Which of these fuels should I make my permanent?

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Originally Posted By: gaijinnv
Originally Posted By: 07734
how is top tier measured?


I only buy top tier gasoline:

Top Tier Gas Retailers

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That website is such a joke. Clearly just ego-inflation and collusion/clever marketing from a bunch of big oil companies to make themselves appear to be "best".
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Id kill to pay your prices. Still over $4 a gallon here!



Filled up last night in the Chicago suburbs and 93 (at a Shell) was $4.649. Driving a car that gets 14mpg isn't helping... ;-)
 
Top tier is a club that you can join by paying the automakers kickbacks, in return for their endorsement. Corporate America at its finest. It has no bearing on fuel quality.
Top tier doesn't mean diddly if they don't sell enough to keep the fuel from separating into water and lacquer. Buy from a clean, well lit, low priced station with high traffic and newer tanks.
 
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Run the BP and don't worry about the "top tier" [censored]. It's all I have run in the last 4 years. Never a problem.
 
The Top Tier certification requires metrics. It is based on performance standards. Measurements are made. We can argue about whether top tier standards are useful, but wild claims that "Top Tier is a club that you can join by paying the automakers kickbacks" is irresponsible.

As implied by others, the standard does not include improper storage nor shelf life. Of course that is also true for API oil standards or the weight of sugar in a paper container.

This site can only be as accurate as it's participants.
 
Originally Posted By: GMorg
The Top Tier certification requires metrics. It is based on performance standards. Measurements are made. We can argue about whether top tier standards are useful, but wild claims that "Top Tier is a club that you can join by paying the automakers kickbacks" is irresponsible.

As implied by others, the standard does not include improper storage nor shelf life. Of course that is also true for API oil standards or the weight of sugar in a paper container.

This site can only be as accurate as it's participants.



The metrics seem arbitrary. Is there hard-proof that those metrics are of any value?
 
The standards are listed at the link below. We have discussed this on this site many times. As you read the standards, keep in mind that the additive package is tested in a fuel that contains ethanol, but the retailer is not required to use ethanol. A fuel can be Top Tier AND be ethanol free. It is very easy to misinterpret this part of the standard. The standard is for the test, not for mandatory use. The tests are designed to be a worst-case-scenario.

The metrics are essential for deposit control. You can decide if you find a standard for deposit control as useful. Also keep in mind that it is possible to formulate a fuel that produces even less deposits than these standards. It is also possible to produce oil that exceeds the minimum standards set by API. Top Tier does not mean "best possible". It does mean "as least as good as several OEMs suggest."


http://www.toptiergas.com/deposit_control.html
 
If it were my neighborhood I would choose a station that's reasonably close to my house or close to my work place.

My choice of gas would be BP cuz I use Arco over herein Los Angeles and I never had any issues using it despite the fact many people consider it watered down.

Arco still claims to help in keeping valves clean. I wonder if it has "invigorate" in their gas too??

Durango
 
To earn Top Tier certification a fuel must pass four tests – deposit control on intake valves, fuel injectors and combustion chambers. Beyond that it must also prevent intake-valve sticking. Basically it’s gas with extra cleaning agents designed to keep engines running their best. Think of it as a housekeeper for your cylinder heads.

I got this from another website let me know if you want the link.
 
I do not know. That is a good question since



How is ARCO affiliated with Tesoro Corporation?

As of June 1st 2013, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC (a subsidiary of Tesoro Corporation) acquired all of rights, title and interest in the ARCO trademark.

How is ARCO affiliated with BP?

As of June 1st 2013, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC has licensed the ARCO trademark to BP for BP to market motor fuel in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
 
If you're not using Top Tier gas, just put a bottle of concentrated Techron in gas tank each oil change to help keep injectors, etc. clean. The Techron amount in Top Tier Chevron regular gas is about 1/10 concentration of what a full tank of gasoline is treated with of bottle of concentrated Techron.
 
Originally Posted By: dave1251
To earn Top Tier certification a fuel must pass four tests – deposit control on intake valves, fuel injectors and combustion chambers. Beyond that it must also prevent intake-valve sticking. Basically it’s gas with extra cleaning agents designed to keep engines running their best. Think of it as a housekeeper for your cylinder heads.

I got this from another website let me know if you want the link.


You forgot to toss in you have to pay for that certification.

You also forgot to specify that plenty of gasoline out there will pass those tests without issue.

I'm convinced the entire mantra behind Top Tier was for big commercial retailers to find a way to justify their added costs over the little guys because they can write the checks to get those Top Tier stickers on all their pumps and in all their marketing signage.
 
I do not know what everyone else is paying for TT gas but around here TT stations are often less than off brand gas.

TT gas marketers are tested regularly for quality and once a gas marketer is TT designated they can not change their formulation without retesting and once the manufactures change their emission requirements it forces TT marketers to adjust to keep their TT license. I see this as away to ensure quality of a product.

I do not see how this is a bad thing.
 
Originally Posted By: Hermann
I agree, licensing fees are just corporate hogwash.

As opposed to the price of gasoline in general?

Nonetheless, I buy Top Tier since it's the same price as everything else up here. The only stations that are actually cheaper are those I'd never, ever go to in the first place.
 
Originally Posted By: RiceCake


You forgot to toss in you have to pay for that certification.

You also forgot to specify that plenty of gasoline out there will pass those tests without issue.

I'm convinced the entire mantra behind Top Tier was for big commercial retailers to find a way to justify their added costs over the little guys because they can write the checks to get those Top Tier stickers on all their pumps and in all their marketing signage.


Of course you have to pay for the certification. That's the way it always works, since testing is expensive.

You are welcome to provide evidence that there are plenty of grades that can past the test. The results I have seen prove otherwise, showing that Top Tier gas will sometimes have FOUR times the amount of detergents than the non-Top Tier stuff.

Your third point doesn't make any sense because there are some big guys that don't have the certification. Plus, here in Oklahoma, Top Tier gas (with the exception of Shell) costs exactly the same as non-Top Tier gas. So it's Quicktrip and Phillip's 66 for me all day.
 
RiceCake wrote: "You forgot to toss in you have to pay for that certification."

Is there some sort of certification that doesn't have an associated cost? Do you think that API certifications don't cost anything?
 
Use whatever is cheapest and close when you need gas...seriously, don't over-think this.

I drive a 3.0 Duratech-powered vehicle, and they aren't fussy.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Hermann
I agree, licensing fees are just corporate hogwash.

As opposed to the price of gasoline in general?

Nonetheless, I buy Top Tier since it's the same price as everything else up here. The only stations that are actually cheaper are those I'd never, ever go to in the first place.


Same here. P66 is cheapest gas around( from places I would buy gas like you )and I know it has good additives. Seems to be a no brainer to me.

Funny how some on this site would not dream of using oil that is not API certified or certified to car mfg X's oil standard, or use that to defend an oil and say it is betetr than others not certified to the same standard(s), but when it comes to TT gas it is all a conspiracy by big gas companies, a scam, clever marketing, and whatnot.
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