Found an article today about Premium vs. Regular gas and this was snuck in at the bottom "Earlier this year, AAA released a study that claims to have found āsignificant differencesā in the quality of gasoline sold in the U.S., with those meeting a standard called Top Tier performing the best and leaving less residue on engines."
I went to the Top Tier site Licensed Brands | Top Tier Gas and found one of my favorite Gas stations on the list, but my back up was not! Was surprised that Race Trac was not included as they are a major player in this market, guess I have to keep searching for QT's only. Did your favorite make the grade?
But now we have a Costco, which is cheaper anyways I just wish it was no ethanol. Forester gets the 87, the Baja and Outback get the 93. I get the 1.75 of Kirkland Vodka and a case of beer.
Kroger/King Soupers usual sell "Western" fuel out here. My local Kroger has a Shell station in it's parking lot. They do fuel points and you can use them for 10c off a gallon.
That makes the 91 V-power premium Frank needs easier to swallow. Kroger is a more economical grocery store vs Safeway (closer too)...I figure I double down and get good gas.
Obviously a promo for TOP TIERā¢ but it does remind us that gasoline quality can vary dramatically.
The most significant problem with today's gasoline is not which additive is used but water, phase separation and it's side effects. A situation created by governments that answers to, and continues to answer to, lobby groups.
Pumps in my area are not required to post what is in the gasoline they sell and of course the sellers have no idea. Other than saying it might contain and should contain sellers do not know and do not want to know. The reason becomes clear whenever tanks are low, filter fails or a bad batch makes it way to customers who then have to deal with the consequences, something that happened in this area earlier in the summer. Of course the fuel station says prove it, over and over again to each customer that calls.
Quality is the #1 choice when it comes to buying gasoline but most people do not realize that until they start having to deal with bad gas.
That so few people have ever had to deal with bad gas shows just how good our fuel delivery systems really are.
Shame we'll all be driving electric soon, bad gas stories will go the way of cheap carb jet stories and the thrill of mixing bias ply with radial.
Actually, we had a bad delivery of fuel to several dozen stations in the central Oklahoma area a few weeks ago. Several hundred thousand gallons of fuel were incorrectly blended with 45% ethanol (!!!) and was distributed out to quite a few stations. The refinery had to send trucks back out to each station to pump their tanks empty and replace with the correct blend of 10% ethanol. So, mistakes do happen.
We are fortunate in this part of the country and have 100% gasoline widely available at many Top Tier stations. The only drawback is that it costs about 25-45 cents more per gallon.
It might just be, since "Top Tier" is a pay-to-play list. Hearsay, I know, but I've run Sam's, and Thornton's for decades without issue. I think fuel stock turnover is as important as anything.