335i Manual Shifting

[tachyonz]

I'm still breaking in my beauty, the 335i. How did/are people breaking in theirs? The manufacturer recommendation is to stay below 4500rpm and 100mph and to vary your speed and rpms. I have tried to do this. I will drive in the city then take a small stretch of highway to get higher speeds, and then go back to the city or some nice country backroads.

Sometimes in 1st gear I will slowly rev up to 4500 and then shift to 2nd and do the same thing, and then I try to get to 3rd but usually by that point I am breaking the speed limit and then some. This car can go 90+ in 3rd gear and still have room to go, I'm only hitting the 4500rpm mark and I have trouble keeping under the speed limit...I wonder what happens when one takes it to red line... Is there a max recommended rpm for 1st gear? I've heard most people try to get out of 1st and into 2nd asap, 1st is usually just to get started. The 335i doesnt complain about 4500 in 1st gear, like my '84 volvo did. (but the volvo didnt have a tachometer so i have no idea what the rpms were, just was driven by sound and feel, good learning tool, except the 335i makes hardly any noise!! but you can hear those turbos..mmmm)

Are there recommended shifting speeds and rpms that BMW posted for the 335i? Are they in the manual somewhere I missed?

I also do drive the 335i pretty hard once the oil is warm, I will do some "spirited" accelerations up the 4500rpms and try to get through 4th gear, but again by that point I will be breaking local speed laws, I'm trying to be a good boy.

[gmessori]

I have never followed recomended break in procedure in my life. The first night I had my car I was doing 120, last night at 700 miles I was doing 150, last week I was at LACR <shrug> I also have never owned a car for more then 70,998 miles (the current mileage of my 03 e39) and even that one will be gone in december or so when my 535 shows up.

[EricP]

I'm still breaking in my beauty, the 335i. How did/are people breaking in theirs? The manufacturer recommendation is to stay below 4500rpm and 100mph and to vary your speed and rpms. I have tried to do this. I will drive in the city then take a small stretch of highway to get higher speeds, and then go back to the city or some nice country backroads.

Sometimes in 1st gear I will slowly rev up to 4500 and then shift to 2nd and do the same thing, and then I try to get to 3rd but usually by that point I am breaking the speed limit and then some. This car can go 90+ in 3rd gear and still have room to go, I'm only hitting the 4500rpm mark and I have trouble keeping under the speed limit...I wonder what happens when one takes it to red line... Is there a max recommended rpm for 1st gear? I've heard most people try to get out of 1st and into 2nd asap, 1st is usually just to get started. The 335i doesnt complain about 4500 in 1st gear, like my '84 volvo did. (but the volvo didnt have a tachometer so i have no idea what the rpms were, just was driven by sound and feel, good learning tool, except the 335i makes hardly any noise!! but you can hear those turbos..mmmm)

Are there recommended shifting speeds and rpms that BMW posted for the 335i? Are they in the manual somewhere I missed?

I also do drive the 335i pretty hard once the oil is warm, I will do some "spirited" accelerations up the 4500rpms and try to get through 4th gear, but again by that point I will be breaking local speed laws, I'm trying to be a good boy.

First, God bless you for trying to take such good care of your car. Keep on top of maintenance items and anybody who owns it after you will thank you. (Shakes fist at PO of my car.)

Keep on top of oil changes especially while breaking in the engine, and I think after several thousand miles you have got to be getting to the point where it is time to be winding it out more often :)

A few hundred RPM's short of redline is usually plenty high for a shift point when you are really getting on it. What do 335's redline at, anyways? I expect if you floor it in 1st gear you aren't going to see a lot of traction on your shift to 2nd.. if you are going to use a gear in its entirety without being rough on the drivetrain it's going to be 2nd or 3rd.

I think one of the most important things you can do to keep your engine healthy and clean is be sure to warm it up to full operating temperature every time you drive, if possible. People who have very short drives to work often carbon up their engines because they never have time to warm up and lean out the mixture.

[bostonsfavson]

This is one of those "ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers" questions. My (seemingly very knowledgeable) sales guy told me I didn't need to do anything special to break the car in, and that I should just use common sense. Seems like sound advice to me.

[Carlson335]

Drive it like you stole it.

[Schnell325]

This is one of those "ask 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers" questions. My (seemingly very knowledgeable) sales guy told me I didn't need to do anything special to break the car in, and that I should just use common sense. Seems like sound advice to me.


More like ask a 100 people and get 200 answers!! Common sense is the key.

[EricP]

More like ask a 100 people and get 200 answers!! Common sense is the key.

OK, so... how about easy for the first oil change, then try to avoid redlining the balls out of it for a bit?

[White94RX]

if you make sure its completely warmed up before you gas it and boost it, you'll be fine. the two PDI (pre-delivery inspections) I've done on 335's, I just let the car idle and warm up, then went on a spirited test drive. Hell, the shop foreman took us out in the M5's when they came out and didn't hold back one bit!

A lot of people will tell you the best way to break one in is go balls to the walls to seat all the valves and piston rings.

[OtuaCarGod]

I work for Toyota and they are very specific about following the break in period on their cars. they say don't drive at a single speed, don't floor it, don't slam on the brakes, and don't lug it or drive around w/ the manual transmission in a low gear at a faster speed. But that's only for the first 1,000 miles. After that ... it's balls to the wall.

[mihalis]

I work for Toyota and they are very specific about following the break in period on their cars. they say don't drive at a single speed, don't floor it, don't slam on the brakes, and don't lug it or drive around w/ the manual transmission in a low gear at a faster speed. But that's only for the first 1,000 miles. After that ... it's balls to the wall.


This whole not flooring it thing has to do with auto transmissions. There is no reason why you can't floor it to 4500rpm, then shift if you have a stick. You are not doing bad by doing this. In most autos though, you floor it, the rpms hit the red line, and say bye-bye to your break in period. That is why I prefer to break in a manual car...and that is what I have always went by, and my cars have never had any problems, even with the 100k miles I put on them in about 3-4 years.

One of the 200 answers you will get :) Enjoy the new ride!

[terro75]

Im waiting delivery on my 335I which should be here on March 12. I will be picking it up in South Carolina at the BMW center and driving it back down to Atlanta. Is it really necessary to break it in. I plan on taking it to the limit as soon as I get espeacilly since it has 50, 000 mile warrenty. I have already ordered the Vishnu sub zero and plan to put it in the first week. My philosophy break it in the way you intend to drive it.

[BOOSTED4DRM3]

drive it like you stole it!

[Fahrhaus]

The break in procedure BMW has mandated for the last 25 years has been to drive at varying speeds, no more than 2/3 of maximum permissible revs in any gear for the first 1500 miles. Top speed (aka, 100mph) is completely irrelevant in-and-of-itself, except that 2/3 of 150 is 100, so in top gear at 2/3 of revs one would estimate you'd be doing 100.

I am a strong advocate of changing the oil at 1200 miles and again at 3000 miles...you'd be amazed at what you find in there.

Break in is important if you want to wring the maximum life and performance out of your cars. Every single one of our BMWs over the last 37 years - my father's, my sister's, my mother's, mine - has been broken in according to these procedures. It's one of the reasons that I had a 1976 2002 with 380,000 miles on it that barely burned oil 25 years later, a 1985 318i with 200,000 miles on it that burned absolutely NO oil 20 years later, and many 10+ year old cars over the decades that continued to run strong and smoke-free. In fact, the only problems I've ever had on these cars - I've owned an e12, an e30, an e36, two e34s, an e39, an e46, and an e90 myself - were radiators, water pumps, and automatic transmissions (outside of standard brake, plugs, and belt/hose maintenance). I've never had to replace a head gasket, rings, or the like.

Bottom line: break the car in properly, and it will last a lot longer and perform that little bit better while you have it. If you're leasing and you don't really care, shame for the car, but it's up to you. The next owner will thank you for it! If you own it, you're doing yourself a disservice if you cannot be patient enough to baby it a tad for the first 1200 miles.

Good luck!

[montego335i]

:banghead: This topic is giving me a headache. I've read that you should do a hard break in and then I've read that you should go easy, vary the revs, etc. but no hard accelation. I've also read that you should bed your brakes by doing several hard stops from 60 down to 10--but never coming to a complete stop--about half a dozen times or more depending on outside temperature. This is supposed to coat the rotors and improve braking and help save the rotors in the long run. And then I've read the opposite opinion too. So who is right? There is a lot of conflicting information out there and I bet that you could ask 3 different BMW sales people and service people and get as many different answers. In the end do we really need to worry about "proper" break-in?

[tachyonz]

I say just follow what they write in the owner's manual.

I feel your pain. Months before I got my 335 I read/asked about break-ins on different forums. I never found the same answer. Always balls to the wall, or yes follow the break-in. So, I just follow what BMW says in their manual. However, I think I agree with the benefits of changing the oil earlier than 15K miles. Perhaps just do it at 1500 or 2000 and let the rest be normal maintenance.

[montego335i]

Of course balls to the wall is more fun! I don't know how I am going to restrain myself.