aehaas

Very Nice, thanks for sharing. aehaas

To make a long story short I was not impressed with the Ghost until I had it for a day and really put it to the test. I disliked the Phantom and thought the Ghost would be similar. I was wrong. The Ghost is a good car for taking the neighbors out to dinner, for traveling, and for a leisure ride to any location. The wife likes the simple opulence. What you do not at first get is the power and the spirit. You get 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, mind boggling 60-100 and the suspension tightens when you try to rock the boat. It is truly an amazing engineering feat. RR NA gave me the technical mechanics learning/instructional materials put directly onto my computer. It is a good 50 hours reading/studying just to go over once. I can now appreciate the work that went into this car. I traded in my Maybach 57s AMG w/Renntach upgrade for this 2011 Ghost. We are very happy with our purchase. aehaas

Generally speaking the engineers who design exhaust systems do so in a manor that gives you the best BHP they can. It is called scavenging. Tuning an exhaust is Far More Difficult than tuning the intake. Even going to random straight exhaust pipes will not give you as much BHP as a properly "tuned" exhaust system. I would bet that most if not all "bolt on" modification result in less performance for cars. aehaas

The wife drove the Mulsanne after deciding it looked spectacular. This was a couple of months back. She then said it was too bad as it drove like a slug - her word. She then hopped in a Flying Spur Speed and decided it was much faster than her GTC. She left this car behind and drove the Spur Speed home instead. aehaas

She = the wife. Linda would notice if one tire had 5 lbs less air, can tell when I change the oil and is quick to point out any oddities of any kind. aehaas

'Just finished an oil change with the Murcielago (in the back). Now going over the Ghost. I have used Renewable Lubricants Inc., and Red Line 0w-20 and 5W-20 for the last 8,000 miles or so in my wife's car. She likes the RLI the best because the engine has less mechanical noises running this 0W-20 grade oil. 'Now with 11,000 miles. aehaas

The Maybach 57s went by the wayside, in came the RR Ghost. But there seems to be no service literature available. Anybody have info on this? aehaas

"Just over the weekend this guy asked me how much I made, and also the price of some of my stereo gear." The stereo equipment gets most of the people I talk to:

I too was just going to make that recommendation. aehaas

I would get things checked out. We run Renewable Lubricants Inc., RLI, oil in the wife's 04 Murcielago. We get 1 bar at idle and occasionally the oil light will come on when the oil temperature is 90C or higher. At cruising with 2,000 RPM the oil pressure is at or above 2 1/2 Bar. Above 4,000 RPM the pressure will peg the gauge. This is while running the 0W20 grade RLI. The same is used in the 07 Maybach 57s and the 0W-30 is in the Enzo. Oil analysis reveals sub-normal wear and tear. The Murcielago has around 11,000 miles under its belt. aehaas

I used Red Line and still like it. My wife was very against switching to Renewable Lubricants as she was very satisfied with the Red Line performance in her Murcie. I did the switch even though she told me not to do so. But immediately after having put in the RLI she noticed the change. I did not even tell her I changed her oil. We were in the car and she remarked that it was smoother and the engine was more quiet. I then admitted to the changeover. She is now a RLI fan. aehaas

She has over 10,000 miles on it and all is going well.

I worked with the formulator from RLI to fine tune the formula to better withstand high RPM shear forces. aehaas

This is my latest used oil analysis. I am posting it here to show that these high powered engines do not blow up when using thin oils for my application: 2007 Maybach 57s AMG delivered 6/2007 with 125 miles on the odometer. The car comes with a twin turbo 6.0 liter V12 (my old “regular” Maybach 57 had a 5.5 liter V12). It has 612 BHP and 738 ft lbs torque. Driving: spirited around town, some highway driving, maybe 10 percent. The regular Maybach 57 did spec. several 30 but mostly 40 grade oils. This engine only specs. all 40 grade oils. Note that the smaller engine was rev limited to 150 MPH whereas the AMG engine allows for 175 MPH. This is a big difference in oil heating in my book. Since I will have no opportunity to go over 100 MPH there are no reasons to go with the 40 grade oil. Oct/2010 Update: In May of this year we had around 15,000 miles on the car and it was a year since the previous oil change. The tires were getting changed (again) for a forth set and I went ahead and changed the oil. There was no UOA on that one. We then went on a road trip of around 1,200 miles. The other 1,300 miles was strictly around town since then and you can see the engine did not get hot enough to burn off any fuel. The car has 17,500 miles on it and the oil has 2,500. I took a sample but did not change the oil this time around: ___________5250_____2500__Miles on the oil ___________12250___17500__Miles on the car .................................................. .................................................. ............ Iron__________38____18 Chromium _____1____0 Nickel _________0____0 Aluminum _____11____4 Lead __________2____0 Copper ________9____7 Tin ___________0____0 Silver _________0____0 Titanium ______0____0 Silicon ________5____2 Boron ________10____10 Sodium _______13____11 Potassium _____0____0 Molybdenum __ 95____1 Phosphorus ___853____702 Zinc ________1056____1121 Calcium ____ 1923____2198 Barium ________0____0 Magnesium ____18____11 Antimony _____131___113 Vanadium ______0____0 Fuel %Vol _____1.16___1.94 Flash Pt_______355____245 Abs Oxid ______161____126 Abs Nitr _______14____11 Wtr %vol _____731KF__884 Vis CS 100C ___9.3____7.8 Vis CS 40C_____44____38 Vic index______202____180 SAE Grade _low 30/high 20__20 Gly test _____neg____0 TBN ________2.2____4.9 TAN________3.1____0.93 Soot_________0_____0 Sulfate By Product_115__143 10-21-10 Comments from Terry Dyson of Dyson Analysis: No worries, the oil can certainly last a full 5,000 miles but he recommended a change just because of the high fuel content. The flash point was low. But wear is sub normal as the engine continues to break-in. Note that it has not blown up with a viscosity of only 7.8 at 100C. This 20 grade oil is working well with this engine despite me lighting up the tires on a regular basis. aehaas PS I am using the RLI 0W-30 in the Enzo but no recent UOL: PPS The wife's Murcielago is still going strong on 0W-20 RLI as well.

The argument is coming up again about the reduced Zn levels in motor oils. See here: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbth...088#Post2025088 My comments at the bottom of the first page are thus: Research has shown that levels over 0.03 have no additional benefit for wear. The only reason to have higher levels is because it is consumed. In race car engines the levels are around 0.12 or more but consumption is high. As long as the level never gets below 0.03 there will be no wear related to low levels. The only reason that ZDP is so common is because it is inexpensive. Newer and Better additives can be substantially more expensive. And do not forget that higher levels have side effects as corrosion. You cannot just keep adding Zn into your oil. You will be doing more harm than good. Also, like all API s-grades before, the new SN is backward compatible. That means the these oils can be used in all known engines where SJ, SH, SL and the others have been used before. And one of the SN features (requirements) is Reduced Wear and increased MPG at the same time. So the new specification means your engine should wear less than if you used any other previously spec'ed (older) passenger car motor oil. Let me add that they changed the label from saying that these new oils are "energy conserving" to "resource conserving" to indicate that MPG is not the only concern - as many people have (erroneously) thought over the last decade. aehaas

One more thing - the open voltage of many chargers is 18 to 20 or more volts. This may ruin your electronics if you are not DIRECTLY connected to the battery when charging. If you disconnect at the engine bay switch you have to be really careful. Also, the switch on our car is in the negative lead, not the positive lead. The point is that you have to know what you are doing here 100 percent. aehaas

I prefer to have the bonnet open to remind me that the car is hooked up. This will prevent one from driving the car while the cable is still plugged in. aehaas

And make sure you have plenty of the fluid on hand as the canister is quite large. Make sure the lift is in the normal position too, not elevated when you do the change. aehaas

You may mess up the computer by messing with the doors. A visit to the dealership will be required. If they are close by it may not be a problem but if they are far away you will not want the doors left up. It is easy for somebody to lean on them and cause a break. aehaas

'Got to sit in the car last weekend at the Orlando show and really liked it. The Phantom is too much car for me and not fast enough. This car is comfortable and at least on paper seems as a mover, driver car, the sort of car I would like. When the Ghost is available to drive in Feb. I will give it a go and see if it is truly a drivers car. aehaas

Linda has almost 10,000 miles on her yellow car while I have less then 5,000 on mine. I guess I have to do more driving. aehaas

...For Valentino to introduce the new Gallardo: Alas I have no pictures of the new car after the covers came off but a good time was had by all for sure...

The wife bought a new '04 Murcie and has put about 9,000 miles on it so far, nothing to do but annual fluid, filter changes. Full service record of mine: Next Oil Change - 1/2004 On delivery - Lexol leather conditioner on all leather, then CoverAll protectant. Wax with 3M all painted areas reachable, all cracks, underside, wheel wells, any reachable frame and suspension parts, rubber protectant, all areas reachable. 575 mi. 2/20/04 engine and trans/diff oils, all nuts and bots tightened, checked and cushioned lines and hoses. 2,700 miles 12/1/04, 0W-30 Mobil 1, change/flush brake fluid, all gear fluids. 11/11/05 4,200 Red Line 5W-20. 11/19/06 6,100mi 5W-20 RL, antifreeze x 2, PS/lift system fluid, replace improved anti-sway bar mounts. 3/7/08 7,700 mi. 0W20 RLI, spark plugs. 8/28/07 Sears Platinum Diehard. Every winter, lexol to leather. aehaas

Yes. I need some fertilizer and will probably go to the John Deere supply depot in the yellow car later this week. They always get a kick when I go to Home Depot and the hardware store in the Enzo. aehaas

There is a single point on the rear most frame where the rear of the car may be lifted but it is not recommended. The front can only come up by lifting on both sides. The 4 point lift areas are very specific. This is true of just about any car these days. Even lifting from 4 points must be done at the correct areas at the same time and height. You can bend the frame or unibody. aehaas