Gasoline- what's the difference between the stations?

[64Orange]

I have been having some conversations with friends about gasoline. What they use in their dailies and their muscle cars.
I was told by my engine builder to use Shell or Chevron for my 383 and to NEVER use Arco.
I've been using Arco in '04 Chevy Tahoe (daily driver) for years and haven't had trouble.

What does Shell/Chevron have that makes it better? And/or what makes Arco so bad?

Another point I hear from friends is that they all come from the same refinery so what does it matter?

 

[JonR]

I think the differences are highly overblown. But it's kind of a "religious" debate usually.

 

[RemCharger]

Good ol coffee row talk .
Up here it used to be that shell was the last one to sell premium without ethanol. Apparently that's changed.
Not sure on calif regulations.
There's a website that monitors who still sells E free gas.. gas buddy? Pure gas? It's eluding me.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

They all come from the same holding tanks at the tank farm where the trucks load for your local area. Different additive packages are added as truck is being filled through different piping.
One thing I was always told by older people when I was young. " Don't buy from a station at the bottom of a hill or hills", because of water in their tanks. Doubt it makes a difference nowadays since I'm sure EPA is requiring testing of the ground water to make sure they are not leaking, out or in.

 

[Kern Dog]

I have almost 400,000 miles on this:

Overwhelmingly mostly ARCO gas.
The :experts" will stick by the claims that Chevron (with Techron!) is superior and that engines will run cleaner with it.
I've ran different brands in my classic cars with no noticeable difference in performance.

 

[64Orange]

This is all really interesting. Why the major price differences between the stations? Marketing? Branding?

 

[eldubb440]

put a tiger in your tank and fuggetaboutit

 

[Kern Dog]

When the Chevron up the street has a $6.00 price for 91 octane and the Arco has it at $4.89 and the car runs the same, I'd love some egghead to explain what that difference in price actually benefits other than Chevron.
Even years ago when I was running compression closer to 11 to 1, nothing stopped the detonation. Chevron, Shell, Arco....the car ran the same on all types that I tried.

 

[eldubb440]

around here the difference in gasoline is arab or indian....... and I can't tell them apart

 

[Michael_]

I was always pumping 93 Octane @ Chevron Stations on my miami vacation. I have no idea if they are better or worse than others.

I was pretty much wasting my money on the 93 octane stuff since my 2023 Mustang GT Convertible rental car would've been capable of running on the cheaper 87 Octane gasoline aswell and with the traffic i could not make use of the 450hp anyway. So yeah i pretty much wasted some money. But it still only cost half the price of comparable gasoline here in germany.

On my personal cars i always run 95 octane (german rating) which as far as i know is about the same as 93 octane in the states.
Usually i go to the station with the lowest price within reach. I do avoid E10 which contains 10% Ethanol as the name suggests.
"Regular" 95 Octane does contain up to 5% Ethanol around here aswell but i never bothered looking if some stations sell gas without any ethanol in it at all so far.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I worked in the automotive chemical industry. One of our suppliers (who also sold gasoline additives to Shell, BP, etc) told me this:
1. All "base fuel" in your area comes from same gasoline refinery in your area
2. At the refinery, when filling up the tanker trucks, each brand of gasoline gets their own "additive package" (the stuff this guy sold) to their gasoline.
3. "Additive packages" contain things like fuel injector cleaning chemicals, upper cylinder lubricants, etc.
4. Additives cost way more than the base fuel, so more additive = more cost
5. For all brands, regular has the least additive, mid grade has more, and premium has the highest amount of additive added.
6. "Top Tier" or "Tier 1" gasoline has more (extra) additive in it.....so, 87 octane BP gasoline (top tier) may have as much additive as 93 octane "el cheapo" gasoline, or even more.
7. Least amount of additive is in el cheapo 87 octane regular. The most amount of additive is in Tier 1 premium gasoline.

I've always thought of it this way....if you run cheap gas, put some fuel system (carb or injectors) in your gas tank every couple months. If you run Tier 1 gasoline, you don't need it because it's already in your gasoline.

Top Tier Gasoline Worth the Extra Price, Study Shows - Consumer Reports

A study by AAA shows that Top Tier gasoline is worth the extra cost to consumers. Consumer Reports lists car brands that recommend Top Tier gasoline and gas stations where you can buy Top Tier gas.

www.consumerreports.org

 

[69a100]

What does Shell/Chevron have that makes it better? And/or what makes Arco so bad?

Don't cha know? Shell has platformate!!!

 

[toolmanmike]

Yep, just the additive package. All our gas here comes from a pipeline/storage facility just south of town. They don't haul it in from other locations.

 

[twecomm]

For me, the goto is Sam's Club for gas. We have one close by and they are always about 9-10 cents/gal less than the prices of anybody else.
For whatever it's worth, good friend of mine knows a tanker driver for the vendor supplying Sam Clubs here in Western PA. He told him that of the regular and premium grades at Sam's, both consistently test at a higher octane than the minimum listed on the pump of 87 and 93.

 

[F4R/T]

Around the area we are required to run reformulated and corn in our gas. All produced by Concoco Phillips 66. The only difference in BP was the premium was actually theirs. I was a BP dealer for years. Most of the products are the same except addictive packages. Years ago there were differences, I chuckled the other day when I was in Virginia I noticed BP brought the Amoco name back out after killing it.

 

[WileERobby]

Don't cha know? Shell has platformate!!!

Yes ! PLATFORMATE ! And, if you brush your teeth with that, it'll make them whiter !

 

[Sixpactogo]

Back in 1968 when I returned home from the navy, I had a new Charger R/T. It always ran the best on Shell, Deep Rock, Skelly and a couple others that advertised the 103 octane rating. Back then most of the stations got their fuel from their own distributors but those days are long gone as well as the 103 octane. In my neck of the woods now a local tank farm supplies all of the stations except for a couple. I don't know if any are putting any additives in or not. Some claim they are but who knows for sure. I believe it to be an advertising ploy more than anything. I try to run premium non ethanol 91 (the best we have in the area) in everything with a carburetor. I sold my 440 six pack Challenger in 2013 because I got frustrated with having to spend time on line finding stations that had the Premium 93 gas and spending an additional $.50-60 cents per gallon only to find half of the time having to listen to a bunch of pinging. That always told me I more than likely got something less than what I paid for. I couldn't tell but the car could. The 6.1 in my Charger runs well on the dog piss they sell these days so I don't pay much attention. I just stay away from the corn infested garbage.

 

[toolmanmike]

For me, the goto is Sam's Club for gas. We have one close by and they are always about 9-10 cents/gal less than the prices of anybody else.
For whatever it's worth, good friend of mine knows a tanker driver for the vendor supplying Sam Clubs here in Western PA. He told him that of the regular and premium grades at Sam's, both consistently test at a higher octane than the minimum listed on the pump of 87 and 93.

Sam's is usually cheaper here too and I have gotten increased mileage over some of the convenience store gasses. Sam's here is 6 cents higher than the local Love's truck stop right now. That could change before the day is over.

 

[64Orange]

Don't cha know? Shell has platformate!!!

Sold! Get me some of that platformate!

 

[64Orange]

This is all interesting stuff! I like learning these kinds of things. I think the next approach is to shop around and see how the car does. If it runs better, worse, or poorer fuel economy.