Disheartening to see people not properly breaking in their Vettes
12-03-2015, 12:06 AM
#41
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I'll continue to break my vehicles in according to the recommendations in the owner's manual. How others treat theirs is up to them.
12-03-2015, 12:33 AM
#42
Burning Brakes
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l'm really surprised this thread has made it this far. Why worry about how someone breaks in their car, since it will have no affect on you? It really should be about "your" piece of mind with your automobile.
12-03-2015, 12:33 AM
#43
Burning Brakes
I bought a used car once and had to put a quart of oil in it every 600 miles. Cost me a fortune to get rid of it. But I have worked hard for my money, so I tend to be sensitive to making expenses for others.
12-03-2015, 12:53 AM
#44
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Come on now... you do realize this is supposed to be an argumentative thread. The chief mechanic at a Harley dealership told you to break it in like you intend to drive it...AND that was OK but not driving your BMWs the same way? 
I lived there for over 20 years.
I lived there for over 20 years. I'm not taking any chances and will abide by the recommended brake in period. When my wife and I were stationed in Germany we both bought new BMWs just before we left. We abided by the BMW break in procedure albeit it drove us nuts on the Autobahn. My wife was driving my car when it rolled over the final mile of the break in and she opened it up until it hit the American spec chipped governer. I in turn was driving hers when it rolled the last break in mile and returned the favor. The difference was I had a 3 series and hers was a five. We are both still driving BMWs as our DDs, mine a Z4 and hers an X5. We broke them in according to procedure and as we are both approaching 200k no mechanical issues to date. But then again, I'm older and old school. My Harleys are a different story. The Chief mechanic at the dealership told me to break it in like I intend to drive them not according to the break in procedure recoomendations and I did. One is a 2002 and the other a 2007. No mechanical issues to date and I run them both hard.
12-03-2015, 12:59 AM
#45
i always...
coming out of the factory and run it at full throttle(on rollers of course)
before it rolls out.
12-03-2015, 01:16 AM
#46
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12-03-2015, 01:37 AM
#47
12-03-2015, 04:39 AM
#48
Ok. Just to be clear then, are you generously admitting to making problems for others then? They buy your trade in and then, possibly, suffer problems from your avoidance of manufacturer guidelines?
I bought a used car once and had to put a quart of oil in it every 600 miles. Cost me a fortune to get rid of it. But I have worked hard for my money, so I tend to be sensitive to making expenses for others.
I bought a used car once and had to put a quart of oil in it every 600 miles. Cost me a fortune to get rid of it. But I have worked hard for my money, so I tend to be sensitive to making expenses for others.
I went with the new corvette. Because i dont want to deal with used car problems. You know people are running those GTRs hard.
A lot of people are not going to follow the manufacturer guidelines, and its a problem that the used car buyer is going to face. Anyone buying a used car should understand the risk involved.
Last edited by MikeLsx; 12-03-2015 at 04:40 AM.
12-03-2015, 06:24 AM
#49
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Except for the first statement.
12-03-2015, 06:33 AM
#50
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When I bought my '15 Z51 from Mike Furman @ Criswell this past March, Mike was gracious enough to give me an in depth explanation of how things worked vs the C6 I traded in. Sadly, I had the displeasure of wending my way through D C afternoon rush hour traffic trying to get out of Dodge as it were. In retrospect, that may well be the reason I never had an issue with it up to the day I sold it when I ordered the '16. Plenty of light brake application coupled with extensive use of the paddles in sport mode till I finally got out of the metro area where I could safely start doing gentle increases in speed up towards the red line without exceeding it. Ymmv
12-03-2015, 12:06 PM
#52
Here is an interesting take on the subject. When I bought a new 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider and also a 2013 Porsche Boxster S, I spoke to some people who are very much in the know.
I have a friend who works as a mechanic for a large Ferrari dealer here in So Cal. He is one of less than 30 Ferrari Master mechanics in North America, a Ferrari owner and engine builder. I also have spoken to 2 folks at Porsche, one being the number 1 Porsche mechanic in all of So Cal, and the other being the head of the Porsche district office here.
All of the above folks have said the same thing...the only thing that matters, whether the car is new or years old is oil temperature. Cars should not be driven over 3500-4000 RPM until oil temp is up to abut 175 degrees. After that, drive the hell out of it. Furthermore, although the engines are the same, the brake in period for Porsche is different for different countries. The owners manuals are different for the US, Europe and Australia. Lastly, with some of my cars (including the 11 Vettes that I have owned) sometimes I followed brake in procedure, and sometimes I ignored it. Either way, I never had problems.
I have a friend who works as a mechanic for a large Ferrari dealer here in So Cal. He is one of less than 30 Ferrari Master mechanics in North America, a Ferrari owner and engine builder. I also have spoken to 2 folks at Porsche, one being the number 1 Porsche mechanic in all of So Cal, and the other being the head of the Porsche district office here.
All of the above folks have said the same thing...the only thing that matters, whether the car is new or years old is oil temperature. Cars should not be driven over 3500-4000 RPM until oil temp is up to abut 175 degrees. After that, drive the hell out of it. Furthermore, although the engines are the same, the brake in period for Porsche is different for different countries. The owners manuals are different for the US, Europe and Australia. Lastly, with some of my cars (including the 11 Vettes that I have owned) sometimes I followed brake in procedure, and sometimes I ignored it. Either way, I never had problems.
12-03-2015, 12:23 PM
#53
Burning Brakes
Interesting Ronnie. Also interesting how the advice still falls within GMs break-in guidlines (keep RPMs under 4000).
However, I just want to reiterate, it's not only the engine that gets broken-in, it's the brakes, tires, tranny, differential, etc.
And, to add to my previous rant; it's a mere 500 miles. It's not like GM made onerous limitations.
Regarding the other posts (not you Ronnie!):
To address the assertion that lawyers, not engineers write the break-in procedure. I'm assuming you mean the bean-counters? WTF does a lawyer have to do with break-in? They're about liability.
My queston to you is; does it matter? GM doesn't give a chit what you do - they only care within the confines of warranty. If a bean counter, or some other such fancy educated yankee authors the beak-in procedure - would it not be to minimize warranty concerns? In other words, proper break in limits total cost of warranty service.
Which means, if you have half an *** for a brain, you'll follow the break-in process for the first 8 hours of driving for a good ownership experience, you'll suck it up like a responsible man, and not toss it back into the pool for a hardworking person, with less income, to ****** up in a used car lot.
However, I just want to reiterate, it's not only the engine that gets broken-in, it's the brakes, tires, tranny, differential, etc.
And, to add to my previous rant; it's a mere 500 miles. It's not like GM made onerous limitations.
Regarding the other posts (not you Ronnie!):
To address the assertion that lawyers, not engineers write the break-in procedure. I'm assuming you mean the bean-counters? WTF does a lawyer have to do with break-in? They're about liability.
My queston to you is; does it matter? GM doesn't give a chit what you do - they only care within the confines of warranty. If a bean counter, or some other such fancy educated yankee authors the beak-in procedure - would it not be to minimize warranty concerns? In other words, proper break in limits total cost of warranty service.
Which means, if you have half an *** for a brain, you'll follow the break-in process for the first 8 hours of driving for a good ownership experience, you'll suck it up like a responsible man, and not toss it back into the pool for a hardworking person, with less income, to ****** up in a used car lot.
Last edited by BenCasey; 12-03-2015 at 12:26 PM. Reason: had to fix up my insults
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12-03-2015, 01:27 PM
#54
Race Director
Since buying my new z06 ive been looking around on youtube to see proper break in procedure for the car (after reading the drivers manual of course 
) and it kills me to see so many people doing exactly what they are not supposed to do and not breaking in their car as its meant to be.
) and it kills me to see so many people doing exactly what they are not supposed to do and not breaking in their car as its meant to be.http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
12-03-2015, 01:31 PM
#55
Burning Brakes
Although I followed the break-in procedure, in my previous car (Porsche Carrera) they told me every engine is run for a period of time at the redline prior to being put into the car, and the only way I could hurt it was to baby it!
Drive it like you stole it!
Drive it like you stole it!
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12-03-2015, 01:31 PM
#56
Race Director
The flaw with your statement is you're assuming the manufacturer wants your break in to result in maximum power and engine life. When in fact they only want the car to last until the warranty runs out and couldn't care less about helping you eke the last bit of performance from it, or preventing slow oil consumption from improperly-seated rings.
12-03-2015, 01:52 PM
#60
Race Director
It's recognition that the engineers could write a break in method that agrees with us (break it in hard) but if the legal and bean counter folks feel that would increase the odds of a few % increase in warranty claims they'll rewrite it. IOW their goal is to get you to the end of the warranty without spending their money, period.