I never really thought about it, but lol my mom was saying that it was all the same because you only see one tanker come to fill up, leading her to believe that it is all unleaded. What really happens for them to get premium?

 

those tankers have different compartments in them to fill up the stations. or if they are really busy they have a whole tank of 93 and another of 87 come in. midgrade is usually just those 2 mixed together at the pump

 

Just explain to your mother that each grade of gas is dedicated to a car's performance.

Every car requires a set grade of fuel depending on it's tune.

If you place low grade fuel in a "fast car" it will most likely cause bad things within the engine

or just dont bother... mom's won't ever understand lol

 

i agree with BLAZIN07SS the tankers have more than one output connection on them for the different octane if you watch a gas station normally there should be tanker there every day or every other day to fill the tanks up

 

All grades of fuel come from the same base unleaded fuel -- even lead was added back in the day. They actually add the additives at different times to up the octane. Years ago they did it when they pumped the base fuel into the tanker -- they added the additives then, but, I haven't been around any tankers lately to know how they are doing it these days.

 

That's funny cause my dad is always telling me to get mid-grade. He says my car will be fine. He says he read it in consumer reports. I tell him....no. Does anyone here put mid-grade in their car, if so anyone know if it affects it at all other than being a little sluggish?

 

Thanks guys That's what i would have guessed but i wasn't sure

 

tell your dad not to be cheap. lol, its actually only like a $3-$4 difference at fill-up. when you run lower octane in your car, it changes the timing maps and is more prone to engine knock

 

DING DING DING

 

Ya, My dads really cheap when it comes to that kind of stuff. he buys the cheapest crap he can find (which around here is like Valero, Arco, Etc) and I buy the good stuff like 76 and Chevron. I do the math every time I fill up and the difference between premium and the lowest grade is anywhere from $1.50 - $3.00. I am aware what lower octane fuel can do to cars I was just curious if anyone actually put mid grade in their SS/SC or SS/TC or even the regular SS and having it cause knock or any other problems so I can shoot it right back at him and tell him to quit bugging me.

 

Not even that much really, on like 2 bucks! When i was running unleaded i use to have the famous knocking noise, I just started filling up with premium not to long ago so i hope it will get rid of it. but we'll see

 

i had to put 87 in my car one time because there was no other gas available. car was knocking like a ****. good thing i had my stage 2 pulley in the car so i could take off my 2.9 and the car was knocking a lot less. car also got 5mpg less than with 93 octane. even with all my mods and a super rich tune, i manage 26mpg city and like 34mpg highway

 

I agree except "mom's" should be replaced with "women"

 

some people never understand

 

my dad says the same thing. i only put name brand gas in my G5 and hes like its all the same gas it comes from the same truck. like a mobil truck will fill a mobil station then go down the road and fill up a citco station.

 

That is true, however, they are supposed to be adding the additives that make it "the gas station's blend"

 

We would always get in discussions at work about me getting Premium and the other guys getting Mid-Grade....but like said, once you add it up it's only a few bucks for 10gallons...if that will break you then don't drive.

 

I've put regular in my car every time except one time...has 4,000 miles...no problems, no knocking...the computer makes changes to retard the knocking...

There was no noticeable performance difference using premium....probably gives you a few HP...not noticeable for normal driving...there is a reason they say premium is RECOMMENDED in our cars...recommended for best performance, but not going to hurt anything...if it was going to hurt the engine, they would REQUIRE it...if it was going to cause a problem, they would not warranty your car...

 

You've obviously never seen what happens when a dealer dipshit puts 87 in a woman's performance car. Last time I saw this happen, police were called.

 

93 since day 1... I accidentally put 87 in the car when I was stock (and ended up driving on the highway for about 250 miles with it.. ****!). Didn't really do anything but make the car feel like a prius. Now that I have a smaller pulley and all that fun stuff I wouldn't even imagine putting 87 in.

 

 

OP, just have your mom go read up on the definition of "octane rating". They can add as much higher-octane additives whenever they want to bump up the octane rating. It might come in the same tanker but it doesn't come out of the pumps the same. Heck, you can turn 85 into 93 if you want to drop enough Toluene into the mix.

Even 87 knocks on the stock tune. You can get away with 91 at elevations where they sell it as premium, but if you're boosted, I wouldn't even think of running anything less than 93 if you have access to it.

 

Florida has mandated E10 Gasahol and we are now using it -- Up to 10% ethanol. Supposedly it is a higher octane fuel too.....

 

I once talked to a driver for Shell about this. He said the octane ratings given on the pump are the minimum. Working for a small distributor, he saw a lot of the actual paperwork from test figures, etc.

He told me the 89 octane normally tested at 90-91 octane, and the 91 normally tested at 91-92. After all, they have to at least meet the minimum so they figure it's safer to go a little higher. He didn't mention the results on the 87 though. His main goal of telling me this was basically the "premium" isn't much better than the middle grade, so I shouldn't waste my money.

 

it is, ethanol is a performance enhancer. it can be a lower grade fuel like E85, but when you tune for it it is like running race gas.

the evos run 1000cc injectors with a walbro 255lph fuel pump tuned for E85, it's like running 105 octane if i remember correctly. u just get way less MPGs with it.