Well, it appears that the Pennzoil Platinum holds up pretty well to the turbo heat that the MS3's produce - and it appears to keep the engine's internals clean to boot.
Changed out the trannie fluid with the Redline MT 90 and what a difference it makes. The first few miles felt like the old fluid, only a little better. Then as I drove the car it seemed as though the fluid settles down (or gets mixed up, whatever) and the shifting gets better - much better. After about 20 miles I could blast through the gears with the greatest of ease.
I have noticed this same thing in my Bimmer only to a lesser degree. I can change the trans fluid with Redline MTL and in the first 10 miles or so the trannie has that characteristic BMW "pink" when you go into each gear. Then, the shifts get that cushion feeling and gear selections get really easy. The "pink" is replaced with a sort of shhh as you change gears.
While I had the car on the lift, I got to looking around and these cars are really well made, with maintaining them in mind (BMW could learn a lot from Mazda about the art of mechanicals packaging). If you drive your cars over 100k miles and beyond, this is a plus.
Little things like a removalble panel in the wheel well on the passenger side that allow easier access to the front of the engine to change the belt (my car only has one ) or the water pump, make a difference when the car begins to age. Also, it will be a breeze to bleed the clutch slave cylinder when bleeding the brakes - it's right up front and center.
One last observation before I go - when I went to loosen the wheel nuts to rotate the tires, they were barely tightened. That's kinda scary considering that just 2 weeks ago I was cruising this car out to Az and back in areas that had a 80 mph speed limit. I think I'll keep an eye on the wheel nut torque for a while to see if they loosen on their own or if they weren't tightened at the factory. Cheers all!
Changed out the trannie fluid with the Redline MT 90 and what a difference it makes. The first few miles felt like the old fluid, only a little better. Then as I drove the car it seemed as though the fluid settles down (or gets mixed up, whatever) and the shifting gets better - much better. After about 20 miles I could blast through the gears with the greatest of ease.
I have noticed this same thing in my Bimmer only to a lesser degree. I can change the trans fluid with Redline MTL and in the first 10 miles or so the trannie has that characteristic BMW "pink" when you go into each gear. Then, the shifts get that cushion feeling and gear selections get really easy. The "pink" is replaced with a sort of shhh as you change gears.
While I had the car on the lift, I got to looking around and these cars are really well made, with maintaining them in mind (BMW could learn a lot from Mazda about the art of mechanicals packaging). If you drive your cars over 100k miles and beyond, this is a plus.
Little things like a removalble panel in the wheel well on the passenger side that allow easier access to the front of the engine to change the belt (my car only has one ) or the water pump, make a difference when the car begins to age. Also, it will be a breeze to bleed the clutch slave cylinder when bleeding the brakes - it's right up front and center.
One last observation before I go - when I went to loosen the wheel nuts to rotate the tires, they were barely tightened. That's kinda scary considering that just 2 weeks ago I was cruising this car out to Az and back in areas that had a 80 mph speed limit. I think I'll keep an eye on the wheel nut torque for a while to see if they loosen on their own or if they weren't tightened at the factory. Cheers all!
