If you are not experiencing any gearbox noise, is the Redline MT90 still about the best alternative to OEM oil? Or would you suggest this as a better alternative?
"Best" is the sort of assertion that could start a heated discussion. (Amsoil! Mobil 1! Redline! Royal Purple! Lucas Oil! Painfullyexpensiveoilbrand!)
I'll stick to my experience that MT90 is very, very good stuff. Some folks like to run MTL which is also very good, but I like the slightly thicker viscosity of MT90 for the hot climates I have lived in.
The Quaife is a Torsen (gear driven) type ATB, no need for friction modifiers. A clutch plate type LSD (like OE MINI's) can require modifiers to perform at its best, sometimes there is a trade-off for noise under acceleration for an LSD, then you decide on whether special LSD formulations are right for your application.
I expect to experience this to a much lesser extent, being in a warm climate (save for a few 10 degree days here and there when the Pacific sends snow into the Tehachapi mountains). Thanks for the heads-up.
Overall I'm still VERY happy with my results, especially on 110 degree days in Mojave. I would agree with anyone, though, who would go with a more "normal" oil if they don't have a gearbox noise problem.
I tend to flush my car's tranny at least every year - sometimes 2x a year if I'm lucky enough to break free from TSW, autocross committee duties, and other events enough to do more DE weekends than usual. I don't use 'Winston the Ridiculously Quick Cooper' to autocross anymore, save for the occasional fun runs when instructing at our BMWCCA chapter's Street Survival Schools, so he's been relegated to daily driving and track duty. When I was autocrossing it, though, I tended to freshen it up every 6 months.
In our e30 AX/track car, we freshen up the tranny and rear diff before the season starts and once in the middle of the season.
For those of us blessed to be living in North Texas I found a local shop that stocks the Heavy Shockproof Red Line Gear Oil. Quite a bit of it as I saw when I some up today. Taylor Race Engineering in Plano. Pretty nifty shop that specializes in race driveline components.
