why is it that...
 

i was informed a few times from different people on bimmer enthusiast sites that it's actually good for your car if you go wide open throttle every once it awhile...?

Because they are emulating the practice of an "Italian tune-up". It dates from the '50s and '60s, and involves driving on an autostrada at full throttle for a period of time, while watching the speed slowly rise. This practice burned off the carbon that built up in the combustion chamber, and the car performed better. This was in the age of multiple carburetors, incomplete combustion, points and condensor ignition systems, and variable fuel quality. The benefits of doing this today are debatable. "Burning out the carbon" makes some sense in concept, but today's engines with sophisticated engine management systems share little with those engines of old.

Sounds like JCL is right on as always. Especially on modern engines with electronic limiters on the top speed and engine rpm's...

In my opinion it's a really good idea to practice WOT every so often or once a month - I'm not recommending to others to redline it that often but WOT is a good practice. I have no issue with redlining frequently. It is especially so if you are under warranty to do both, WOT and redlining the engine. Engineers designed the BMW engines to be durable past the stress you can by going WOT and redlining it. Just be sure the engine is at normal operating temperature. If the engine has any defects you want them to show up under stress under warranty.

I've done this with all my cars for years - never had an issue except on one high mileage >100k car, 1960's vintage engine - I was trying to remove carbon build up and I knew an engine rebuild was in the cards. I speeded up the end of life to that engine, there was still no catastrophic failure.

Will it hurt NOT to run at WOT or an infrequent redline? Probably not with today's engine management, higher quality oils etc. Are you getting as much fun out of your vehicle if you don't? Nope. Enthusiast vs. driver view?

As much as I enjoy driving the X5, I go WOT at least once a week! No problems with that logic here.

Is it actually bad for the car to go WOT on a regular basis...like every time the car is driven? (which granted isn't that much 23k over almost 4 yrs - I didn't go above 4000 RPM for the 1st 3200 miles though)

No.

LOL...I go WOT every time I get on the freeway on-ramp in the X5. That said there is a difference between driving a car responsibly and beating on it. If you want the car to last you don't want to thrash the engine and drive-train. The X5 is a sport utility and has a wonderfully designed engine which if maintained properly will last several hundred thousand miles.

The car is designed for short bursts of WOT for passing and as I said accelerating such as getting on the freeway. If you exceed that usage you will surly reduce the life of the engine and other components which are not designed for that type of extended stress.

Funny thing is I'm WOT in the X5 more than my SRT-8. The SRT-8 makes a lot of noise and gets up to speed way too fast to be practical at WOT. It's fun as heck but not very safe in every day driving around traffic where the X5 is comfortable and manageable wide open.

Can't hurt. I hope there aren't too many people that still think redlining on occasion is bad for the motor, because that's not true provided the motor is sufficiently warmed up.

I love hitting the kickdown on the X3 once every few weeks. The engine sounds incredible when you're nailing it. I drive fairly often on one-lane country roads, and when I overtake, I always imagine the face of the shocked Virginian hearing my (frankly really) loud stock exhaust. And the best thing about it is you can do so in the X3 3 times without going faster than 85mph. :cool:

Redline is the maximum safe sustained engine speed (given that sustaining it for a long time will reduce engine life). Once the engine is properly warmed up, my cars see redline or close to it fairly regularly. I just don't hold it there going down the highway.