The Car Talk column in last Sunday's paper discussed Top Tier Gasoline standards that are subscribed to by certain gasoline distrubuters. These standards refer to the use of certain additives and production standards that are supposed to minimize injector and intake valve deposits. Four car manufacturers recommend using gasoline that meets Top Tier standards. Nissan was not one of these 4 manufacturers.

Is anyone acquainted with these Top Tier Standards? More to the point, are they really valid and should I use only gasoline that adheres to them? Prior to reading Sunday's column I had never heard of Top Tier standards. I went to their website and it looks very impressive. However, there is a lot of technical stuff and I wonder how much is hype and how much has really been proven to be true.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

i do not know much on the technical bumbo jumbo on gasoline. however from what i know Chevron, Shell, and 76 (all 91 premium of course) meet and exceed government standards for Top Tier. Personally i use Chevron, although most members on the board here i believe use Shell from a poll thread taken a while back.

as far as hype goes i am not sure, bu there is of course a difference between putting Arco 91 in your Z rather then Chevron or Shell, so there has to be some sort of Top Tier standard.the standard of fuel/additives that is recommended for our Zs' is of course premium. and i'll be damned if i put anything else in.

as always correct me if im wrong =D

 

For those interested the following is a list of gasolines that meet or exceed top tier standards. Click on image to enlarge.

 

I use Arco 87 Octane.

 

.............................................In your Z................?.........

 

 

I use Arco 87 Octane to save money so I can buy more mods.

 

A few months back I was getting gas at sams club, they were getting a fuel delivery so I asked the driver what brand of gas he was delivering. He told me that he fills his truck at the same place that fills trucks for chevron, exxon mobil, shell and the rest. He also said the only difference in fuel is they put in additives for the brand being delivered, and that the mid grade is just a blend of high octane and regular octane. I remember getting some 93 octane, I didn't realize it until after getting the fillup, I just wonder if the 91 octane we get in socal is just a blend of "higher" octane with 87 octane.

 

I also get Octane Boosters off of EBAY to offset the 87 octane from Arco.

 

Hmm i always get sunoco's ultra thats 93.. idk just by my house. Shell is the most expensive brand of gas in my area, and usually by a good 20 cents.

 

Ah **** Citgo isn't cutting it. That's what i buy most of the time..

 

he's kidding... i hope.

 

Octane boosters do little to nothing in terms of increasing the octane rating..

 

QT? over chev?

 

You guys clearly lack personality . . . . any sane person would use 92 octane. If I really did use Arco my engine would probably have blown up by now . . . . I am boosted . . . . FYI . . .

 

This is is interesting. What or where is SA and Holiday rated? I usually go to SA because of the location/s. Recently a New Kwik Trip was built down the street, and I filled her up. I noticed that the difference between the COLOR of gas was a very noticeable green at kwik trip and SA/Holiday a "normal" clear.

Any comments?

 

Top Tier actually refers to US refineries vs import gasoline from EU and Asia [in emergencies].

Top Tier might be called absolute minimal standards acceptable for the average consumer car.

Gasoline pipelines have minimal standards before they will allow product in their pipeline for transport.

Where does all the reject gasoline go obviously sold somewhere or blended in with Top Tier to become Top Tier.

A marketing ploy created by QT and Racetrack to overcome big oil branding.

 

Here in Memphis, all the gas in the city comes from the local refinery, except the Shell Premium stuff. That gets piped in.

 

Sunoco 93 for me.

 

Chevron 93