I just know it isn't the traditional copper and lead. I thought the new bearings were Tin and Aluminum. Can anyone confirm?


If you went with ACL or BE, this is a mute point because those should be traditional copper and lead bearings.


As far as oil, most of the success stories I have heard have been on a 10W-60 oil from people I see at the track who have owned their cars for years with no issues. Some use liqui moly, some use the castrol, and some use the BMW OE oil. That has been why I chose to run it, I run the OE oil just because that is the easiest to get locally. If you were having good results with Liqui Moly prior to the Redline, I don't see why you wouldn't switch back to the Liqui Moly.

[maupineda]

I would stick to the oil with higher HST value you can find, and if you keep oil temps low you don't really need that high of a viscosity. for some reason the M3 S54 application runs hotter, you see the temp gage always in the right side of the gage, something for example not seen as much in Z4M. Maybe that is why it makes sense to run 10w60 more than other M cars of the same period. All that said, since you mostly use it for heavy duty, go to the 60 grade.

Both oils have rich amount of zinc and phosphorus, the redline has more detergent. so maybe the higher value for tin is due to oil thinning out at high temp, compare your viscosity values at 100c

[jbfrancis3]

Does the Redline have a sealed foiled cap? Wonder if there's tin in that...?

[BigRussia]

What bearings did you use when you did them @ 173k? I am not 100% sure of the material of the new OE Rod bearings, I just know it isn't the traditional copper and lead. I thought the new bearings were Tin and Aluminum. Can anyone confirm?


If you went with ACL or BE, this is a mute point because those should be traditional copper and lead bearings.


As far as oil, most of the success stories I have heard have been on a 10W-60 oil from people I see at the track who have owned their cars for years with no issues. Some use liqui moly, some use the castrol, and some use the BMW OE oil. That has been why I chose to run it, I run the OE oil just because that is the easiest to get locally. If you were having good results with Liqui Moly prior to the Redline, I don't see why you wouldn't switch back to the Liqui Moly.

Yeah I should've mentioned I replaced them with OE ones per my indy's recommendation at the time. And yeah the notes from Blackstone from the previous two Liqui Moly reports were glowing, they were actually impressed how good my high mileage motor was wearing and taking the track use lol. Only thing from their comments was slightly high iron in the first LM report. Maybe I will switch back to LM, it's slightly cheaper too even though I do the FCP warranty return, but also the Redline 15w50 4g jug is out of stock now with no ETA so have to buy the 6 separate bottles of RL.. posted the previous LM report's comments below

Both oils have rich amount of zinc and phosphorus, the redline has more detergent. so maybe the higher value for tin is due to oil thinning out at high temp, compare your viscosity values at 100c

Hmm yeah I wonder if its common with the RL to see higher tin cause of that. My oil temps are usually pretty good and under control on track, i never see anything higher than 245-250F ish; basically never hits the 3/4 dot on the stock oil temp cluster gauge.

Does the Redline have a sealed foiled cap? Wonder if there's tin in that...?

I didnt think of that, but might be something. IIRC the redline oils, both the jug and bottles, have those tin seals you have to peel off.

[JokerElite]

I'd switch back to Liqui Moly 10w60 and run the same interval and retest. It won't hurt and if the tin is gone you know it has something to do with the oil.

[24Racing]

To echo what the other are saying, change to a different oil for the next sample. We always had great readings with the Liquimoly 10w60 GT1, so much that a client and their 170k SMG street car was adamant about wanting bearings but the oil sample report was perfect. Told him it wasn't necessary and to keep up with the 7k / 1 yr oil intervals.

[BigRussia]

Yup, thanks all! I agree with everyone and decided to run the LM again, especially as the two previous reports with it were great, also its cheaper and actually in stock at FCP. Ill followup with the results of this 2nd Redline fill once i do the oil change (and 2nd oil level/temp sensor change in 4 years) to the LM and send the old Redline to Blackstone. Curious to see if the Tin is high again on this current 2nd Redline fill.