Shawn
Would you recommend then 0w40 for when I am driving on the street and then change to a 10w60 on track days
Or
Run 0w40 for both street and track and just change after the track event (I forgot what the temperature limit is for req change)
I mainly drive on the street so the second option seems to make more sense, but wanted to get your thoughts as well.
Thank you in advance
Depends on how much street and how much track, and how hot you're getting, and how low temp operation you have. If primarily street with the occassional trackday thrown in, then the 0W-40, but watch the temps. If you're getting close to the "change immediately temp" (check the manual - I'm not sure it's the same from year to year), then consider upgrading the viscosity some. (10W-60 if you're comfortable, don't do many cold starts with it). I'm working on a cocktail that's about 5W-48, with upgraded moly to match Nissan's thoughts on their custom oil that's used in the other Nissan VQ's (see below), and I think the ideal oil for our cars for a lot of track would be about a 0W-50, but the only one out there is Eneos, which is very hard to get, doesn't seem to be a group IV or V oil with a lot of ester, or have much moly. I've used it, but wanted a little "more" before I gave up finding the "perfect" set of results.
Your idea with running the 0W-40 and changing it after track days is very valid thinking. Everything else would be labor intensive. If I recall properly, NJ can get quite cold. This past weekend, at VIR, my early morning startup temp was 28degF. I'm glad I have a good low temp startup oil in there. While the 10W-60 is a great oil, its intended use is the BMW M series engines, and they are reported to be the "loose" type, where the 10W-60 will have better low temp pumpability than the "tight" nature of the VQ series engines. Nissan specs their special "Nissan Ester 5W-30" for almost all of the other engines of our type, but upgraded both the low temp startup spec, and the high temp spec for our engines. It speaks for how "special" our engines are, and what their special requirements will be.
It sounds like running the 0W-40 for the mostly street and changing after track may be your best approach, but if you're going to track A LOT, and getting hot A LOT, then other considerations could be made.
Shawn
