Gas brand/octane - what do you run?

[stranger]

Using shell v power 99 or tesco 99

Gutted that we don't have e85 in the Uk

[Bmwguy11]

Can someone explain to me why anyone would ever put E85 in an M car or any non flex fuel vehicle for that matter?

[AM4ZING]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy11

Can someone explain to me why anyone would ever put E85 in an M car or any non flex fuel vehicle for that matter?

E85 burns cooler so when trying to make more power, ethanol makes a huge impact during combustion to help the engine produce the most power... True that it can deteriorate the fuel filter but with a proper tune or a JB4 and a mix of E85, these cars FLY!

[N55]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy11

That's so bad for your car....

Originally Posted by Kidscollege$

BMW does not recommend more than 10%? Does this help?

I am running a JB4

I assume you mean on a stock car?

[Bmwguy11]

Originally Posted by N55

I am running a JB4

I assume you mean on a stock car?

Any car stock or not. Ethanol is not good for the motors in these vehicles.

edit: ah but i see you want to use the higher octane so you can take advantage of it with a tune. still really bad for the car though.

[chillindrdude]

Shell V Power 93 Nitro+

my M3 loves that stuff.

[Fast4d]

the only reason to add more ethanol to the E10 we get here in CA is to raise octane. however ethanol has less energy content so you must add more fuel volume to compensate. JB4 has the ability to do this.

I dont like ethanol because it attracts moisture and it warps nylon/plastic fuel tanks on motorcycles.

I have access to stations that sells 100 octane gas (probably e10). and E85. E85 is cheaper but I dont have a JB4 yet. so for now I add enough 100 to get 93 octane.

[SEXY-BEAST]

I live in LA, so all that's available is 91

I try to consistently use Shell V-Power as I had read his is the "recommended" fuel brand for BMW M. Any substance to this or is it marketing?

[Fast4d]

Originally Posted by SEXY-BEAST

I live in LA, so all that's available is 91

I try to consistently use Shell V-Power as I had read his is the "recommended" fuel brand for BMW M. Any substance to this or is it marketing?

there might be a station that sells 100octane from the pump.

what area of LA are you at?

just a few that comes to mind. west valley, van nuys, south pasadena, brentwood, pomona, etc

[Kidscollege$]

Found this...http://www.racegas.com/article/52

[M4 CSL]

98RON which is your 93OCT.

[Ian1973]

93 octane with 10% ethanol or 91 non ethanol. That's it.

[shortseller]

As many above have said, Shell 93 for me too, I even go a few miles out of my local to hit a favorite station. Though I have been told retail stations have no control over shipments, thus all Shells should be the same...I still seem to get the best consistency of performance from this one particular station. Weird, yes, in my head, probably!

[BoosTonian]

shell 93 whenever I can find a shell station. If I cannot find one then Mobil it is. There's also a Hess station with 104 available. Haven't tried using it yet, but will tomorrow night.

[joesmithf1]

Anyone see any issues with Costco 91? Is the higher numbers mainly for performance reason, or for the longevity of the engine? I have seen two m4 pulled into a Costco gas station before, so just wondering if that is a good idea when i get my M

[Fast4d]

what kind of additives do they mix in when the tanker is loaded?

[Kidscollege$]

Originally Posted by joesmithf1

Anyone see any issues with Costco 91? Is the higher numbers mainly for performance reason, or for the longevity of the engine? I have seen two m4 pulled into a Costco gas station before, so just wondering if that is a good idea when i get my M

I have been filling up at Sams Club with 93...

[BoosTonian]

Originally Posted by joesmithf1

Anyone see any issues with Costco 91? Is the higher numbers mainly for performance reason, or for the longevity of the engine? I have seen two m4 pulled into a Costco gas station before, so just wondering if that is a good idea when i get my M

You won't see any issues with using 91 or 93 (less than 91 you will hear some weird noises from the engine). Because 93 is a cleaner gas and the engine will advance the timing to take advantage of it, this leads to an average of 20hp gain according to testing I have seen.

Also, if you are heavily tuned or looking to increase boost by a large amount then 93 is the minimum octane that can be used.

[brad-cam]

So I've seen this question asked a few times in this thread but it's still not answered so I'll ask one more time to see if anyone has the technical skinny from BMW.

So cars have a "recommended" and "minimum" octane requirement. In my experience, the "recommended" is what is needed to have the engine run as intended by the manufacturer, timing adapted to meet the full published power specs of the engine, eliminate detonation/knock, etc. "Minimum" is the level down to which the ECU can adapt the timing to it, so the engine will still run safely and not cause any harm but as the ECU has adapted the timing (and possibly boost pressure) to eliminate spark knock, performance/power of the engine is usually reduced.

The minimum spec is typically only to be used in an emergency when the recommended level fuel is not available.

So the S55 engine has the Recommended/Minimum of 93/91. The Question is - with 91 octane (AKI) is the engine providing the full published power levels or is it operating at a reduced level ?

In California 91 is the highest we can get - could it be true that all of us in Cali are running our cars outside of the intended full performance parameters of the engine ?

My E46 M3 (S54 engine) also has a 93/91 spec and with 91 it has detonation under some conditions (low RPM, lugging/loading) where the ECU is unable to adapt enough. I run Torco in that car to bump the octane to 93-95 (in every fillup yes).

The S-series engines are tuned pretty aggressively (the S54 has 11.5:1 compression ratio!) so in my experience they depend heavily on octane and fuel quality to run well.

Thoughts ?

[MaynardZed]

Originally Posted by brad-cam

So I've seen this question asked a few times in this thread but it's still not answered so I'll ask one more time to see if anyone has the technical skinny from BMW.

So cars have a "recommended" and "minimum" octane requirement. In my experience, the "recommended" is what is needed to have the engine run as intended by the manufacturer, timing adapted to meet the full published power specs of the engine, eliminate detonation/knock, etc. "Minimum" is the level down to which the ECU can adapt the timing to it, so the engine will still run safely and not cause any harm but as the ECU has adapted the timing (and possibly boost pressure) to eliminate spark knock, performance/power of the engine is usually reduced.

The minimum spec is typically only to be used in an emergency when the recommended level fuel is not available.

So the S55 engine has the Recommended/Minimum of 93/91. The Question is - with 91 octane (AKI) is the engine providing the full published power levels or is it operating at a reduced level ?

In California 91 is the highest we can get - could it be true that all of us in Cali are running our cars outside of the intended full performance parameters of the engine ?

My E46 M3 (S54 engine) also has a 93/91 spec and with 91 it has detonation under some conditions (low RPM, lugging/loading) where the ECU is unable to adapt enough. I run Torco in that car to bump the octane to 93-95 (in every fillup yes).

The S-series engines are tuned pretty aggressively (the S54 has 11.5:1 compression ratio!) so in my experience they depend heavily on octane and fuel quality to run well.

Thoughts ?

While I don't think you'll actually notice a difference, probably would best to run a little higher octane than 91. I run 95 octane race gas in mine here in Phoenix, but it's not my daily driver so the cost isn't a big concern for me.

[IM2C]

93

[Xtabi]

I just turned 2,000 over.

50% Shell - 93
50% Costco -93