I've heard this before too. I'm pretty cynical when it comes to this stuff and I assume the cost difference in gas comes down to more money spent on marketing than anything else. So with that frame of thought I just usually go for the Costco gas. I haven't really noticed any issues using it.

 

I found this link and it seems to support what the Exxon owner told me....I'll still do Costco on price but have to wonder about top tier...

http://blogs.platts.com/2010/08/23/unbranded_vs_br/

 

I have a friend who's father was in the gasoline hauling business for many years. He said the same thing, tankers roll up to the same fuel and load up, and then additives are added depending on which brand's formulation. The amount of additive is about the size of a propane tank for a grill, mixed into an entire tanker of gasoline (in other words, not very much).

I used to be a huge gas brand snob, and I never paid any attention to the cost of fuel, but ever since the downturn in the economy and that period when gas was like $5 a gallon (also around the time I had that conversation with my friend's dad), I have really stopped caring about brand and am much more conscious about cost. I buy whatever is cheaper. I don't use visibly old and ugly stations for fear their tanks are rusty and their equipment rusty, but a nice modern off brand station like a Liberty or a 7-11 or Sheetz or Wawa, Royal Farms something like that, I will pump fuel from there all day long. Just the other day, I drove one block past a Shell at $3.59 for premium and paid $2.91 for Premium at a Liberty station. I pumped nearly 20 gallons, that fillup at Liberty vs shell saved me $14. Thats real money. Yes I have gas points at shell, but I would have had to have saved $.70 off to just match the price at Liberty.

Hell, for $14 savings per tank you could put a bottle of Techron in with every fillup and STILL save $10 per tank.

 

I almost exclusively use Costco gas and have for years. Every once in a while I'll fill up at Chevron or Shell if I'm pressed for time, but since I'm at Costco pretty much every week for diapers and the like, I just fill up there. I've been very happy with Costco gas quality.

 

At least part of the problem in today's engines goes beyond the quality (or non-quality) of the gas and its additives. With DI (Direct-Injection) engines, the air/fuel spray tends to by-pass the intake valves and stems, where little of the quality detergent-additives, even with a top-tier package like Chevron's Techroline, actually helps clean off the carbon deposits. If you dump a can of pure Techron or even BG-44K into the gas tank (the standard treatment on non-DI engines), it will simply go through the regular fuel-passages and injectors just like the gas does, by-passing the dirty valves.

 

I'd assume this is the official list

http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/

 

I just don't know in light of the reality of how gasoline is distributed how you can be certain what is or is not TopTier gas even with that list...

 

I regularly see tankers from two area wholesalers/distributors delivering gas to all of the local Stations. Shell, BP, Mobil, Speedway etc. The large gasoline marketers all advertise and market their additives as well as well as their franchised convenience stores, Is there much of a difference between V Power, Envigorate, Synergy, etc. additives? I don't know but for me not enough of a difference to foster any loyalty. I usually go by price, location and convenience.

 

Well, as I understand it, it's not where or how gas is distributed that makes it Top Tier, but how it is refined, and (especially) what kind of additive-packages are in it. The Top-Tier brands, in general, have better additives in them, especially detergents....as discussed earlier, Chevron's Techron (Techroline) and Shell's V-Power have an especially good reputation. Years ago, Mobil used to have the best detergent additive, but since they were sold to Exxon, that's not necessarily the case any more, though it remains Top Tier.

True, different brands (and grades) of fuel are often delivered by the same tanker-ships, trains, and trucks (and sometimes by aircraft), but that really means little. If you are shipping good (or lousy) stuff, it doesn't matter how you actually deliver it to the local gas-stations. You could deliver it by horse and wagon....and it would still be the same stuff going into the pumps (well, no, not really, but you get the picture).

 

BTW, in the past, I think I've posted on this before, but I'll repeat it here. While we're on the subject of tanker-trucks, if you see one at a station that is actually pumping the gas underground into the storage tanks, it's a good idea to wait at least five minutes after the truck has finished pumping, and the driver has pulled the big hoses back up, before you actually fill your own tank. That's because, with old tanks underground (not necessarily with new ones) dirt and crud on the bottom of them get stirred up and mixed in with the gas during that high-pressure pumping underground. After a few minutes, those contaminants settle back down to the bottom, and then you're OK. True, filters in the pumps and in the pumping system are supposed to keep that stuff from actually being pumped into your tank, but they aren't always effective.

Here are some other tips for pumping....what I just mentioned is #2 on the list:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

 

i see 'top tier' as just a marketing program...

what's next 'top water' for bottled water?

there's 4 gas stations within 100 yards of one another on my way into town. the busiest is a racetrak, there's a shell, a bp and what was another bp but is now marathon. the marathon, which was pretty much made brand new (pumps, etc.) when it took over from bp, is generally the cheapest by a few cents, so i typically go there. i really don't think the gas there is going to be bad for my car.

exactly.

it has NOTHING to do with how it is refined... there's only a few refiners in the entire u.s. and since alleged additives vary by brand and are allegedly proprietary, it's hard to see how top tier could be applied consistently across brands unless it's just a marketing program for brands that want to stand apart and appear superior (no, really?). we've just read here that costco does nothing to their gas yet they're still 'top tier' (ooh look it has a shiny sticker! )
​​
so unless one goes all the time to an ancient hole in wall gas station, it likely makes no difference whatsoever where you go.

 

There are like a 125 plus refineries in the US.

 

Bottled water doesn't have additives. There's little or no practical way to rate it.

Of those choices, I'd use the Shell, but that's up to you. Here in the D.C. area, Giant Food also has a discount-bonus program for Shell if you shop there and use the bonus cards. I don't know it there are any similiar programs in FL or not.

BTW, how's the gas situation down there after the hurricane?....stations all OK in your area, and cover from any damage?


Wrong. They apparently put better detergent additives in it than non-top-brands. Otherwise, they wouldn't be on the list that Dave posted.

(Steve had posted a copy of it earlier, too, but it looks like someone may have deleted it)
​​
......except that, if one regularly uses hole-in-the-wall places, it would be wise to periodically use a system-cleaner like Techron or BG-44K, although, for reasons I've already stated, DI engines are more difficult to keep clean no matter what you use.

Pat Goss, BTW, Motorweek's Lead Technician, has spoken at length about this issue, on a number of call-in questions.

Good point, Jill.....but I think bit was referring to the number of refining companies, not the actual count of individual refineries.

 

First of all there are differences in crude oil. Like sweet crude or heavy crude oil.
Heavy crude oil is high on sulphur contents(bad, rotten egg smell from the gasoline)
Can you tell the difference how the tail pipe exhaust smell?
Have ever oberved dilivery tanker filling up the storage tank athe gas station? Did you notice
what the tanker driver do?

 

My point was that the different stations receive the same gas from the same distributor(s). The additives/detergents are different and I'm not really conviced there's too much difference between them other than how they are marketed.