fuel- does brand matter?
 

do you guys care what brand fuel you use?

in socal my buddies all prefer different brands: chevron w/ techron, or 76 or shell and a lot of people think Arco is the cheapest and therefore crappiest. however, i always fill arco 87octane for my truck. do you guy think it matters? of course i always use 91oct for the bike but was wondering if i should go w/ a certain brand.

do fuel additivies make a big difference? someone recommended i use Seafoam since my bikes been sitting out for a couple years, after reading up on it, looks like it's pretty good stuff.

thanks!

I subscribe to what the majority of folks buy ........... that being the cheapest available

I always try to find gas with no ethanol in it.

I'm pretty sure all the gas here in cali has ethanol in it. But I run 91 in my bimmer from Costco n chevron 91 in my bike since 14 bucks to fill up seems far more reasonable than 65 in my car

I've had some bad experiences with the super cheap, non-franchise gas stations before. There's one of those no-name places at the end of the block I'll never use after getting 2 tanks of bad gas from them (one in the bike and one in the car).

After that, whoever is close so I don't end up pushing her :) As for cheapest: seriously if the station has gas .10 cents cheaper than the rest why bother scouring the city to save .40 cents?

According to the professional used oil analyst I work with, there can be a noticeable/significant difference between brands of fuel, in terms of how clean it keeps your engine inside, and also even in terms of mpg and wear control. Now that I'm in the Phoenix area, I try to use QT fuel whenever I can. I have always used a proprietary fuel additive mix that this analyst recommended to me, but with QT fuel it seems I may not need it. If their fuel was to become significantly more expensive, though, it would be cheaper for me to return to my additive system.

i notice a difference in the octane numbers being different from one station to the next. If its anything less than 91 my car will knock. Seafoam is great stuff Ive used it for years.

Whether I'm buying it for my cars, bike or lawn mower I always try to get a brand that is Top Tier certified. QT is my favorite as it is not only Top Tier but their premium is 93 octane instead of 91 like a lot of other places. My owner's manual says to use a minimum of 91 octane in the tank.

Im my carr all i now use is 91 it does make a big diff from 87 better mpg and better hp. I try to always use Shell but Chevron is next up. I was also wondering if it make a big diff in bikes

I use Shell V-Power. It does not have the ethanol (at least here in WI it doesn't and it didn't in Aus either) and it has enough cleaners in it that I don't need to run an additive. I have run all my bikes and cars exclusively on V-Power for almost 5 years now. Not too long ago I had to put premium ethanol fuel in my car from a Kwik Trip and the difference was amazing! My gas milage went all to hell and I could feel a difference in the power!

To find ethanol free fuel in your city try here:

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=SC