Do we all need a Dimple™?

[BigShow]

To kick off a series of MT run product tests, we're starting with something nice and simple... a Dimple™!

So firstly some background on the Dimple™...

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Magnetic oil drain plugs have always been one of the best ways to trap and remove microscopic metal particles from an engines lubricating oil almost since the combustion engine was conceived.

Sadly, these systems have been dropped in more recent years due to the relatively high manufacturing cost of magnets powerful enough to do the job we need them to do. This led to a sudden influx of cheap , alloy magnetic oil drain plugs from the far east and sadly, small, cheap, magnets simply will not do the job, regardless of what our competition would have you believe. In fact, they could shorten your engines life! (See technical section for more details on why this is...)

Why would I need a magnet in my oil you may ask...

To answer this properly I must share some facts with you.

Every time you run your engine, it becomes more and more contaminated with many thousands of tiny nano particles of harmful ferrous metal. These metal particles are so small that they cannot be seen by the human eye. They are mainly caused by friction and lots of it. For example an engine travelling at merely 2000 rpm sends the pistons up and down 33 times per second. Astounding really!

The human eye can only see a particle 40 microns or larger. The oil filter can only realistically filter out particles larger than 35 microns. The particles we are looking to catch with powerful oil filter magnets are about 35 microns or less in diameter, the smaller the particles the more harmful to the engine or transmission because they travel everywhere under hydraulic pressure, (oil pressure), and act exactly like a fine lapping compound, continuously polishing down all surfaces.

Let’s understand how big these particles are!

A fine grain of salt is 100 microns, white blood cells 28 microns, red blood cells 8 microns and bacteria cocci 2 microns. The only way to remove these damaging metal particles is with very strong magnetism!

The best time to use magnetic oil drain plugs and oil filter magnets is from new. When a new engine is fired for the first time it quickly starts to wash itself down internally with oil, so all the left over minute particles of ferrous material from machining, from bores, from piston rings and many other tight moving parts all gets washed around the engine and they all go through the sump at some time and remember, the oil goes through the oil pump before even the oil filter, so that is always unprotected. Grab that metal before it can leave the sump and cause premature wear!

The Dimple™ super drain plugs are the strongest high temperature magnetised drain plugs available, period. These magnets are the cure for your diseased engine and transmission oils because you can now effectively remove those tiny particles of metal in your oil so you can have peace of mind that your engine will last longer, maybe a lot longer. This is great peace of mind and in the long run cant fail to save your money as well.

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Text courtesy of magneticoildrainplugs.co.uk
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So now you know a little bit about what the Dimple™ does, let's see a simple demonstration of it working it's magic:

Now when we heard about the Dimple™ we thought 'What a simple idea!' and knew immediately we had to test it.

So we will shortly be completing oil changes on the MT Time Attack MINI and the MT Road Car and installing the the Dimple™ so we can monitor its effectiveness of catching microscopic metal particles and also compare the difference between the level of particles found in a track car and road car.

Each time the Dimple™ is removed, we will photograph what we find and post it here along with details on the oil used, amount of miles covered and car useage over that time.

Hopefully each time we remove the drain plug we will be greeted with a picture like this and the swapping from a standard MINI drain plug to a Dimple™ will have been well worthwhile.

If you would like to test the Dimple™ yourself then you can purchase them from here:

Magnetic Oil Drain Plugs? - BMW Applications - Magnetic Sump Drain Plugs

... for £19.99 including VAT and postage (UK mainland)

Or for more technical information on the the Dimple™ please go here:

Magnetic Oil Drain Plugs? - Technical Information On Our Magnetic Sump Drain Plugs

[Alski]

i have heared of magnets for oil filters...

[brownpants]

Always a great thing to have IMHO if they are quality ones so it's getting ordered as 20 quid for knowing I'm helping longevity is better than a few pints !

shame they don't list the gearbox one for R53 too as that's where I really want it

[Ant FR]

never have a car long enough for this sort of thing to matter.

[BigShow]

Originally Posted by brownpants

Always a great thing to have IMHO if they are quality ones so it's getting ordered as 20 quid for knowing I'm helping longevity is better than a few pints !

shame they don't list the gearbox one for R53 too as that's where I really want it

They do one for both, just give them a call mate

[Jamesf]

just bought mine, cooper is due an oil change since its been layed up for a while, will report back in 6k time

[gnatster]

Just for reference, the drain plug pictured is mine.

Magnetic Drain Plug was installed in April 2009 with approx 38K miles. Oil was changed and picture taken in July after about 4K miles. Oil brand is Royal Purple if anyone cares. Next change will be on Jan 30, again at ~4K miles. Will try to remember to post a pic.

Also using these in transmission.

[BigShow]

Originally Posted by gnatster

Just for reference, the drain plug pictured is mine.

Magnetic Drain Plug was installed in April 2009 with approx 38K miles. Oil was changed and picture taken in July after about 4K miles. Oil brand is Royal Purple if anyone cares. Next change will be on Jan 30, again at ~4K miles. Will try to remember to post a pic.

Also using these in transmission.

So as you can see, even with just 4k miles it's picked up a fair bit already

[X3iDave]

I cheapo'd out as I put the engine back together when everywhere was shut

i used a neodymium magnet the size of a AAA battery on the outside of the sump plug and when I come to change the oil i'll post up the results

[brownpants]

just ordered the same for my gearbox too