95 or 98 RON fuel

[Toyobaru 3]

I appreciate theres a few threads about fuel etc but i was wandering from everyones experience how they've got on with 95 ron fuel? 

 

Ive only run mine on V power so far but the garage is a long way from my house and i go past a gulf station every day but have held back from using it as paranoid the 95 ron would cause problems and make the torque dip even more noticeable? 

 

One of my main re-adjustments to a petrol car is the weekly fill up i now need to do as opposed to every 3 weeks in last car so the gulf garage is very tempting but I've just not given in yet!

[smudge 1020]

For the sake of a few pence a tank, V-Power every single time for me. Even when it was a standard engine

[rob275 1817]

It says inside the cap to use 98 RON, though there are no issues for 95 RON as Jordan said, for the sake of £5 a tank it's neither here nor there for me.

[Special K 442]

..... and I am told that BP Momentum is 99 RON at Tescos... not sure if it's the same everywhere...

 

Spec K

[Lauren 2259]

I've only used super unleaded, most V Power Nitro. That's in 50,000 miles. I've never had a problem finding Super Unleaded, whether it's here or in Northern Europe. 

 

The car will run okay on 95 RON. You will lose a bit of power, but otherwise it should be okay. If I were you though, no way would I put in standard unleaded. 

[Lauren 2259]

..... and I am told that BP Momentum is 99 RON at Tescos... not sure if it's the same everywhere...

 

Spec K

 

BP Ultimate (97 Ron) and Tesco Momentum (99 Ron) are two different fuels. The Ron rating alone is not the whole story. Shell V Power Nitro is the best forecourt fuel. 

[Special K 442]

Thanks for putting me right Lauren.

 

I agree - V-Power is the only fuel I will use.... and you get a Ferrari for £1.95 !

 

Spec K

[Lauren 2259]

From my (copyright 2003) article on the then Shell Optimax:

 

 

Optimax is a new petrol developed by Shell and it’s widely available in the UK (Except Scotland). We often talk about the best exhaust or oil for our car, but have you ever considered what is the best petrol?

 

Well, Shell did, let me explain. There are three types of petrol commonly available at the pumps and these all have different Octane ratings. Octane measured in ‘RON’ is basically a measure of the quality of the fuel. The higher the octane rating the more ignition advance you can run before detonation occurs. So the higher the octane rating, the more power your car will produce. The three fuel types available are; Premium Unleaded, LRP (Lead Replacement Petrol) and Super Unleaded. So what’s the difference?

 

Premium Unleaded has an octane rating of 95 RON, LRP varies a little and can be between 95-97 RON. Super Unleaded is rated at 97 RON. Optimax which Shell claims increases the performance of your car and has been specially developed for ‘performance cars’ has an octane rating of 98.6 RON.

In Japan higher quality fuel is available with an octane rating of 100 RON (like our old ‘5-Star’). This is great for Japan but we can no longer obtain 5-Star, so Optimax is the next best thing.

 

But at what price I hear you say? Well Super Unleaded (SU) has always been a little more expensive as it is sold as a ‘premium fuel’ and in this respect Optimax is no different. As it is a low-sulphur based petrol Optimax is normally priced slightly lower than SU.

Now to the important part. Does it work? Well I run a highly modified supercharger that last time on the rolling road produced 182Bhp (static) running on Optimax. When I put the car on the rollers again on BP Super Unleaded it produced 178Bhp. That’s a 4Bhp difference! Adding a performance exhaust like a Magnex/Mongoose is unlikely to net you much more than that!

 

Of course you don’t have to take my word for it. EVO Magazine recently tested Optimax on 3 of their fleet cars (Civic Type-R, Jaguar XJR, BMW M-Coupe). Shell claims that Optimax ‘cleans’ the inlet valves of the engine and that heavy constituents in other fuels can leave deposits on the backs of the inlet valves with the poorest quality fuels leaving the most which can lead to a tar like gunge within a 1000miles (EVO, 2002). 

 

In order to form an objective test as possible EVO placed cameras into the inlet tracts to determine if any deposits were present. Their test was to run the cars on ‘other’ unleaded fuels for 1500 miles and then use exclusively Optimax for a further 1500 miles before taking further pictures of the inlet valves. EVO also recorded the cars’ in-gear performance figures before and after the test. 

 

Interestingly when EVO took the initial inlet valve pictures the Civic had the most deposits. This car had been using cheap supermarket petrol (so take heed!). The BMW and Jaguar were relatively clean using a variety of SU and regular unleaded.

 

So on to the results! The inlet valve pictures showed a marked improvement especially on the Civic whose inlet valves were rid of deposits entirely. The other two cars had very clean valves before the test so results were less marked. For the performance figures the best results were again on the Civic with a loss of 1.19 seconds for 60-80mph in fifth. The drivers of the cars all reported smoother running and a more responsive engine. EVO’s verdict? Shell’s Optimax does what it says it does, leading to smoother running, increasing performance and preventing build-up of performance-sapping deposits.

 

I would have to agree with EVO as I do try and use Optimax wherever possible and would refuse to use anything else when I go to the track (I even take a 20l Jerry Can full of the stuff!). I have never used anything less than SU but do notice that my car too is smoother and delivers better performance with Optimax. EVO’s other suggestion that ‘You get what you pay for’ seems to ring true here. Just as cheap tyres (you’d be amazed at the difference between cheap and premium tyres in terms of roadholding, predictability and handling. But that’s another article!).

 

Incidentally to get the most from Optimax you may need to advance your ignition timing. This is best achieved on a rolling road where everything can be monitored though you may be able to achieve the same by trial and error though be careful that the engine isn’t ‘pinking’ under load. I have distributor-less ignition so mine automatically adjusts. Re-setting the ECU may also help. 

 

Something I haven’t mentioned is ‘Octane Boosters’ most commonly found in the drag racing scene. These are available from most accessory shops and some can raise your octane rating by as much as 7 points. These are no doubt effective but can be expensive if you are to use them long-term. 

Try it, you’ll be surprised!

 

Lauren

 

[Kodename47 446]

V Power is 99 RON and 87 MON minimum which equates to 92.5 AKI (or American octane rating). IIRC that Momentum is 99/87 so 93 AKI, however Momentum's extra octane is due to Ethanol content. V Power does the best job of keeping an engine clean.

I have no MON data for BP, however Esso is 97/86 so is probably similar. I didn't bother to collect data on 95 fuels.

[Toyobaru 3]

Yeh im gonna stick with the v power me thinks

[Captain Duff 79]

BP Ultimate (97 Ron) and Tesco Momentum (99 Ron) are two different fuels. The Ron rating alone is not the whole story. Shell V Power Nitro is the best forecourt fuel. 

 

 

Agree re V-Power, although a couple of my nearest garages have changed brands and are no longer Shell so often I have to go out of my way to get it which is not always possible time-wise with work etc. so I'll get the highest ron I can with the others.

 

Most UK petrol is actually identical in that it comes from the same few refineries and is then just rebadged, so for 95 ron use the supermarkets. But higher ron can also come with different additives (engine cleaners) so the brands may start to differ (but I'm not convinced they always do). There are two exceptions to all this sameness - V Power and Tesco 99. On paper Tesco looks better, but the ron is as Lauren says not the whole story. Tesco 99 has a very high ethanol content compared to the rest and it is that which gives it the better ron, but ethanol is not necessarily good for engines (it is corrosive), and there is a school of thought (in the US, where all their fuel is high ethanol) that it has not helped with things like the HPFP 'chirp' issue (although again I'm not convinced).

 

On the other hand V-Power is never rebadged refinery standard fuel but unique to Shell, gets delivered in separate lorries and does well in tests for increased mpg and horses. It also appears to have the best cleaning additives.

[rob275 1817]

Shell have their own refineries, though the Stanlow refinery was bought by Essar a few years ago. Unsure how many refineries Essar have. Do BP have their own? I assume so.

 

I will always stick with Shell personally, I go there so often, the guy behind the counter knows me.

[Polishingpedlar 49]

My nearest shell garage is in the next town approx five miles away however there is a cracking bendy A road all the way there so getting fuel is always fun!

Nitro all the time for me too as Rob said it's not much different in price but performance and clean are better.

Plus Lego toys at the moment too!

It's a win win win....

[Ade 517]

V Power is 99 RON and 87 MON minimum which equates to 92.5 AKI (or American octane rating). IIRC that Momentum is 99/87 so 93 AKI, however Momentum's extra octane is due to Ethanol content. V Power does the best job of keeping an engine clean.

I have no MON data for BP, however Esso is 97/86 so is probably similar. I didn't bother to collect data on 95 fuels.

 

V power also uses 5% ethanol just like the Momentum99

 

Toyobaru - If you must use 95 for whatever reason, i'd just put enough in to get you to a shell garage and top it up with V power Nitro

[Captain Duff 79]

V power also uses 5% ethanol just like the Momentum99

 

Toyobaru - If you must use 95 for whatever reason, i'd just put enough in to get you to a shell garage and top it up with V power Nitro

 

 

 

I stand corrected, all Shell fuel now does seem to be 5% ethanol, which for V-Power is a recent change. That said, I would still be wary of Tesco 99 as while the ethanol may now be similar, 99 also has high levels of other industrial alcohol related ingredients (to boost the ron) that are absent from V-Power - http://www.tescopfs.com/our-fuel/specifications

 

this is a useful summary of the ethanol situation, although while the page appears to have been updated last month I can't vouch for its current accuracy: http://www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/wessex/ethanol-update.html  

[nikndel 509]

Shell have their own refineries, though the Stanlow refinery was bought by Essar a few years ago. Unsure how many refineries Essar have. Do BP have their own? I assume so.

 

I will always stick with Shell personally, I go there so often, the guy behind the counter knows me.

Shell have their own refineries, though the Stanlow refinery was bought by Essar a few years ago. Unsure how many refineries Essar have. Do BP have their own? I assume so.

 

I will always stick with Shell personally, I go there so often, the guy behind the counter knows me.

BP ran coryton who sold it to another firm who went bust and closed it