Fuel Grade (regular, mid-range or premium)

[FinalImpact]

I will add that not all regular is the same in Oregon. My little V6 can tell a huge difference in mixes. When I connect my laptop to the car and plot out ignition advance, fuel trims, and performance levels, Chevron regular and premiums kick booty over Shell, and BP. And for the record, I can feel it in the seat of my pants too!

Most of the chain store and grocery store blends simply suck and I stay away from them. Again, the ECM doesn't lie and you can see the ignition advance get retarded under load when you run these lower grade fuels.

Bottom line: not all fuels (reg - premium) are created equally!

How about methanol vs ethanol?? I think we get one or the other year round now. No more is it just served in Winter. . .

 

[PAULED]

Regular with mine.

You would need a bank loan to use anything else in the UK at the moment with the fuel prices.

But they did drop it by a penny a litre in the budget............O Joy

 

[Evitzee]

I will add that not all regular is the same in Oregon. My little V6 can tell a huge difference in mixes. When I connect my laptop to the car and plot out ignition advance, fuel trims, and performance levels, Chevron regular and premiums kick booty over Shell, and BP. And for the record, I can feel it in the seat of my pants too!

Most of the chain store and grocery store blends simply suck and I stay away from them. Again, the ECM doesn't lie and you can see the ignition advance get retarded under load when you run these lower grade fuels.

Bottom line: not all fuels (reg - premium) are created equally!

How about methanol vs ethanol?? I think we get one or the other year round now. No more is it just served in Winter. . .

Whatever is sold under various brand names does not mean it comes from the same source all the time. There are no refiners in OR so your gas probably comes from facilities in WA or CA, you will not be getting the same product at Chevron all the time depending on demand and sourcing strategies. 'Seat of the pants' analysis isn't worth squat, imo. Truth be told, gas sold at quickie marts and other outlets (especially at regular grade) is the same, EPA requirements are strict so there isn't any differerence. In the higher grades the 'performance packs' the tanker driver adds at delivery time are different and can affect performance slightly in the long term.

 

[Kazza]

Premium only for me - 98 Octane for the bikes, 91 for the cars.

If 98 wasn't so expensive in Perth at the moment, I'd put it in the cars too, but not when I'm putting 70 litres in them......

 

[greg]

I use 95 for my bike and car, it's the lowest you can get here anyway.

Don't think my bike would take advantage of the premium 99 octane stuff.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Most of the chain store and grocery store blends simply suck and I stay away from them. Again, the ECM doesn't lie and you can see the ignition advance get retarded under load when you run these lower grade fuels.

Bottom line: not all fuels (reg - premium) are created equally!

.

This is true, Chevron, Shell contain detergent, that is why their prices will be higher versus the convenience store or grocery store brands.

So purchasing Regular or Premium from a xxxx store versus Chevron or Shell will not be the same. 95% of the time, I will fuel at Chevron, 2nd choice will be Shell or some other brand that has detergent.

 

[FinalImpact]

Whatever is sold under various brand names does not mean it comes from the same source all the time. There are no refiners in OR so your gas probably comes from facilities in WA or CA, you will not be getting the same product at Chevron all the time depending on demand and sourcing strategies. 'Seat of the pants' analysis isn't worth squat, imo. Truth be told, gas sold at quickie marts and other outlets (especially at regular grade) is the same, EPA requirements are strict so there isn't any differerence. In the higher grades the 'performance packs' the tanker driver adds at delivery time are different and can affect performance slightly in the long term.

I'm not saying what you write doesn't hold truth, most of it does but. . .
I can back up what I said with data. Granted my butt is not a stop watch, but I can tell a difference and as stated, the ECM doesn't lie. There are 3 chain stores I've used that always inhibit this cars performance. The OBDII data from the ECM uses multiple inputs to adjust, manage, correct, and protect the engine from damage AND deliver peak performance based upon the conditions. Fuels that consistently inhibits the cars performance come the same stations on a regular basis. That is not to say they came from the same place or they came from afar, it doesn't matter. The point is they routinely deliver the same results and for that reason I wouldn't run them in my bike.

You suggesting the delivery truck mixes on the fly; I don't know but that sounds awfully risky and IMO unlikely but I have not a leg a stand on. I personally find it unlikely to be true . . .

The point of my original post is to be aware and shop around. Not all fuels are equal and some fuels will deliver better performance than others even when of the same grade.

 

[kambrose88]

Your creditials are useless in the real world. though they may look good on paper. Same with your imagination. lmao.
No offense intended. To each his own. If hightest gives you that warm mushy feeling then by all means run it and enjoy.

 

[texcollect]

I used to work in a refinery in the UK (South Wales). We were a Texaco (then Chevron and now up for sale) refinery, but supplied gas to both Texaco, Shell and I believe BP stations in the area. The Gasoline was the same formulation and the the only difference was the additive that was was added to the tanker before it headed out for delivery.

I did some work for Texaco marketing guys and even they said that unless your manufacturer actually states that Premium gas is REQUIRED by your engine the only people who it benefits are the oil companies.

The R&D guys at Texaco test their additives by running a control gasoline through a static engine for a period of time (1,000s of hours). They then pull the heads and check the deposits before running Texaco gas through the engine to check it's detergent properties. At that point in time (1996) they were using Mobil gas as their dirty gas.

The specifications of Gasoline/Petrol are not just geographically based, but also seasonal. From our refinery in the UK we sent gas to the UK, France, Germany and at one time were capable of producing 30+ different blends of what we called 4 star.

 

[motojoe122]

My experience with different grades of gas goes like this:
My truck engine would shudder, like a misfire. I went to 3 different mechanics and they couldnt figure it out, also did it at 45 mph applying slight pressure on the gas pedal. I had been running WAWA regular fuel for a year. After changing spark plugs, air filter, and bottles of injector and fuel treatment....no difference. I ran 1 tank of premium shell gas, and the shudder stopped within 1/4 of the tank. So, now I run premium every 3rd or 4th tank and on a regular basis in the bike.:thumbup:

 

[FIZZER6]

Truth be told, gas sold at quickie marts and other outlets (especially at regular grade) is the same, EPA requirements are strict so there isn't any differerence. In the higher grades the 'performance packs' the tanker driver adds at delivery time are different and can affect performance slightly in the long term.

The fuel base is the same but the EPA additive requirements are only a bare minimum. The lesser chain stores use the minimum, the better companies use more/better additives. My Father manages the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast mixing stations for all of BP oil tank farms, I'm not just pulling this out of my arse.
The regular grades between stations will be a lot closer than the premium grades in additive quality.

 

[Def]

I've almost always used premium and have noticed a power increase and improved gas mileage..about 30km/tank. I've also run a few tanks of regular and have found it to be quite doable in a pinch.

 

[lazamus69]

I use Shell Premium because it has 0% ethanol. I love Canada...:rockon:

Goes in all the little motors around the home too. Ethanol is deadly to little engines.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/30/pm_ethanol_kills/

.

 

[DDS]

95 is standard in uk
98 premium

 

[FinalImpact]

Your creditials are useless in the real world. though they may look good on paper. Same with your imagination. lmao.
No offense intended. To each his own. If hightest gives you that warm mushy feeling then by all means run it and enjoy.

I'm sure it's not personal. . . lol and who said anything about using "high test". . . I said, "Shop around, all things are not equal".
Me detects trolling. . . . . considering your 3rd post is bash. . . Google kambrose88 - interesting. . .

 

[champion221elite]

I've run all 3 grades, (87, 89, and 91 octane) and haven't noticed a difference in performance/ fuel mileage. The only difference was the added cost of the higher grade fuel.

The ECU was tuned to run on 87 octane, so that's what I run. I try to avoid Ethanol laced fuel which is getting difficult because E-10 is basically everywhere. I do notice a bit more pep, and fuel economy when I can find 100% pure, unadulterated gasoline without any of that ethanol crap.

 

[smokenu]

Bottom line it's cheaper to fill up the bike than the truck/car, so I say fill up and ride!!

 

[08fz6]

I am somewhere around 11,000 miles on my 08 fz6 and I have run nothing but regular (87). I get between 45-49mpg every fill and I am 250 lbs. and I ride with a very heavy throttle. Needless to say the red light turns green and the bike takes off as fast as it can.

 

[kharrel]

Gas is cheap on the bike compared to my 12MPG truck. So I always put premium in the thing.

 

[deeptekkie]

I always used to use premium in all of my past bikes, all of my life - thinking I was getting more power. I have an engineering buddy who told me the facts of life and said that you could actually get better performance on regular with an engine designed to run on regular. I naturally did not believe him so.......last summer I started "playing". DO YOU KNOW that I discovered that not only do I get better MPG on regular but my bike truly seems to run better on regular! Petrol stations move much more regular than any other grade so I assume another benefit is that you are getting fresher fuel as well. I still put in high-test every third tank or so, (but probably for no good reason).
I had been running high test in my Ninja as well. I discoverd on another board where a guy claims that he screwed his bike up by doint this very thing. Whatever, I am staying with regular and may occasionally "splurge". That's my opinion, feel free to make it your's. : ) Safe riding friends!