[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by Traumamoma

Greetings all. I know, I know. There are many threads discussing this issue, but I wanted to share the opinion of a very well respected GM tuner who has worked on many of my cars including camaros and corvettes. His opinion is that if you drive the car " hard" right out of the box it will make more power down the road. He recommends ignoring the GM break in recommendations and driving the car
"Like you stole it" right from the get go if you want it to make max HP down the road. This is not some guy at a car show shooting off his mouth, but a guy who travels to the Middle East twice a year to tune and teach tuning. I bring it up because I just bought a 2017 1SS1LE and am torn between following his advice or the GM recs. Just interested if anyone out there is not following the GM recs and going all in right from the start. Regards, Peter

This actually is a very common recommendation by those in the know...BUT a hard break in has rules to follow still. Like yeah, WOT pulls are good, but no hard launches, no constant speeds, no cruise control, etc.

[SS 1LE]

Originally Posted by Racerman27410

I think the break in miles recommendation is more to give the driver time to get used to the car before stomping down on the go pedal and potentially getting into trouble.

Very possible, as the corporate lawyers dictate more of this then the actual engineers...

Originally Posted by datboi448

Some say that the transmission/diff need the time to break in more than the engine due to harder metals. Some say that the transmission/diff don't need a break in and just only wear down from the get go.

Regardless, on these cars at around 1500 miles I would change out the rear diff fluid...

Originally Posted by JeromeS13

GM also recommends performing the first oil change at 7500 miles... Who does that?

Exactly...7500 miles for an LT1's first oil change? Hell no...

Originally Posted by ctrlz

The break-in process is basically smoothing out irregularities in metal. If the surfaces involved were made of wood, would you rather try to clean them up with a few sharp swipes with a chisel, or work them with increasingly finer grits of sandpaper?
That's how I conceptualize this process.

And I agree with the tuner's advice regarding warm-up. No engine should be worked near its limits until it is at operating temperature.

Difference is metal and alloy manufacturing processes have made large advances over the past decade. These types of surfaces are much, much smoother from day one now...

[JLSuperfly]

Get ready for 10+ pages of infinite wisdom.

[I`m Batman]

Engineers that design and built the engine VS Joe the tuner guy...

It's up to you, your car your choice...

[PackersFan26]

i got my car with 120 miles on it as it was transferred to another dealership at some point. so whoever drove it broke it in for me lol. they say the first 100 miles are really the most important....but cmon. its really hard to behave and keep the rpms under 4k for 1500 miles! i certainly couldnt help myself.

[Rich S]

I tell the dealer to put her on stands, then I toss it into first and throw a brick on the pedal By the time I am done signing papers it is all broke in. Drove it 10 miles home and did not leak one drop of oil.

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by Rich S

I tell the dealer to put her on stands...

You need load on the engine to make heat, which helps break in the compression area (rings, piston).

[Glen e]

Originally Posted by Rich S

I tell the dealer to put her on stands, then I toss it into first and throw a brick on the pedal By the time I am done signing papers it is all broke in. Drove it 10 miles home and did not leak one drop of oil.

Yeah, this is bad....no load.....I'm surprised the dealer would do it.....

[Rich S]

Originally Posted by Glen e

Yeah, this is bad....no load.....I'm surprised the dealer would do it.....

I had a letter from a friend of a friend that was a well known actor who's mechanic said this was the best way to break it in.