Tesoro Gasoline
01-26-2008, 08:38 AM
#21
Team Owner
Not only is not all gas is created equal, octane isn't even octane. Octane only measures how hard it is to get the fuel to ignite under pressure. The harder it is to get it to burn the higher the octane rating. The octane rating is achieved by blending. If one component has a higher energy than another, the result can have the same ocane rating but a greatly different energy release in the engine. This is why using ethanol to increase octane rather than octane results in lower performance even with the same octane rating. If you could mix water, which has effectively an infinite octane rating and no energy from burning, with heptane you could get a 100 octane gas that wouldn't run worth crap. All octane ratings are not created equal.
Driving 25000 miles a year I buy about 1000 gallons. 1 penny per gallon translates to about 3 cents per day. I buy only the highest grade of Top Tier gas from a station with volume business and avoid ethanol if at all possible. Maybe that's why my engine runs so smooth.
Driving 25000 miles a year I buy about 1000 gallons. 1 penny per gallon translates to about 3 cents per day. I buy only the highest grade of Top Tier gas from a station with volume business and avoid ethanol if at all possible. Maybe that's why my engine runs so smooth.
As to the Top Tier - I did a little research, sounds like a huge marketing gimmick. Chevron is not even a Top Tier gas.
The main thing I care about when buying gas is to use a station that does a lot of business. It keeps condensation from building up in the tanks if they turn the fuel in their tanks more often. That's my story and I'm sticking to it
01-26-2008, 09:19 AM
#23
Le Mans Master
That's why I said "if at all possible. Tax incentives make it impossible to find real gas in the midwest now. I try to fill up before going to Illinois and only buy as much gas there as I need to get back out of the state.
Big cities now also have ethanol due to the EPA so I try not to fill up in counties that have major cities. The big truck stops out in the middle of nowhere are the best for volume business and real gas. Luckily I spend a lot of time in a town with a permanent population of about 5000 so the EPA doesn't bother us but we have 50,000 people in town on a typical day so we have lots of big volume stations.
Ethanol is an octane enhancer. That means it can be mixed with cheaper gas and still have the ping resistance. Not only does the ethanol have less energy but the cheaper gas that can now be sold isn't good for mileage either.
WHAT? http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html #2 on the list.
That we agree on. 
Big cities now also have ethanol due to the EPA so I try not to fill up in counties that have major cities. The big truck stops out in the middle of nowhere are the best for volume business and real gas. Luckily I spend a lot of time in a town with a permanent population of about 5000 so the EPA doesn't bother us but we have 50,000 people in town on a typical day so we have lots of big volume stations.
01-26-2008, 09:56 AM
#24
Team Owner
That's why I said "if at all possible. Tax incentives make it impossible to find real gas in the midwest now. I try to fill up before going to Illinois and only buy as much gas there as I need to get back out of the state.
Big cities now also have ethanol due to the EPA so I try not to fill up in counties that have major cities. The big truck stops out in the middle of nowhere are the best for volume business and real gas. Luckily I spend a lot of time in a town with a permanent population of about 5000 so the EPA doesn't bother us but we have 50,000 people in town on a typical day so we have lots of big volume stations.
Ethanol is an octane enhancer. That means it can be mixed with cheaper gas and still have the ping resistance. Not only does the ethanol have less energy but the cheaper gas that can now be sold isn't good for mileage either.
WHAT? http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html #2 on the list.That we agree on.
Big cities now also have ethanol due to the EPA so I try not to fill up in counties that have major cities. The big truck stops out in the middle of nowhere are the best for volume business and real gas. Luckily I spend a lot of time in a town with a permanent population of about 5000 so the EPA doesn't bother us but we have 50,000 people in town on a typical day so we have lots of big volume stations.
Ethanol is an octane enhancer. That means it can be mixed with cheaper gas and still have the ping resistance. Not only does the ethanol have less energy but the cheaper gas that can now be sold isn't good for mileage either.
WHAT? http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html #2 on the list.That we agree on.
I still think Top Tier is marketing hype. Kind of like businesses that have a sign on their door that say "Member of BBB". Does it really mean their business has some kind of standards that they have to live up to?
01-26-2008, 10:23 AM
#25
Team Owner
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
Not only that, to my info, there is only one refinery making gasoline for California. If I'm wrong, all gas-guys tell me. But that was written a few years back, and no one's built a new refinery.
01-26-2008, 10:25 AM
#26
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
I've recently read this, too, that "top tier" is a means of the companies to hype their product as being somehow better than others. I guess after all companies get to be "top tier" it'll be something like the European Union.
01-26-2008, 10:30 AM
#27
Melting Slicks
In my case it's 93 octane, white gas, as it has additional refining steps and is billed as being cleaner for your fuel systems than regular redish gas.
In any case that is what I have used for over 20 years. Shell is my second choice.
Last edited by miami08VETTE; 01-26-2008 at 10:34 AM.
01-26-2008, 10:50 AM
#28
Team Owner
There are quite a few refineries IN California. It is true that there have been no refineries built in over 30 years, but there have been many, many upgrades to existing refineries, and even those upgrades are very expensive to build. I'm involved in supplying equipment to the big oil companies. Right now there are several projects in the U.S. for refinery upgrades that are several billion dollar projects each.
01-26-2008, 10:58 AM
#29
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16,'19
I only use top tier gas. My car stickered for over 60K. I don't know if the top tier gas really makes a difference, but I am not going to take a chance trying to save a few bucks a week.
01-26-2008, 12:04 PM
#30
Drifting
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Well that for sure if not true. In Ca we all make gasoline to CARB specs. There are 5 major players here in the Bay Area and they all supply the market. Valero, Tesoro, Conoco-Phillips, Shell & Chevron. When one refinery is having problems the other ones are taking advantage of good ole supply & demand. The price may not change at the pump all that much but they are selling more.
01-26-2008, 12:30 PM
#31
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
Well that for sure if not true. In Ca we all make gasoline to CARB specs. There are 5 major players here in the Bay Area and they all supply the market. Valero, Tesoro, Conoco-Phillips, Shell & Chevron. When one refinery is having problems the other ones are taking advantage of good ole supply & demand. The price may not change at the pump all that much but they are selling more.
"Supply
California gasoline is a unique blend that the State requires to help it meet its clean air goals. This blend is cleaner-burning than any other gasoline in the United States, and it is both more difficult and more expensive to make than other gasolines.
Refineries located within California produce almost all of the State’s gasoline. Historically this was mainly due to California’s distances from the major refining center on the Gulf Coast and from export refineries in other countries. When California began requiring a unique gasoline, the number of potential suppliers to the region declined. Few refineries outside of the West Coast are able to make CARB gasoline."
01-26-2008, 01:32 PM
#32
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada
01-26-2008, 02:03 PM
#33
Melting Slicks
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From http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html :
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada
The Chevron Supreme 91 octane here in California has the highest concentration of Techron of the three brands they sell. If you want clean injector nozzles and low contaminant levels, that's the additive you need. You can also buy it at retail and add it to other brands of gasoline.
01-26-2008, 02:50 PM
#35
Team Owner
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CI 1-4-5-8-9-10 Vet
St. Jude Donor '03,'04,'05,'07,08,'09,'10,’17
It reminds me of "We are ISO 9000 Certified" . Which really means: "many of our employees were sent to a worthless class and learned how to add tons of paperwork to the manufacture of the products we sell. In addition they do really good meetings, but our products are still crap".
Bottom line - I always buy name brand at high volume stations.
01-26-2008, 04:34 PM
#36
Nope. It would be helpful if you would fill out your profile. It's difficult to know what the state of the industry is in your area if you don't state where you are.
The industry is changing rapidly. No way is BP the same as Mobil One. BP is the former "British Petroleum." They've mismanaged many aspects of their buisness from leaking pipelines in Alaska to exploding refineries in the southern US. Mobil One is now owned by Exon as a result of the merger between Mobil and Exon.
The industry is changing rapidly. No way is BP the same as Mobil One. BP is the former "British Petroleum." They've mismanaged many aspects of their buisness from leaking pipelines in Alaska to exploding refineries in the southern US. Mobil One is now owned by Exon as a result of the merger between Mobil and Exon.
To the original poster, Tesoro is primarily in the refinning business. Their stock symbol is TSO that you can pull up on Yahoo! and read about the company. Valero (VLO) is also a refiner that has retail gasoline stations. ARCO was sold many many years ago and is marketed as a "lower cost" gasoline. Off the top of my head, ARCO is owned by either Ashland or Marathon Oil, I think.
01-26-2008, 04:41 PM
#37
It's not just "widely believed."...it's a proven fact (lab and street). Clean injectors are only the tip of the benefits...Techron has been proven to clean up the deposits in your engine...even the deposits left by other brands of gasoline.
01-26-2008, 04:45 PM
#38
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
BP purchased Amoco serveral years ago. Amoco was the last major gasoline company to include an additive package in all grades of its gasoline. Its advertising made Amoco #1 with consumers (prior to BP purchase) yet it was (and still is) Chevron that has a unique additive package as well as making and selling additive packages to other gasoline companies.
To the original poster, Tesoro is primarily in the refinning business. Their stock symbol is TSO that you can pull up on Yahoo! and read about the company. Valero (VLO) is also a refiner that has retail gasoline stations. ARCO was sold many many years ago and is marketed as a "lower cost" gasoline. Off the top of my head, ARCO is owned by either Ashland or Marathon Oil, I think.
To the original poster, Tesoro is primarily in the refinning business. Their stock symbol is TSO that you can pull up on Yahoo! and read about the company. Valero (VLO) is also a refiner that has retail gasoline stations. ARCO was sold many many years ago and is marketed as a "lower cost" gasoline. Off the top of my head, ARCO is owned by either Ashland or Marathon Oil, I think.
01-26-2008, 05:10 PM
#39
The "redish" gas is only a dye and is used for identification purposes. The "white" gas has more to do with marketing...just like many years ago Amoco used to tout about its extra filter at the pump, which hasn't existed for decades.
01-26-2008, 05:21 PM
#40
Actually, ARCO (Atlantic-Richhfied---a well-known downtown Los Angeles office tower) was bought by BP many years ago. And many years before that, it was the first gas station to go to all-cash, no credit card as a supposed means to lower its cost and lower the cost to consumer.
How is ARCO affiliated with BP?
Both the ARCO and ampm brands are owned by BP West Coast Products.