4/5     Discount gas vs. Brand Name gas question. (Original question was deleted
        by a careless motd poster).
        \_ The big oil refinieries auction their excess supplies and smaller
           vendors like RR or Costco buy it at these auctions. This is the
           same gas (octane and all) as the big companies. The only thing
           that you have to watch out for is that some of these smaller
           vendors add more cleaners to thier gas, thus you think that you
           are getting more gallons of gas for a cheaper price, but in
           reality you are not getting as much gas.
           \_ What exactly does "add more cleaners" mean?  Are they adding MTBE
              or what?  Will the cleaners damage the car's engine?  Rotten
              Robbie's 92 octane around my area is about $1.99.  Cheaper than
              the crazy $2.15 that I've seen in some Chevrons.
                \_ I don't know what the percentage of cleaner to gasoline
                   is now, but it used to be something like 10/90 at most
                   brand name stations (shell,chevron,exxon), 15/85 at
                   BP/Mobil/76, 20/80 at Arco and 30/70 at RR. Don't know
                   \_ Do you have the source for these numbers?
                        \_ Yeah, the numbers sound bullshit to me too...
                           Gasoline in California is very tightly regulated,
                           and it's very unlikely that you can have 20% more
                           "cleaner" in it.  If what the anon poster meant
                        \_ but isn't it funny that gas with more detergent
                           was MTBE (which is not a cleaner at all), then
                           the limit is 15%.  --nevman
                        \_ The numbers aren't exact, but I got them from my
                           Chem TA several years ago (graduated 97). They
                           Chem TA (blacklightning may still carry the lec.
                           I don't believe it though. I usually get gas at the
                           service station nearest to my house which happens
                           to be a 76.
                           notes) several years ago (graduated 97). They
                           might be bs since this guy was a RIDE BIKE!r.
                           Just as a side note, I don't believe any of this.
                           I usually get gas at the service station nearest
                           to my house which happens to be a 76. I used to
                           get arco all the time for my Corolla since thier
                           89 octane was much cheaper than the others. I
                           now need to get 92 octance for my Lincoln and
                           all of the places around my home (w. sj) are
                           about $2.05 - $2.07 so it doesn't make much
                           difference.
                   about Costco. I don't think that the cleaner damages your
                   car (my dad says that it damages the fuel injector, but
                   I haven't seen that in my corolla with ~ 50K miles, YMMV).
                   You just have to be comforatble getting less gas for your
                   $s.
                        \_ but isn't it funny how gas with more detergent
                           in it essentially is sold as higher class gasoline?
                           "People think they're buying chivas regal for
                           their cars"  Now with MORON, NEW SUPER
                           PREMIUM UNLEADED"  -tpc
                                \_ Some car companies will refuse to honor
                                   the warantee if you use a gas of a lower
                                   octane than the recommended. If you
                                   bought a MB,Cad.,Linc.,BMW,Jag. buying
                                   92 instead of 89 octane shouldn't make
                                   a big difference to you monetarily. If
                                   you need to buy cheap gas in order to
                                   save money cause your car cost too much
                                   you should have bought a cheaper/more
                                   affordable car and you should get a CLUE!
           \_ Hm. I've been getting a lot of gas recently. How would I
              go about auctioning THAT off?
              \_ Let me know if you find any buyers.  I've plenty.
                 \_ If you're going to parrot a joke, at least do a good one.
              \_ http://www.priceline.com is going to add gas to its list of things
                 that you can buy from them.