[Polarbert]

I'd spent a very long time debating whether or not it was necessary to change the rod bearings on my M Roadster. The guy I usually take my car to get serviced said it wasn't really anything to worry about. Generally he is spot on about this engine as he has a lot of experience with it.

With my 2006 car approaching 116,000 miles I took the steps to swap out the bearings for piece of mind, as hopefully I won't be selling the car. In addition I'd had a VANOS exhaust hub upgrade, valve adjustment, and oil change planned. I was a little apprehensive about using another shop but they came very well recommended in the San Diego area.

I was somewhat apprehensive about spending all the money, but I felt validated when the garage called to tell me the OEM exhaust hub had snapped one of the tabs, so that by itself was a miracle it didn't wipe out the timing chain.

I got the car back today and the engine just sounds so much more refined. It probably wouldn't be noticeable to anyone else but having driven this thing 70k miles since I picked it up the difference was immediate.

A lot of the upper bearings had copper showing, which was interesting as my blackstone reports never had more than 1 PPM reported.

Anyway, the money shot is shown in the photos. The upper bearings are on the right and the lower bearings are on the left. I read in the other recent bearings thread that copper showing is not indicative of an impending catastrophic failure, but its definitely given me good piece of mind to do this. There is a close up of the most heavily worn bearing.