Top Tier Gas

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http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/12/which-gas-stations-sell-the-best-quality-gasoline.html

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.

Top Tier gasoline must contain more deposit-fighting detergents, it also must be sold at all of a fuel marketer’s stations and across all grades of its gasoline, from 87-octane regular to top-of-the-line premium. Additionally, to earn the seal of approval fuels cannot contain metallic additives, which are potentially harmful to automotive emissions-control systems.
 
Right, fuel is loaded up with whatever the requirements for the retailer is, at the tank farm. Before tanker is loaded, the customer is selected at the console, as fuel is delivered to the tanker, additives specified by the retailer are injected into the fuel stream. Tanker then delivers. Haven't tanked fuel myself since the 90's, but little has changed in practice.

As for one brand being better than another, that may be arguable because of additives that are put in the fuel, but totally moot regarding the base fuel itself. Everyone in a area gets their fuel from the same tanks at the fuel terminal. And that terminal is supplied from a variety of refineries. Brand of station on the street has no relevance to the refinery brand of gasoline in their storage tanks. Only claim they can make is that the additives that are a hallmark of their retail brand are in the gasoline.

Now, all that being said, I really don't concern myself with the top tier stuff. Unlike many other folks situations, I am not awash in top tier stations in my area. The vast majority of stations are not top tier. And I am not going out of my way to go further, and pay more, for top tier. After decades of using non top tier fuel, I fail to see any appreciable reason to go out of my way to get it. I primarily focus on buying from stations with known high volume, so that I know the fuel is not stale.
 
I believe in the Top Tier designation. If you research on this site, you'll find an internal .ppt presentation from Costco and what they did to make their fuel TT compliant. I typically buy my fuel at Costco or QT, and they're almost always the lowest priced stations around. It also eliminates the need to purchase any additional fuel cleaners or additives.

From a GM manual -

 
The Costco ppt shows that their additive will actually clean and not just keep clean.

But it takes several thousand miles.

So if you've not used top tier or purchased used, then a bottle of PEA cleaner as a one off followed by top tier or regularly if you're not using top tier is a good idea imo.
 
Some of you are correct. My buddy delivered fuel for a local distributor and told me additives were added to the tanker depending on which brand name gas station(s) he was headed for.

Also, sometimes when the station's tank couldn't take the full load the remainder went either to another tank or another gas station. Often times to a "discount" dealer.

To clarify: 89 or 93 octane could be dumped into a lower octane rated tank. And sometimes filling up at Joe's El Cheapo Gaseteria you were getting top tier gas.
 
It always surprises me that some will say that Top Tier means nothing other that the company paid to use the name. Thats simply untrue. As others have pointed out here it is a certification that the gasoline has a higher detergentcy level than that required by the EPA. If thats important to you (it is for me) then you should use Top Tier. Cleaner fuel injectors and intake valves is not a bad thing.
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/12/which-gas-stations-sell-the-best-quality-gasoline.html

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.

Top Tier gasoline must contain more deposit-fighting detergents, it also must be sold at all of a fuel marketer’s stations and across all grades of its gasoline, from 87-octane regular to top-of-the-line premium. Additionally, to earn the seal of approval fuels cannot contain metallic additives, which are potentially harmful to automotive emissions-control systems.


+1 thanks, Wemay. Top Tier is definitely not a marketing gimmick and it will keep engines running more efficiently than non Top Tier gas. In my state, Top Tier fuel (Quik Trip, Phillips 66, Sinclair) is the same price as the regular stuff with the exception of Shell, which always charges more.
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker

Now, all that being said, I really don't concern myself with the top tier stuff. Unlike many other folks situations, I am not awash in top tier stations in my area. The vast majority of stations are not top tier. And I am not going out of my way to go further, and pay more, for top tier. After decades of using non top tier fuel, I fail to see any appreciable reason to go out of my way to get it. I primarily focus on buying from stations with known high volume, so that I know the fuel is not stale.


I am in the same boat.
Closest "TT" is 12.5 miles away with the exception of a low volume, somewhat unkempt BP station with high prices.
Therefore, low bid fuel here from a clean, high volume station with a bottle of Techron at every OC.
Works fine.
 
I'm new here, but this is exactly the topic that led me to this forum. Does anyone have hard data or just informed/experiential opinion on if those brands of gasoline that advertise as "better" than Top Tier are actually beneficial? I get that the EPA sets standards at X and that Top Tier is 2X, but Conoco claims to be 3X and Shell claims 7X - is there really any value to all of that extra additive?
 
If you can find the Costco presentation, they share test results that show their top tier gasoline will actually go beyond keep clean and slowly clean combustion chamber related deposits.

Extra additive will do more because it's the same additive (PEA) that you use in larger doses for one tank clean ups using products eg Techron.

But the top tier designation means you have enough to keep clean. What Costco decided to do was to go beyond that and give their less knowledgeable customers (ie the majority of them), potential extra benefit without them necessarily realizing or perhaps eventually being satisfied how their cars were running after always using Costco gas.

Additionally, across many many cars, there is an environmental and fuel saving benefit. It's a little bit "socialist" and might also be derided as being "progressive" but that's the kind of company Costco are, a good corporate citizen. It made me an even big supporter of them.
 
Originally Posted By: Jus10000
I'm new here, but this is exactly the topic that led me to this forum. Does anyone have hard data or just informed/experiential opinion on if those brands of gasoline that advertise as "better" than Top Tier are actually beneficial? I get that the EPA sets standards at X and that Top Tier is 2X, but Conoco claims to be 3X and Shell claims 7X - is there really any value to all of that extra additive?

In my sample of cars I have direct knowledge of, none have had any serious issues with dirty fuel injectors running 87 octane cheap gas. Many of them to ~200k before they moved on.
Dirty injectors could cause minor loses in efficiency and outright HP, but with the odd car we've had that felt "tired", it was to the point were no one cared to investigate why as it made no sense economically.
 
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It's easy choice for me. Costco in my area is about 20-30 cents lower than other name brand top-tier stations, plus 3% cash back using American Express. Good gas for less is hard to beat.
 
Originally Posted By: Jus10000
I'm new here, but this is exactly the topic that led me to this forum. Does anyone have hard data or just informed/experiential opinion on if those brands of gasoline that advertise as "better" than Top Tier are actually beneficial? I get that the EPA sets standards at X and that Top Tier is 2X, but Conoco claims to be 3X and Shell claims 7X - is there really any value to all of that extra additive?


Any Top Tier fuel will do. Shell's x7 is only true of their premium, and their 87 and 89 octane is x2. As of last year, all of Costco's fuels are x5. All of Phillip's 66/Conoco is around x3. Sinclair and Quiktrip, from what I have seen, don't advertise a certain amount but it should be at least x2 of the EPA low standard. While there are studies that show the advantage of Top Tier fuel, I have never seen one that compares different Top Tier blends.
 
But the top tier designation means you have enough to keep clean. What Costco decided to do was to go beyond that and give their less knowledgeable customers (ie the majority of them), potential extra benefit without them necessarily realizing or perhaps eventually being satisfied how their cars were running after always using Costco gas.

You are correct but every Costco pump I have ever seen has the TT designation on them. But I doubt most people know what that is. I wouldn't except they published an extensive article in their magazine about it and why they add it onsite at each delivery. I always buy it when I can.
 
I really don't know why the major fuels don't ID their TT on their pumps since owners manuals advise it.
 
42 years of driving. None of my friends, my relatives or anyone I have ever met has ever had any problem with buying the cheapest gas they could find. Maybe the standards are higher in Canada.
 
That could be. Same might be said for where I live, as the top tier stuff is probably only bought by a fraction of the folks around me and we don't have cars and pickups lined up at the local repair shops and dealer shops waiting for fuel system repairs. The Valero station that is about 13 miles from me has changed hands so many times I have lost track, because it has such a low volume of customers, while the Love's truck stop across the road, a non top tier outlet, always has folks stacked up at the gas pumps. The Phillips 66 about 16 miles from me is the only other top tier station anywhere close to me, and that one does do better, but the Casey's station across the street, another non top tier outlet, has a decidedly higher volume of fueling customers on any given day. The top tier gas thing just doesn't rate a blip on the radar for most folks in my area. And very few are going to go to the Costco station 45 miles away to get the stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
42 years of driving. None of my friends, my relatives or anyone I have ever met has ever had any problem with buying the cheapest gas they could find. Maybe the standards are higher in Canada.

I could direct you to a station or two that you just might regret.
wink.gif
 
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