[C-Bear]

As we all know, Castrol is the company responsible for BMW High Performance Synthetic oil. It's often assumed that the BMW brand is simply repackaged Syntec, but according to Castrol's site, Syntec in a 5W-30 weight gets an ACEA rating of A1/B1, whereas the BMW brand oil gets the ACEA's "performance engine" rating of A3/B3, indicating that Castrol's BMW brand oil is in fact a different and superior product compared to Syntec.

Anybody know the story behind this?

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Last I checked, BMW had a different formulation.

 

[nate]

It is different

http://www.mdvsynthetics.com/spreadsheet.xls

There are different additives. Both oils are on here, but the Syntec is 10W-30.

There is only one test with the BMW 5W-30, a S/C E36 M3. It held up much better over a longer period of time compared to the Nissan using the Syntec.

Much higher Caclium levels in the BMW Synthetic and Amsoil than any others

 

[Kaz]

BMW repackages some line out of Castrol's European catalog. Syntec is a US-only product not sold elsewhere.

 

[WAM]

THe UK dealers use Castrol SLX synthetic, 0W 30, which as far as I am aware is still not available at retail outlets.