It's now cheaper to use octane booster than to buy premium gas

[slacktide_bitog]

On the east coast, gas stations charge as much as $1/gallon extra for premium over regular. For example, if regular is 3.19, premium will be 4.19

For a 15-gallon gas tank, that's a $15 difference. But Walmart has VP Octane booster for 10.97

 

[I<3oil]

Ew $1 premium

Here it's anywhere from $.30-.75 more

 

[Brian123]

On the east coast, gas stations charge as much as $1/gallon extra for premium over regular. For example, if regular is 3.19, premium will be 4.19

For a 15-gallon gas tank, that's a $15 difference. But Walmart has VP Octane booster for 10.97

So, I buy the VP Octane Booster for $10.97, so for a 15 Gallon Tank how many ounces do I add before filling up my gas tank? So if I buy 87 Gas will this Booster make it to 91 or 93 Octane? My car calls for 91, and 1 time I put 87 in the car, the car ran, but the car had no power. What I mean is when you really hit the gas the car felt like a slug.

 

[John105]

I think Costco fixes the issue. It’s not 20 cents like the old days (in 2008 even when regular was $3.499, premium was exactly 20 cents more, just like when regular was $0.999 in 2009, premium was $1.199).

As I type it’s $3.099 and $3.479 at Costco so almost a 40 cent spread. It is what it is no booster needed.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

On the east coast, gas stations charge as much as $1/gallon extra for premium over regular. For example, if regular is 3.19, premium will be 4.19

For a 15-gallon gas tank, that's a $15 difference. But Walmart has VP Octane booster for 10.97

Well the product only gets you at most 2.5 pts (87 -> 89.5) on 20 gallons of fuel. Premium on the east coast is usually 93

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

So, I buy the VP Octane Booster for $10.97, so for a 15 Gallon Tank how many ounces do I add before filling up my gas tank? So if I buy 87 Gas will this Booster make it to 91 or 93 Octane? My car calls for 91, and 1 time I put 87 in the car, the car ran, but the car had no power. What I mean is when you really hit the gas the car felt like a slug.

No. The product at most gives you 2.5 pt bump on 20 gallons of fuel.

 

[kschachn]

Well the product only gets you at most 2.5 pts (87 -> 89.5) on 20 gallons of fuel. Premium on the east coast is usually 93

Watch the claims though. 10 points is 1 on the octane rating, so if it’s 2.5 points that’s raising an 87 octane to 87.25.

The container does seem to talk octane numbers however. But I can’t read the asterisk information.

 

[Zee09]

I think Costco fixes the issue. It’s not 20 cents like the old days (in 2008 even when regular was $3.499, premium was exactly 20 cents more, just like when regular was $0.999 in 2009, premium was $1.199).

As I type it’s $3.099 and $3.479 at Costco so almost a 40 cent spread. It is what it is no booster needed.

My local station is $1.40 more. No Costco near either

 

[spasm3]

I have trouble believing that any small bottle of additive can take 20 gallons of 87 to a 93 octane.

 

[John105]

My local station is $1.40 more. No Costco near either

That’s crazy I can see not wanting to pay that much more….

Back in the day say there was a 20
Cent federal gas tax. Next morning regular was 20 Cents more, and premium 8. No more….premium demand is much less elastic than it once was. Lots of turbo cars needing it imho

 

[Brian123]

No. The product at most gives you 2.5 pt bump on 20 gallons of fuel.

Ok, so what you are saying is, in order to save $15.00 I need to spend $10.97
My car does call for 91, so 87 with the bump would be with your calculation 89.5

But if I got 89 Gas, so 2.5, Sunoco 94, actually that might be there 5 gallon drum of Ethanol Free Fuel.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Watch the claims though. 10 points is 1 on the octane rating, so if it’s 2.5 points that’s raising an 87 octane to 87.25.

The container does seem to talk octane numbers however. But I can’t read the asterisk information.

Ya I didn't go there but you're right.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Ok, so what you are saying is, in order to save $15.00 I need to spend $10.97
My car does call for 91, so 87 with the bump would be with your calculation 89.5

But if I got 89 Gas, so 2.5, Sunoco 94, actually that might be there 5 gallon drum of Ethanol Free Fuel.

No. What I'm saying is that their label states "UP TO 2.5pts" on 20 gallons of fuel. We don't know if that's two full points (Assuming it is for the sake of discussion) but often times with these additives they're actually talking about decimal (ex .1 as 1 pt).

I haven't even looked at the type of additive they're using. Best to just avoid these products all together.

 

[kschachn]

Yes one has to watch those octane boosters very carefully. Generally, "Boosts octane by 10 points!" means going from 87 to 88.

And also watch the quantity. I saw one on here once where it boosted the rating by 10 points per bottle (87 to 88) but on one gallon. 15 gallons needed 15 bottles, and if you wanted to go up to 92 octane from an 87 that would be 75 bottles - if it even worked to raise it to 92. Some additives have an upper bound to the increase as well.

 

[Pablo]

Watch the claims though. 10 points is 1 on the octane rating, so if it’s 2.5 points that’s raising an 87 octane to 87.25.

The container does seem to talk octane numbers however. But I can’t read the asterisk information.

This. No way is there a 2-3 octane full "point" boost from a pint of juice.

 

[Mewbs]

I never understood this part of the snake oil market. If your car calls for premium gas but you still went ahead with putting lower octane gas thinking you save a few dollars and visit a local parts store to the snake oil aisle just to spend 10-20 dollars more for some octane booster....

Premium gas over here in southern california varies from 50 cents to a dollar. However in my area its roughly 40-50 cents more than 87 gas.

 

[twX]

This stuff is 50% N-methylaniline, which has been used as an octane booster since the 1940's, so there's a good bit of research on it. There's a study that suggests that a 1% concentration of it in gasoline increases octane number by 3.2 (or 32 points).

A bottle of it in 20 gallons would amount to a 0.3% concentration, which might give an octane boost of ~1 octane number. This is quite a bit lower than the claimed "up to 2.5 octane numbers", but a lot better than if it were only 2.5 points.

If you wanted to boost octane from 87 to 91, you'd probably have to add around four bottles to 20 gallons, but high concentrations can cause sludge and varnish, so that might not be a great idea.

 

[Chris142]

Still only $.30-$.40 per gallon more for premuim here. I think they just add more alcohol to make premuim.

 

[JohnnyG]

On the east coast, gas stations charge as much as $1/gallon extra for premium over regular. For example, if regular is 3.19, premium will be 4.19

For a 15-gallon gas tank, that's a $15 difference. But Walmart has VP Octane booster for 10.97

Except it doesn't work. If it does, it most likely contains alcohol (ethanol) which is already in the fuel.

 

[Brian123]

No. What I'm saying is that their label states "UP TO 2.5pts" on 20 gallons of fuel. We don't know if that's two full points (Assuming it is for the sake of discussion) but often times with these additives they're actually talking about decimal (ex .1 as 1 pt).

I haven't even looked at the type of additive they're using. Best to just avoid these products all together.

Let's tell it like it is, if this stuff really worked there would be no need for Higher Octane Gas. Actually for the price of this stuff, it really needs to be a lot cheaper.