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So many companies have finally met the Top Tier standards. It's hard to think of one that doesn't meet the standards. The last time I looked Citgo had not added the adequate detergent additives, but now they have!
TOP TIER Licensed Retail Brands
76
Aloha Petroleum
Amoco
ARCO
Beacon
BP
Break Time
Cenex
Chevron
CITGO
Conoco
Co-op
Costco
CountryMark
CountryMark Plus
Diamond Shamrock
Entec
Esso
Express
Exxon
Holiday
Kwik Star Stores
Kwik Trip
Mahalo
MFA
Mobil
Ohana Fuels
Petro-Canada
Phillips 66
PUMA
QT
Quik Trip
Road Ranger
Shamrock
Shell
Shell (Puerto Rico)
Shell V-Power
Shell V-Power NiTRO+
Sinclair
Standard
SuperAmerica
SuperFuels
Tempo
Texaco
Tri-Par
Valero
About the only brands in my area that do not meet Top Tier standards are Gulf and Fina.
I have a friend who drove tanker trucks, delivering gas. He said Racetrack was the best gas going because it came out of the same tanker as Shell, Chevron, etc. Every car I own takes Premium, one engine with an 11-1 compression ratio, and I have never had a problem with Racetrack gas. However, I have gotten bad gas at a local Mobil station two times in the past.
As was mentioned, a lot depends on how fast they turn it over as gas gets stale pretty quick these days. It also depends a lot on how good their underground tanks are to keep stuff from getting in.
IT ALL comes out of the same refinery........ONLY the amount of additives is different.
I'm not sure why this is such a tough concept to grasp.
IT ALL comes out of the same refinery........ONLY the amount of additives is different.
I'm not sure why this is such a tough concept to grasp.
And unless practices have changed recently, Name Brand stations are only required to purchase a certain amount of branded gas each month, and after that they can fill up their storage tanks with unbranded fuels.
I wouldn't be afraid to fill up with ANY brand/non-brand, but I would hesitate to buy from a station that doesn't sell much fuel. I don't want want to be the first to fill up after that big gully-washer comes through!
IT ALL comes out of the same refinery........ONLY the amount of additives is different.
I'm not sure why this is such a tough concept to grasp.
Ive watched the same truck leave from the 711, and go up the road to the QT. Seen the same company fill up tanks at 3 stations real close to each other on Main st in one of the towns near me.
I'd avoid putting in higher octane gas in cars not designed for it. Otherwise, nothing in particular. Using top tier is a good idea for the additives but I wouldn't avoid gas that isn't. The absence of additives isn't going to do anything detrimental or anything, just it is useful over the long run.
Huh, is that USA gas station next to Walmart in Renton? That walmart is ghetto too.
Care less about what ratings say.
Gas stations to avoid are:
1. anything that still does not have card reader at dispenser
2. AM/PM, CircleK, Arco. I'd stay away from 76 personally too, they had bad reputation.
As of recommended, I had excellent results with Exxon.
And unless practices have changed recently, Name Brand stations are only required to purchase a certain amount of branded gas each month, and after that they can fill up their storage tanks with unbranded fuels.
I wouldn't be afraid to fill up with ANY brand/non-brand, but I would hesitate to buy from a station that doesn't sell much fuel. I don't want want to be the first to fill up after that big gully-washer comes through!
None of the gasoline is *branded* until it has the specific additives added, the product itself, which is the gasoline is not *branded* when it comes from it's beginning which is crude oil.
Mother nature does not spew *BP* then take a break and spew *Shell* next.
Any day or any hour of a day you can have whatever gas in your tank from whatever refinery..Doesn't matter where you buy gas or from what station it will hardly EVER be totally 100% gas for whatever station you are at....
Refineries only make a certain amount of gasoline each day (they can only refine so much)... So say Shell runs out of gasoline.. And they still need to fill the tanks for some stations.. Well they find out which refinery still has gas and buys it from them.. So then you will have Shell and whatever other gas in the underground tanks and when you get gas it will be this mixture.. Could even be a mixture of 3 or 4 different gasses in the tanks when you get gas...
So say you buy Shell and it works great.. Then you keep buying it for a couple weeks and it is fine.. Then one day you buy it and it sucks.. Well that day it could be a mixture of Shell and say Chevron... BUT the last 2 weeks have been a mixture of Shell and Conoco.... so your car runs better on that mixture than the one you just bought...
Refining gasoline from crude oil is the same process no matter which refinery it comes from,the only differences i presume are the additives added to the final product.= From Crude Oil - How Oil Refining Works | HowStuffWorks
As for top tier? I have no idea if the gas i'm buying has that designation,i just buy gas when i need it from whatever gas station is convenient.
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