Some gas better than others?

[GasSavers_FordF150]

Obviously this is so. But within octane groups have we proved that one brand beats the others?
I live in Canada so our Gas options (locally) are:

Shell
Petro Canada
Esso
Chevron
Real Canadian Superstore
Canadian Tire Fill Up
Mowhawk

I've heard lots of bad info from dirty gas in Esso and Petro Canada. As well it seems many folks give the thumbs up for Shell and Chevron.
Any FE differnces noted by those here?
(I'm sure there is a thread for this somewhere already here but I couldn't find it)

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

I live in southern California, so it may be different here. You can look at my gas log, as far as I can tell, I can see no significant difference between brands. I've heard many stories, but I've never in almost 40 years of driving (knock on wood) experienced "bad gas". Any time I thought that might have been the case, it always turned out to be something else, usually something fairly easily fixable.

Edit -- I wonder if your Mohawk brand is the same as the Mohawk brand we had here in Calif. in the '60s?

[Bubba Bob]

The biggest difference right now is ethanol vs no ethanol in the mix.


Otherwise, gas is gas. It all comes from the same places and is regulated by the EPA (in America, I assume there are regulations in Canada as well) to contain X amounts of detergents. Some brands (google 'top tier') do add more detergents than others, however are the extra detergents worth an extra dollar or two per fill up? Well that's up to you.

[bryan11]

Contaminated fuel is sold, but it's hard to predict and avoid it.

There's one local distributor in my metro where all the gas stations obtain their fuel. Some of the gas stations are known to sell contaminated fuel now and then. Local gas price forums have stories about this, especially in the winter when fuel lines can freeze with water in them. I once purchased 12 gallons of diesel from a Flying J and found over four gallons of it was water.

[FrugalFloyd]

When I lived in Alaska, there was only one refinery in the state, and with freight costs from the lower 48, all our gasoline came from that same refinery. In fact, I saw the same tanker truck drive from one gas station to another, delivering the same gas to both. The major brands may specify different additives, but the basic gas is the same.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

When I lived in Alaska, there was only one refinery in the state, and with freight costs from the lower 48, all our gasoline came from that same refinery. In fact, I saw the same tanker truck drive from one gas station to another, delivering the same gas to both. The major brands may specify different additives, but the basic gas is the same.

same goes here, local distribution center fills up all the tankers in the area...

only thing to worry about is bad gas from shady stations that may water it down

[fowljesse]

On a similar note; don't buy gas when they're pumping it from the truck, since it can stir up sediment. Also, I try to buy gas at the coldest time of day for more density.

[Dave's Civic Duty]

Yep FowlJ,

I was going to give the same reply. I've also read stories about not to fill the car at max GPH fuel pump pressure because of the new vapor recovery systems, we are giving back some of our gas.

Dave

[theholycow]

Unless you top off after it clicks, you're not giving back anything more than vapors that would have escaped to the open air anyway.

[Fuel Miser]

As in our vehicles' gas tanks the pick up tube serving the fuel pump is very near to the bottom of the tank so you need not worry much about sediment.

Regarding fuel density remember the fuel is being pumped from underground. While air and surface temperatures fluctuate signifigantly throughout a day just a short distance below the surface temperatures are quite stable (over any 24 hour period.)