After leaving your shop I went to a 76 station, and must say, you are right. The car feels alot smoother with 76's 91 octane, then Shell's 91 octane. Why is this, and what are the other gas stations like?
P.S. thanks for the suggestion, it definitely feels more stout.

 

After some discussions with a Chevron chemist who is a Stg 1 customer of ours, i found out that there are many ways to come to a specific octane. Rated octane is the average of RON (research octane) and MON (motor octane). You can have less of one and more of the other (or visa versa) and still come up with the same octane. The problem is that your motor only really cares about motor octane. So the best combo for any given octane rating would be more motor octane with less research octane. So far, 76 is the king of the hill in this respect. At least this is what the Chevron guy told me. He also runs 76 in his car

Shiv

 

Thanks Shiv. I appreciate it.

 

where are you guys at? in chiacgo we are running 93 octane

-Steve

 

We're in California, which has the dreaded 91 octane.

 

We don't have any 76 stations...Wal Mart is the only 91 octane I can find and that's as good as it gets. Maybe their supplier is Phillips 76! (yeah, right)

 

So how do you figure out what values the suppliers in your specific area are using? Or is there maybe a simple way to test this?

 

FYI "2004 ConocoPhillips Company. 76 and the 76 logo are registered trademarks of ConocoPhillips
Company or its subsidiaries." Maybe Conoco is just as good

 

I always use 93 from BP here in Iowa.

 

Paul, whatever station you used in GA, DON'T use anymore.