Ralphs/Kroger Gasoline

[32VALVR]

In California what most of you have as Kroger, we have as Ralphs. That being said, they recently opened a Ralphs gas station near me. As I shop there, I decided to take advantage of the 20 cent off the already low price and tried a full tank. The octane is definitely there as I have severely loaded on hills in overdrive and raced the 1/8th with no detonation. I'm stock block and will see 9.2-9.4lbs of boost.
Question is, they don't rate this gas as "top tier", I know all gas must meet government standards but, is this gas good enough? Do I need top tier?

[VA-Mach1]

Ah? If it ain't broke don't fix it!

[32VALVR]

Originally Posted by VA-Mach1

Ah? If it ain't broke don't fix it!

Yeah I get that, theres just so much talk about build up on the intake valve with less then top tier. I know right away when I have crap gas and need to add an additive almost immediately, my auto tune will grab 4th at like 33mph under high vacuum. There are certain Shell, 76, Chevron and especially Mobil stations I'll never go back to. Sometimes I wonder if all the detergents actually lower the octane value? I do have one 76 station that I can always rely on though.
Again, question is do I need to have the detergents in top tier?

[32VALVR]

No one has any thoughts on top tier gas?

[VA-Mach1]

Honestly I don't know what mean by top tier. Are you referring to gas that would not be purchased at a regular retail store? All gas is supposed to meet the same standards for grade. Otherwise the lawsuits would be many for products not meeting minimum requirements. I fully understand that a station may have individual problems with storage tanks ect, but beyond the uncontrollable factors it should all be the same.

[32VALVR]

Top tier is a classification above and beyond government standards set by certain manufacturers in the US, Europe and Asia. It means more detergents to combat fuel system from the tank, pump, lines, rails and most importantly injectors. Its also supposed to ccombat valve buid up aswell as combustion camber deposts. All the top dations meet it.

[jbrad88]

I run nothing but Kroger fuel in the Mach here in Houston. I have watched the same fuel truck leave Kroger and go down the street to the local Shell station...I would not worry too much about it...



I don't drive the car daily so I only fill about once a month at most but really more like once every 6 weeks. Bu then I have $1 a gallon savings. Have not paid over 2$ a gallon here since fuel went down. Had one fill I managed 1.25 a gallon...

Ah the old days...of course over the 6 weeks of shopping at Kroger I probably over paid on groceries well beyond my fuel savings...
But its fun at the pump to pay that little...

[Mach351]

i think some places use (or have used) this as a marketing gimmick.

as stated above, grocery store fuel stations use the same gasoline distributors as convenience store fuel stations. the only difference is they usually don't advertise brand. if Krogers/Ralphs uses Shell, then it is top tier.

fill up and be happy with the cost savings.

not sure if this means anything, but i'll just leave it here: top tier gasoline distributors


.

[Mach828]

The gas all comes from the refinery. There they mix the different additives to create the various brands. The trucks don't dictate the type of fuel they just deliver it. the oil companies have a contract with the station. Places like that get the cheapest fuel available which is referred to as unbranded meaning no additives. In rare cases it is possible for them to get branded gas, but doesn't usually happen.

[Khyren]

Correction... When the fuel comes up the pipelines from the refineries, it goes to fuel holding stations or storage areas. It a pumped up at about 67 octane. What makes it a branded gasoline is when it leaves the truck filling racks. That's when they put all the additives in there and bump the octanes. Regular is treated like hell and premium really is premium. They usually run a squeegee pig up the pipeline to get all the rouge out of the pipeline ahead of the interface for premium to a me sure it's all good. They do longer cuts for the interface so that you really do get a premium product. What is interface you might ask? Good question. It is the mixed fuel layers from when they pump it up. since they run diesel, jet, and gasoline fuels up the same pipelines, they just mix the two a little and that section is called the interface. A densitometer let's them know when they have switched fuels. But the really good people can tell the difference by the load on the pumps. Regular is often pumped with water in it. And when it sits in storage, the floating lids on the tanks leak little and they give less of a crap about water content as the ethanol usually takes care of some of it. When my brother filled me in on all this, I quit using regular fuel.

Edited for phone posting errors.

[32VALVR]

^^^ So if thats the case, how do we explain the same tanker truck going from Mobil to shell with a pit stop at USA or Ralphs?

[Mach828]

They are just providing transportation. They can load the fuel under any account number the station wants. If its a branded station they must use that's brands account number, if its unbranded they can use whatever they have a contract to get. They normally do not do split loads, which is what you are describing because most carriers won't do them or they charge extra. The tankers have multiple compartments, its not one big holding cell like it appears. when they do split loads its between the same branded stations. Otherwise you would risk accidentally putting the wrong brands fuel at the station. However they can load different brands and put them in separate compartments.

Most stations also sell enough to get multiple loads a week, which is 8500 gallons a piece. They would need to deliver everyday or multiple times a day using the split method you are describing and it would cost the station extra money.
My family members all deliver fuel for a living and I handled the paperwork side of thing for a few years.

And diesel is about 15% heavier than gas which is why the load on the pumps is different as described in the earlier post.

[32VALVR]

So knowing all this info from Khyren and Mach828, as long as my boosted motor is not pinging/detonating I'm not in need of top tier?

[Mach828]

I guess it just depends on whether or not you believe those additives are worth it. Kind of like oil, any of the brands of oil at least meet the minimum acceptable standard. So they are all good. Just some claim to have a special blend that provides some additional value. For me it is worth the extra $3 a fill up, even though I have no hard evidence to support that it will keep my vehicle running longer and better.

[VA-Mach1]

I was at the Valero today pumping gas when I happened to look at the pump and noticed a sticker that said "Top Tier"

Never really paid attention before. I learned another something on M1R.

[Khyren]

Another thing that they do at the larger storage facilities like Greensboro, NC and Cushing, Oklahoma... They have a separate mini refinery so that they can take the interface cuts and re-refine them to separate them again and toss them back in the storage tanks. The one in Oklahoma is the largest fuel storage tank farm in the nation last I knew. I haven't seen it but I can't imagine how huge that place has to be compared to the ones I have seen where most of the fuel is refined in the Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, Texas area. Very little comes from Louisiana and other areas.

[not a gt]

Originally Posted by Mach351

i think some places use (or have used) this as a marketing gimmick.

as stated above, grocery store fuel stations use the same gasoline distributors as convenience store fuel stations. the only difference is they usually don't advertise brand. if Krogers/Ralphs uses Shell, then it is top tier.

fill up and be happy with the cost savings.

not sure if this means anything, but i'll just leave it here: top tier gasoline distributors


.

Dang no Citgo on the list, I go there alot.

[Lonestar77777]

Sunco!

LS

[4a7191a]

I wouldn't run Kroger's brand in my area nor any of the off brands. I've had to do an injector change on a friends car. They were bad. One of them clogged with this white powdered crap, replaced them with eBay injector's and good him to run mid grade at a decent gas station.