Thanks - I checked there website and found a station about a mile away from me. Had no idea.

 

I used a non top tier gas once & shortly thereafter threw a Service Fuel System Code with a dead fuel gauge. Had to dose it with Techron to recover it.

 

I can't speak specifically to this store, but if there is not any permanent Chevron signage I would bet my pay check that there is not a contract to sell Chevron exclusively. Unbranded stores are usually get deliveries from what ever terminal is selling their unbranded product for the cheapest that particular day. Terminal or "rack" prices change each weekday at 6pm and and trucks are dispatched accordingly.

Unbranded and branded gasolines come from the same tank. The additive package is just different.

In the Cincinnati market some terminals are fed by barge, some by pipeline. The amount of crap that goes into the storage tanks is alarming. The best thing to do is always avoid a store that is getting a delivery. Of course you would never know if a truck just left

 

All gas shipped via pipeline is the same. Once at a terminal, additive packages that make Chevron, Chevron gas, are added as the transport is loaded. This includes the ethanol component Unless the store in question has Chevron brand signage, it is likely an unbranded sale which may or may not contain the complete additive package.

 

There is also debate on weather Top Tier gas has any merit since a lot of big gas companies are left off the list and a few small ones are. The address for Top Tier is the exact same address for Quik Trip by the way. The same truck that filled up a chevron station went right over to a brand I cannot remember now. I was bored so I figure I do some research myself.

So they could be right about Safeway. Research their website or google Chevron Safeway and see what comes up.

 

My search skills apparently suck. Can you give me a link where it states that Safeway food stores sell Chevron branded gasoline?

 

 

No it was a Safeway employee that told me this and one could use their points card to discount the gas.

 

I don't care which brand I put in my car. I've never kept a vehicle over 40K miles so I don't worry about it. I've never paid attention to my MPG and it wouldn't matter anyhow. That said, the closest stations to my house are Mobile and 76 but I'll fill up anywhere if I need gas.

 

Closest to me is a Hess. Never had a problem. That station is always packed, so I know the fuel isn't sitting in the tank long.

 

Don't buy a used car from him.

 

These questions and comments come up often, with a mix of truth and fiction. First, top tier. It has real benefit even at modest mileages like 25000-40000. It was started by auto companies, not oil companies, because the auto companies are interested in having cleaner engines that therefore have fewer warranty claims. Top tier refers to additive packages which have demonstrated low levels of deposits in actual engine tests. If you use top tier, your engine at any given mileage would be cleaner upon tear-down than if you do not. That does not mean your engine will be a disaster if you don’t use top tier. It simply means what it says, and the resulting added cleanliness may or may not be important to you.

As pointed out by others in the thread, unbranded gas like Safeway or Wal-Mart or whatever sometimes comes from the big oil companies like Chevron. Sometimes that is done on a long term contract basis, but more often, they just use whoever is cheaper at the moment. Also sometimes, depending on the delivery route, you may even get the branded additive at a cheapo station. It’s perfectly legal to give you more than you pay for. Trouble is, you can’t rely on it being there. More often, even if there is a contract between, for example, Safeway and Chevron, to supply gas, the gas that gets supplied would be Chevron’s base gas, but with generic additive package rather than Chevron’s top tier package.

And finally, the base gas. Just because “it all comes from the same pipe” does not necessarily mean it’s the same base gas. You can segregate shipments in the same pipe. This is proven by the fact that the same pipelines carry varying octanes of gasoline, as well as diesel and jet fuel all the time. If the contracts are written to keep things separate, they will be separate, even if from the same terminal delivered by the same pipeline. The segregation will be done via different batches in the pipeline to different tanks in the terminal.

Of the three issues above, top tier is most important, the fact that cheapo gas is sometimes, but not very often the same including additives as the top tier brands is next most important, and the “all from the same pipe” issue is least important. What importance the “all from the same pipe” issue has is mostly because if you start believing too strongly in the “all from the same pipe” thing, you will ignore the other two issues. It isn’t all the same, gang. Choose to believe the internet engineers if you wish, but I’m a real engineer with 40 years of real refining experience, and can guarantee you that top tier users will have cleaner engines than non-top-tier users.

 

Whats a Safeway?

 

LDB,

In doing some reading about Top Tier gasolines, I have come to understand that a Top Tier label qualifier is that the Top Tier designation requires (simplified explanation for dicussion) that the fuel must produce at least twice the federal minimum effectiveness of cleaning in test engines. The question I have is that the Shell brand advertises that its premium fuel, Shell V Power has Five (5) times the detergency level of the federal minimum standard. Assuming that this is true, does that translate into five times the cleaning level in my engine?
I have not seen any other fuel brands making any specific claims other than being Top Tier rated. Do you know if the Shell claims result in actual significant improvement (reduction) in combustion chamber, piston, and valve deposits over other Top Tier advertised brands?

Thanks

Barry

 

It's always best to trust the stockboy, whether it's how to rotate your tires or what brand of fuel to use. Last fall I overheard two women in the checkout line saying it's ok to drive your Corvette in the snow. I glean most of my advise and formulate my opinions via hearsay...don't you?

 

I was replying to phileaglesfan who said that we should do a google on Safeway Chevron.

 

 

That's what you get for living in the bay area ...............

 

 

Big grocery chain based out of CA.