Is it absolutely required to use 93 octane vs 87 or 89 octane fuel with a supercharger? What happens if you don't?

 

Pinging.

Pull timing.

(in extreme cases)
Detonation.

Boom.

 

you will have to use premium fuel with the SDS

 

I figured as much but thought I'd ask...

 

Better safe than sorry... some makes of fuel at different grades are better than others. For example, my buddy had an older Honda with a pretty high compression ratio (i forget what it was, this was in college MANY moons ago)... on 7-11 mid grade, the car would buck, ping and jsut drive nasty, but on Mobil mid grade, it would be just fine..... It all goes down to the fact that we only publish RONs (Research Octane Numbers) at the pump and even though each manufacturer has the same RON, the MON (motor octane number) is different. And that is why some gases are better than others.

So now that I have thoroughly confused you, in summary, all I have to say is be selective with your gas companies, esp. with forced induction. I would personally recommend staying away from RaceTrack and 7-11 and Sam's Club and Wal-Mart gas, and spring the extra 4 cents a gallon on Shell, or Mobil or Chevron.