Used to be that 89 octane was 0.10 more than regular 87 and 91 octane was 0.20 higher than regular and 93 0.30 higher. Now it's a $1.40 difference per gallon above regular for 93. I run Sunoco 93 octane and was wondering if anyone runs octane booster to get 87 to 93, is it cheaper and which booster is good?

It does help, but do you need the increased octane?

Porsche 2.9l twin turbo.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It does help, but do you need the increased octane?

If it's for the Porsche Cayenne, odds are he does.

My 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5.7L HEMI needs it. Will it run on regular? Sure, but, it won't be happy about it.

Same for my F150 supercharged, premium only, wife has put regular in it from time to time, but its not recommended and didn't seem to cause issues under light load.

Have not run any boosters.

I would not do that. The premium contains additional detergents for one. Second that stuff will turn your spark plugs orange and possibly cause a misfire. The best way to cheaply increase the octane would be to mix ethanol with 87, but then the question comes up how do you measure what percentage you are at e30, e40, etc. and if your fuel system is designed to run corn juice or not.

Personally I'd continue to use Top Tier premium fuel and drive the beater more often to offset cost.

BJs and Sam’s Club sell 93 octane around here for about $.40 over 87. In fact, I just checked the BJs app and it’s $.39 over 87 right now at $3.679 while the Marathon down the street is $4.199 for 93. Sounds crazy, but I’ll take my truck and six race jugs and get 34 gallons of diesel for $.40 less a gallon than anywhere else and 36 gallons of premium for $.52 less for a total savings of about $32. It’s on the way home from dropping my kids off at school.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I would not do that. The premium contains additional detergents for one. Second that stuff will turn your spark plugs orange and possibly cause a misfire. The best way to cheaply increase the octane would be to mix ethanol with 87, but then the question comes up how do you measure what percentage you are at e30, e40, etc. and if your fuel system is designed to run corn juice or not.

Personally I'd continue to use Top Tier premium fuel and drive the beater more often to offset cost.

The booster will also coat the O2 sensors and catalytic converters. It's a two way street with this topic, You would really need to ask people that use it, and do some serious research on it, I doubt this forum has many users of it.

I had a 2020 Camaro SS with a Whipple supercharger that I installed, drove it for 20k miles and sold it. You had to be very careful on the octane, even the difference from 91 to 93 it would burn up the spark plugs.

My research on the boosters led me to not use it, if you can find someone with the same car as yours and has had success, that would be your best bet.

quote:

Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
Porsche 2.9l twin turbo.

I sure as heck wouldn't be trusting octane booster to make 87 into 93 for that, saving a few bucks could cost you a few thousand.

Don't most modern engines equipped with engine management computers adjust the firing cycle for the fuel that is provided? E.g. advance the timing until there is a knock, then back off, perhaps multiple times a minute? VW claims this is the case for my 2018 Tiguan, and that engine performance will improve with higher octane gas.

^^^It’ll say in the manual if this is true. The manual for my wife’s vehicle says 87 minimum, but 93 for best performance.

Yes , engine management does correct for fuel, in this case the OP's vehicle is set up to correct for the 93 octane that is provided, also consider the performance of it. Every manufacture is different, all cars are not the same.

Read the bottle, depending on the brand of octane booster you will need several bottles to get an increase of octane to where you want. Remember 1 point is .1 NOT 1. Back in the 90's when I was big into cars, etc we used acetone and toluene from hardware store to increase octane. I hope this helps. God Bless

Sams, Costco, WaWa, all have lower fuel prices and sell top tier fuel.

IF you want to drive high performance vehicles, it's the price (literally) you have to pay...

Load the gas buddy app and find the least expensive fuel in your area.


https://www.gasbuddy.com/

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


Load the gas buddy app and find the least expensive fuel in your area.

Mine only shows ' Regular, Midgrade, Premium, Diesel, UNL88 and E85" as search options.

93 hasn't always paralleled the other grades in price differences (from one station to another) when I've pulled up to the pump.

Thanks Everyone, saved me hours of googling. Maybe not such a good idea.

I have(and love) an older 300ZX twin turbo Nissan. The owner's manual says to only use lower octane fuel in an emergency. I try to stick with top tier premium fuel, but there is NO 93 octane fuel around here anywhere.....wish there was!!

No. Hell no! Staying with the expensive high octane premium stuff for my S2000 AP1 as required by Honda.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Sams, Costco, WaWa, all have lower fuel prices and sell top tier fuel.

IF you want to drive high performance vehicles, it's the price (literally) you have to pay...

Load the gas buddy app and find the least expensive fuel in your area.


https://www.gasbuddy.com/

Costco, yes top tier. Here I'm certain that Wawa did not. Has that changed? Most thrifty locals who take the time to check have long known Wawa gas mileage is lower than top tier.

Neither WaWa nor Sam's Club is on the Top Tier brand list. Costco is on the list.