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Credit: F87Source


Introduction:

In this product review I will be taking a look at the BMS Billet BMW Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool, and going over why this tool in my opinion is the best one on the market, and I have bought and tested A LOT of different variations of these tools in my time owning an F series BMW.


So if you’re interested in buying this tool, here’s a link: https://burgertuning.com/collections...p-removal-tool


Disclaimer:

Damage/Injury Disclaimer: Any information, guidance, technical advice, coding advice, tuning advice, datalogging advice, installation instruction, calculation, experiment, safety information, or product installation demonstrated in my reviews is to be consumed and or done at your own risk. I will not be responsible for personal injuries, injuries to others or any living being, or any damage to your car, or any property damage.

Monetary disclaimer: I do not make commission, or profits or any kind of monetary gain from the sale of the BMS Billet BMW Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool.

Sponsorship disclaimer: The way my reviews work is that I determine what product that I want to buy and actually use on my own car, and during this process the product that I end up choosing is what I believe is the best option on the market. I then reach out to the company offering the product and ask them if they would be willing to sponsor me in a review, if the answer is yes then I write a review, if the answer is no I would end up buying the product (sometimes at a later date) but I wouldn’t complete a detailed review about it (I might write something, but not to the same extent as my standard reviews). But the critical thing is that I reach out for a sponsorship and not the other way around, this means that the products I am reviewing are actually things I believe in and would use on my own car. This also means that I am not being paid to review something I do not care about. Would I do a review if a sponsor reached out to me? The answer would depend on if I believed in the product, and I would make it clear in my review if this were the case. But at the time of writing this review, such an interaction has not occurred yet.


Time of writing disclaimer: everything I am writing about in this review is described at the time of writing and may not be updated in the future, so there is a potential that things are no longer accurate in my comparisons as parts are changed and upgraded as time passes.


Bias and comparison disclaimer: Throughout this review I will attempt to be as unbiased as possible while drawing comparisons to other products.


Mistakes and Inaccuracies Disclaimer: Throughout my review I will try to be as factually accurate as possible, but there are always chances that I make mistakes and write things that are incorrect/false. If this is the case please point it out to me and if indeed it is true that I am incorrect, I will correct these mistakes and apologize for them. Afterall I am only human, so mistakes can and will inevitably happen.


Subjective Disclaimer: Please note, these reviews are also written in my own opinion, so when I am comparing different products to determine what I see as the best, there are many factors that I go through to form this opinion. Obviously there will be disagreements between people, so I will do my best to objectively determine what I deem to be the best, but at the end of the day it is still just my own opinion whether it be right or wrong. Take whatever I say in my reviews with a grain of salt.



Image Credits:

Images and videos used in this review are all property of their rightful owners as credited below each image, I am just using them for the purpose of this review but if you (the owner of the image) would like them removed please let me know via pm. Otherwise thanks to the respective image owners (I made sure to credit your online name and link where I found the photo) of the photos, without you this review would be so much more bland.



Review Disclaimer:

First and foremost I would like to thank Burger Motorsports (BMS) for agreeing to partially sponsor me for this review. Despite this I will remain as unbiased as possible during the review. Please note, the dynamics of this relationship was that I reached out for a sponsorship review and not the other way around. This should demonstrate how I truly feel about the BMS Billet BMW Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool - in the sense that I truly believe it is the best oil filter removal tool on the market, and an absolute necessity for any BMW owner who performs oil changes themselves.



Customer Service, Shipping, and Overall Experience Dealing with BMS:


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source

Let’s begin with customer service, shipping, and the overall experience. I have said this in the past and I will say it again, BMS has some of the best customer service in the entire BMW community. They are responsive when answering emails, and are friendly, patient, and polite (Thanks again Payam). Shipping was great, BMS uses FedEx International Connect Plus which allowed for economical and fast shipping even across international borders (USA to Canada). BMS also uses quality ULine boxes (not some cheap Chinese boxes) with proper Box certificates and they package the box incredibly nicely with plenty of brown paper stuffing. Now you may wonder why is this even important? Well to answer that question it has everything to do with shipping insurance. If your package is ever damaged FedEx or UPS or any other carrier will ask for photo evidence of the packaging to make sure it was sufficiently packed and protected. They will then ask for the box certificate number to ensure that the box was strong enough for the items packed within. If any of these are not within spec, then your insurance claim may be denied. This is why packaging is so important, and BMS has perfectly nailed this criteria.

So overall, customer service, shipping, and my experience dealing with BMS has been great, no real complaints!



What is a Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool, and why is is needed on BMW cars?:

Let’s begin by discussing what a Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool is.

Billet - in this case Billet Aluminum refers to the process of taking a solid block of Aluminium and machining it to a desired shape - in this case an Oil Filter Cap Removal tool.

An Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool is a cup like tool used to grip the BMW oil filter cap and allow a ratchet to attach to it so the cap can be turned counterclockwise and removed, or turned clockwise and tightened down and eventually torqued to spec.


So why is this tool even needed? Well the answer to that question is because like most oil filters, the BMW oil filter cap is an odd shape with nothing to attach a socket to, so we need a tool that fits the top of the cap and can have a ratchet attach to it. Here’s an image of the BMW oil filter cap found on most if not all N5x engines and the S55 engine:


Credit: F87Source


Or if you had an aftermarket Aluminum oil filter cap that still required a removal tool like this:


Credit: Malo Industries https://www.maloindustries.com/produ...51-n52-n20-n26



This also means even if you were able to remove the cap with a rubber strap wrench like this:


Credit: Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/Craftsman-Rubb.../dp/B00K92810A


You will not be able to torque it to spec if you cannot connect a torque wrench to it. So regardless if you were able to get the oil filter cap off, you will need a tool like this BMW Oil Filter Cap Removal tool in order to correctly torque the oil cap back on and prevent oil leaks or damaging your cap due to over tightening it.



BMW Oil Filter Cap Measurements:

Before we begin looking at the BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool, let’s analyze the stock BMW oil cap.


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source

So the stock BMW oil filter cap is a plastic lid with a diameter of approximately 86.34 mm, and has 16 “flutes” (flat edges) around its circumference. So, for an oil filter cap removal tool to be fit the stock cap, it must be a bit larger than ~86.34 mm but not too much larger or it will not be able to grip the cap, and it must also have 16 internal flutes to grab onto the flutes on the BMW cap. The flutes must also be slightly rounded in a convex shape because the flutes on the BMW cap are concave, and there must be gaps between the flutes in the tool for the sharp edges on the cap. If any of these features are incorrect, the tool will not be compatible with the BMW oil cap, or have a poor grip on the cap which can cause damage due to excessive movement or being too tight - and that’s exactly what you see on my cap where the there seems to be white wear marks along the edge of the flutes. This is why you don’t cheap out and buy a cheap oil filter cap removal tool.



BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool:


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


So these are the images of the BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool, and lets go over some of its features:

1) 3/8" drive socket: The BMS Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool can accept 3/8" drive ratchets directly, so you can just use your medium torque wrenches for the oil filter cap, and you can use your standard ratchets as well.
2) 21 mm Hex: The BMS Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool alternatively can accept 21 mm sockets via the 21 mm hex on top of the cap which doubles as the receptacle for 3/8" drive tools. This gives you additional flexibility on how you want to interface with this tool.
3) Made in the USA: This imo is an absolutely critical feature of this oil filter cap removal tool, and that it is made by BMS in the USA. Why is it important? Well because generally speaking quality control is significantly better when products are made in the US compared to being made in China. This means tolerances will be kept in line and this is really important for this tool's fitment as we will discuss momentarily.
4) CNC machined Billet Aluminum: CNC machining the BMS oil filter cap removal tool from a single piece of billet aluminum allows it to be quite strong meaning it will last and not sheer apart - something we will talk about later, and again another benefit of the BMS cap. CNC machine also allows for great precision if a high quality multi axis machine is used, and again precision is important.





BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool vs. Some of the Competition:


Credit: F87Source

Now the last thing I would like to do is compare the BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool vs. some of the competition. I currently have 2 alternatives on hand but I used to have one more that I threw away because the top sheared off.

So in the image above I have a cast aluminum oil filter tool from Amazon on top, the BMS oil filter tool from BMS in the middle, and a stamped steel absolute piece of garbage from Aliexpress on the bottom.


Let’s begin by analyzing the BMS option:


Credit: F87Source

So the BMS option is also a standard 16 flute wrench with a diameter of ~86.39 mm (it could be slightly bigger since measuring this wasn’t easy due to its convex flutes, but this is what I measured myself), this is only ~0.05 mm larger than the stock cap. The BMS oil filter cap also has very nicely designed flutes with the proper gaps between them so it sits and fits the stock BMW oil filter cap perfectly, and has very little play once it is on the cap. This is what it looks like on the BMW oil filter cap:


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source

View post on imgur.com

Credit: F87Source

So as you can see by the photos above, the BMS oil filter tool sits perfectly on the stock BMW oil filter cap and completely envelopes the stock cap from top to bottom. From the video you can also see that there is very very little play when the BMS oil filter tool is on the BMW oil cap. This means the BMS oil filter cap was designed with the proper diameter, and the correct flute shape and flute gaps. So you will not have to worry about the BMS cap moving too much while you use it to loosen or tighten the stock oil cap, and this means you will not have to worry about the oil filter tool “skipping a flute” (has too much play so it turns so much that instead of grabbing onto a flute it is grabbing onto the corners between flutes and gets stuck) and damaging the stock cap or getting stuck onto it. There is only one very minor concern for me which I would like to see BMS fix and that is the top of the inside of the tool is flat, while the top of the oil filter cap is round. This causes the tool to wobble a tiny bit when placed on top of the oil filter cap, it’s not a huge deal because it nearly bottoms out around the cap but it is a small thing I noticed. To fix this BMS could make the tool a bit deeper so the top of the cap doesn’t touch the inside roof of the tool, or they could make the inside roof of the tool round like the oil filter cap.



Next let’s talk about the Amazon tool:


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source


Credit: F87Source

View post on imgur.com

Credit: F87Source

So the Amazon tool, this one is a mixed bag for me. Because it appears to have well designed flutes and a round internal roof to match the oil filter cap. But like the images show, it has an internal diameter of ~87.21 mm instead of the advertised 86.6 mm, and this is about 1% larger than the stock cap. This leads to mixed results, on one hand it sits on top of the stock oil filter cap really well and completely covers the cap, this means there is no wobble like on the BMS tool. However, imo the inner diameter is way too large and this means there is way too much play as seen in the video (so despite having decent flutes, the larger diameter pretty much makes those flutes useless because it introduces too much play). The amount of play on this cap is borderline a flaw and almost allows the tool to skip flutes. So everytime I use this tool to remove and reinstall my oil filter cap, it nearly skips to the next flute and pretty much gets caught on the edges. This means my stock cap is getting slightly damaged with each use (as seen by the white marks on the corners I alluded to before - and this is really bad if you have an aftermarket aluminum oil filter cap because it will damage the finish), and the worst part is that because of the excessive play, my cap gets stuck inside the tool and I have to wedge it off everytime. So that shows you how important tolerances and internal diameter really is, because normally 1% difference is acceptable, but in the case of the oil cap I personally find that 1% to be too much of a difference and it leads to way too much movement and play. Overall imo this cap is not good, but it isn’t bad either and I have been using it for the past 3 years.



Finally, let’s look at the Aliexpress tool.This tool is absolutely garbage and it should have been thrown away a long time ago:


Credit: F87Source

View post on imgur.com

Credit: F87Source

So the Aliexpress tool, imo there is nothing good to say about this thing at all. The inside diameter is 86.60 mm, so only 0.26 mm larger than the stock cap. But the flutes are non-existent, it is almost perfectly smooth inside of the cap, and the edges for the corners to slot into are also barely defined. As a result this cap doesn’t fit at all, no matter how hard I try to get it on the stock cap I can’t - as shown in the video. This goes to show you that despite having the proper internal diameter, the flutes are also really important to the design, because if they aren’t designed well the cap will not fit.

Also these cheap stamped steel caps are absolutely trash imo. From what I have gathered they often deform under load so the stock cap either gets stuck onto the oil filter cap and you cannot get them off, or the nut on top sheers off. For example: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1590503


So in my opinion this is why you should get the BMS tool instead of the cheaper competition from Aliexpress or Amazon (meaning the designs that I tested and imo believe to be inferior), because from my testing it is the only one with the internal diameter and flutes both correctly designed to limit the amount of play it has on the stock cap.

Note: There could be others out there as good as the BMS tool, but I can’t comment on those ones as I have not tested them, so I can only recommend the BMS tool.


Summary:

So overall the BMS Billet Oil Filter Cap Removal Tool is a high quality tool (and imo the best one available on the market) that every BMW owner should have at their disposal to properly remove and reinstall + torque their oil filter cap during oil changes. The BMS tool has properly designed flutes and the proper internal diameter that cheaper alternatives do not have and this can lead to the damage of your stock oil filter cap, so my advice is to not waste your money buying anything else and just get the BMS tool from the beginning. So If you would like to buy one here is a link: https://burgertuning.com/collections...p-removal-tool

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