010 | What Gas Should You Really Use? A Fuel Tanker Driver Breaks Down Premium, Regular, E85 & More
Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life
010 | What Gas Should You Really Use? A Fuel Tanker Driver Breaks Down Premium, Regular, E85 & More
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You know, you've probably stood at those gas pumps and stared at those fuel grids and kind
of wondered, like, regular, premium, E85, like, does even of this even matter?
Like, I've hauled it, I've pumped it, and now I'm breaking it all down, from daily
drivers to race fuel.
And by the end of this, you'll fuel up smarter than 90% of those on the road today.
Let's go.
Hey, what's happening?
How are you doing today?
Thank you so much for being here.
I truly do mean that.
Thank you so much.
I am Chris, as in the name, cool cars with Chris.
Welcome to it.
You are listening to the number one top rated podcast in automotive on Goodpots.
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So today, we're talking about the thing that powers your car.
And I'm not talking about your engine and I'm not talking about your gas pedal, although
I am talking about the gas that goes to the gas pedal.
Yeah.
Today, we're talking about gasoline or fuel, as you like to call it, or Petro, depending
what country you're living in.
I know that when I was visiting people in other countries, like in New Zealand,
they refer to it as Petro, Petro stations.
They don't call it gas stations down there.
They call it Petro stations.
So it's kind of those things here.
But here in the United States, we refer to gas stations as gas stations.
But did you ever think about like, where does gas come from?
Like, how does it get to the station?
How does it get to your car really?
I know you pull up to the gas station and you actually pump the gas into your
car.
But what does that even mean?
Like, how does it even work?
And what gas should you be using for your car?
So today, we're covering all that stuff.
But starting off right now, before you even like fill up your car right now, before
you even go to the pump, have you ever thought about like where the actual gas comes from?
I mean, you think it just like automatically just lives at the gas station?
You think it just piped to the gas station from the refinery?
Wouldn't that be nice?
No, it doesn't quite work that way.
So today, I'm kind of pulling back the curtain and telling you about how gas gets actually
delivered from the ground, like under the ground, the bones of the dinosaurs, the bones
of plants, all that stuff decomposes and becomes oil, fossil fuel.
And from that, it goes right into your gas tank and you hit that accelerator and
you hear the great sounds of your engine, you take off and burn rubber, baby.
That's what it's all about, right?
Where does gasoline even come from?
Well, gasoline starts off as crude oil.
It's this like thick, raw, unrefined, stuffed, pulled from underground or maybe even like
offshore like drilling rigs off the coast of the, of off the coast, everywhere really
until it's true.
I mean, off here in the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America, whatever you call it
these days, I don't even know.
But down there, there's lots of drilling rigs down there.
Of course, BP had a big accident down there, if you remember back in 2010, but off the
coast of Long Beach here in California, there was drilling rigs.
There was drilling rigs.
I think I kind of pulled a lot of them off, but it seems like the basin of Los Angeles
has a lot of wells and a lot of like oil wells in the area.
So it seems like gasoline and crude oil is a big, big thing happening in Los Angeles
County.
It's been for like years and years, but once you have that crude oil, you got to do something
with it.
You got to turn it into gasoline and other products we actually can use.
And that is where the refinery comes into play.
So at the refinery, the crude goes through a process called distillation.
They heat it up, separate it by boiling points.
And that's how they get the different fuels, like gasoline, like diesel and like
jet fuel.
But everything starts with that crude oil that has to be refined to make all the great
flavors of petroleum products that we use for vehicles.
Now after refining the gas and turning it actually into gasoline, the gas is blended
with additives more than later and often with ethanol and actually here in California,
not sure about other states, but here in California, all gasoline that you buy in
every single gas station has a minimum of 10% ethanol added to the mix.
So in other words, everything you buy is technically E10.
That's 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline.
Okay, but you're thinking, hey Chris, what about the different grades of gas, like
premium, mid-grade and regular?
How does that work?
Well, the different fuel grades like premium, mid-grade and regular come from blending
in more or less of the octane boosters to the octane helps prevent knocking in your engine.
High performance cars need higher octane to run at their full potential.
I know that when I had my Nissan 370Z, it said right on the fuel cap and on the fuel
door, it said premium fuel required.
And if you drive a car like a BMW or any kind of performance car, probably a Porsche,
I'm sure Corvettes, I'm sure definitely Lamborghinis and Ferraris, I'm sure they all require premium
fuel.
And you're probably wondering, hey Chris, how are you such an expert on gasoline and
all this stuff?
How do you know this stuff?
Well, my regular, regular job, not when I'm doing this podcasting stuff, but like regular
paying job, is that I am a gasoline tanker driver for a petroleum company.
So that's how I know this kind of stuff.
We call the gasoline to the gas station so you can fill up your cool car.
And the way it actually works is this.
So the refinery refines the gas and the different types of gas.
Usually when they refine gas, it usually comes into two different types.
There is regular gasoline and there is premium gasoline.
But you're kind of wondering, what about the mid-grade?
Don't you worry about that?
More on that later.
But so they pipe it down from Los Angeles down to San Diego County.
And on the way, it has to hit all the different storage facilities before it gets down to us,
down at the bottom of the line.
So what it does is that the pipeline, there's only one pipe, which is kind of crazy to
think about.
There's only one actual physical pipe that pipes all these different products from
Los Angeles down to San Diego.
So the first thing you're probably thinking is, well, how do they like separate the different
products?
They do, but they butt them up together.
So in other words, you'll have diesel coming through the pipe right now.
And then behind it will be, say, regular gasoline.
Now that section in the middle where the fuels kind of cross and touch, they mix,
that's what it's called, transmix.
And that transmix gets pushed into a separate transmix tank and separated.
Then they have the clean product that they need coming through and filling up the storage
tanks down here.
Now once those tanks are filled up or they got enough product to actually do deliveries
with, we take our trucks, go to the loading rack.
We have our orders, our deliveries, and we load our gas at our loading facility in
San Diego.
Then we take it to a gas station on our delivery list, on our dispatch.
It's pretty simple.
Each station gets a full gas load.
And you're probably thinking, that's a lot of gas.
Actually, no, not really, if you think about it, some of these stations go through
two or three loads every single day.
If you've ever been to a Costco, I don't deliver to Costco, but from what other
drivers have told me, the Costco stations have massive, I don't mean massive tanks.
They get like probably four loads a day and they're doing it every day like that.
And they're going through a lot of gas at Costco.
As you see, the lines are really busy.
You get that, but they have really massive tanks.
Most of the other stations have smaller tanks, so they might get a delivery once
a week, once a day, things like that.
OK, so as far as the delivery process goes, when I delivered the gas to the gas station,
I drive my truck to the gas station and I park in the area where the actual delivery
tanks are at, because I have hoses on the truck.
They're only so long, so I can't park like really far away.
They got to be like really close to where the tanks are.
And the tanks actually sit underground.
They're not above tanks.
They're underground.
You don't even see them.
You don't even know they're even there.
And they have these lids on the ground and I pull the lids off and these little caps,
pull the caps off.
They got the access to the tank.
Now I hook up my fittings, hook up my hoses, do all that stuff, and deliver the gas
from my truck tanks into the ground tanks at the station.
And the way that process actually works is that it's actually gravity-fed like
is if you were to pull a drain on a bathtub and you watched the water kind of drain down
the bathtub and go down the pipe, it works the exact same way.
It's as if I pull a plug on the bottom of the tank and all the fuel just kind of drains
down the pipe into the tanks down below.
And that's pretty much it.
It's it in a nutshell.
Of course, other things too, but that's the basics of it all.
And then we go on and we do the next station and everybody's happy, everybody's got gas
and move on and we go on.
And here's a little fun fact you might not know is that when, because all the gas is
coming down the same pipeline and it's generated generally like one of the two refineries
that are up there, what makes one gas station's gas different than another station's gas?
Like how does that work?
Well, the real thing is that the difference is really in the additives.
Like each gas, like Chevron, Shell, whatever it is, each one of them has their own little
like secret sauce, their own little ingredient and that ingredient is their own particular
additives that they inject at the time it's being fuel loaded into the truck itself.
So that's where the difference is between different gas stations.
So places that claim like top tier brands like Chevron, like Shell and other places like
that, they use actually their own detergents at the terminal when we load it.
So when we load the truck, it actually asks us like, are you loading for the station?
Yes.
Is it a Shell?
Is it whatever other company?
And it already knows the computer system already knows to actually inject in the proper
Shell additive into this gas load versus a generic station would.
So the next time you're getting gas and you kind of wonder like, where did this gas actually
come from?
It came from crude oil far away and it was refined.
If you live in the general area to Los Angeles, I mean like even Arizona and even like
Nevada area, yes, there's a good chance all that gas was refined right here in Los
Angeles in Southern California.
And that's how it got to you in your car.
Okay, fuel grades.
So what are fuel grades?
You know, you've probably seen them at the pump and you go get gas.
You've seen probably regular, mid grade, premium.
Sometimes you see racing gas, particular pump stations do have racing gas available.
And of course some also have E85 like what does that even mean?
Okay.
So let's break all this down and let's figure out whether or not you actually
need the really, really expensive stuff or not.
Maybe you don't, you know, depending what you drive.
So let's take it with regular gasoline.
That's regular 87 here.
I know when I was in Utah, they had stations that had 85 octane.
So maybe it's something to do with like different regions, different climates, different altitudes.
It could be all in a factor.
I want to talk about what I know right here in San Diego County.
It's 87 for regular.
Now regular octane 87, that's like your standard fuel.
It pretty much works on almost every car, on everything on the road today.
Now 87 is the minimum octane grade, the minimum, not the maximum.
The minimum has to be at least 87.
That's what all these numbers mean.
They are the minimum requirement, minimum of 87 octane.
It is designed for engines that don't require high compression.
It is the most budget-friendly and efficient for all major motor vehicles on the road today.
Pretty much anything can run on 87.
They said it can run on 87.
I didn't say it would run well, but it can run on 87.
Now if you're manual on your car or truck or whatever you drive, if it doesn't say
that you need premium, then regular 87 is probably just fine.
Now the next tier up, you might see in this one too, it's called mid-grade.
Usually it's marked as 89.
Now that is a minimum of 89 octane.
Now it usually sits in the middle between regular and premium.
Now you're probably wondering, like I said earlier, we don't deliver any mid-grade.
Mid-grade does not come down the pipeline to our tanks down in San Diego.
So where does the mid-grade come from?
At most, if not all gas stations here and probably across the country, they do not have a mid-grade
tank at the gas station.
So you're kind of wondering, like where does the mid-grade gas come from if there is
no mid-grade tank?
Well mid-grade, as it might sound like what it is, is a mix of premium and regular.
It is a 50-50 mix of premium and regular.
So what they do is, at the station, at the pumps, when you press mid-grade, what happens
is it pulls a 50-50 mix from the regular tank and the premium tank.
Now what this does is that it actually frees up storage at the station so they do not
have to dedicate an entire tank for mid-grade when they can use the premium and the regular
tanks for that.
That's how they all work.
But the truth is that not many vehicles are designed for mid-grade.
It's often used when people split the difference between regular and premium.
So you want something better than regular, but you do not want to pay for premium.
You get mid-grade.
Like I said, it's 50-50s, half and half.
I mean, you could make your own mid-grade by filling half your car with regular and
the other half with premium.
They would be mid-grade, literally, physically, it'd be mid-grade.
Now unless your car says it needs mid-grade, which I don't know how many cars say they
need mid-grade.
Like I've not heard of that.
It's probably either regular or premium.
Then you probably don't really need it, and it's probably not worth the extra cost.
Okay.
And moving on to the big daddy of them all, we're talking about some premium,
baby.
This vehicle usually comes in 91 or 93, if you're lucky enough, on the other side of
the country.
But out here in California, it's rated at 91 octane.
Now it's the minimum, like I said before, a minimum of 91 octane.
Now talking about premium here, of course, 91, 92, 93, depending where you live, of
course, this is designed for high performance engines with high compression ratios like
sports cars, like cool cars, like turbocharged cars, and some, and probably all, luxury vehicles.
But what it can do for you as a benefit of running premium is that it actually prevents
knocking.
That's the rattling, pinging sound that you don't want to hear in your car, trust me.
And it lets those engines perform like they were built to.
It's actually recommended for a lot of high performance vehicles.
I know when I had my Z, like I said before, it did say must use premium.
But here's the key.
If your car requires premium, you better use it.
But you can get away with running regular in a car that says it must use premium.
In fact, I was at the station not that long ago, and I was finishing up a delivery
and this guy was kind of freaking out.
He stopped me.
He was asking me a question.
He wanted to know that he was kind of panicked because he had a Lexus.
It was like an older Lexus wasn't like a new one.
And he said that like he accidentally put 87 in his car, but his car needed premium
and it was kind of freaking out about it.
And I said, well, how often do you buy gas?
Do you buy gas like every day, every month, every week?
What is it?
I buy it probably a couple of times a week.
Okay.
Here's what you do.
It will run fine on the 87 it'll run like won't break down.
He was afraid like as if he put like sand in his tank or something like that.
No, it'll run, but as soon as you can run premium, I will put premium in the thing
like the next day or the day after that immediately and fill it will keep using
premium on top of that.
They kind of wash out all the regular you put in there.
Eventually it'll turn into 89, which is mid grade, but he was so worried.
He bought some octane booster and threw that into his tank and I said,
well, it's fine.
I guess you can try that.
But it's not the same thing.
You know, so my best advice is it's fine.
Run it.
Don't take it to a mechanic and like flush your engine.
I think you want to like flush his tank out or something crazy.
Don't do that.
You don't need to do that.
Just run, you know, use it, run it and you know, just keep on putting
the premium in there and you'll be just fine.
Moving on to racing fuel like the hundred plus octane, the really, really good
stuff.
I'm saying we're talking high octane for the race track.
Now, if you have a race built engine, if you have a technically a race car,
you're going to want to find yourself some hundred plus octane racing stuff.
Now, racing fuels range from 100 octane on up, sometimes 110, sometimes more.
Now, this is specifically made for engines running high boost, maybe some
nitrous or even some extreme compression.
You know, we're talking a totally different ballgame here of gas.
You'll find this fuel and usually it's in barrels.
It's they don't sell at the pump.
It's usually in barrels.
But now there probably is some stations.
I did hear about a station up north somewhere probably was it Santa
Monica, maybe it was in Malibu, somewhere up there in those Richie,
like Richie areas of North LA.
And I heard of a gas station that sold like racing gas at the pump.
I'm we're seeing it on television once and people put it in there,
but it was super expensive.
Like whatever the price of gas is here, the racing gas has got to be
like five or six dollars more than whatever you pay for gas here.
Maybe even more than that.
I'm talking to me $10 a gallon, maybe even more than that per gallon.
So like I said, it's designed for race cars and it comes in barrels
usually, but you might be lucky enough to find it at a pump station.
And this gas I have never have used.
I've never delivered it.
I've seen it for sale.
Yes, I've seen it in little barrels for sale.
Yes, I have never used racing gas in any car that I've ever
driven that I know of.
So I've never bought it.
I've seen it for sale.
Yeah, in little barrels.
Yeah, but I've never like delivered it.
I've never used it.
I've never consumed it, but I know it exists and I'm aware of racing
fuel.
Yes.
And since I just mentioned that racing fuel is like super, super
expensive, but say you want something very similar racing
fuel with a very high octane, just as high as racing fuel, but
you want to pay something cheaper than regular gasoline.
Well, you get yourself some E 85 ethanol blend.
Now, this is only recommended to be used in cars that say flex
fuel blend only my truck is a flex fuel vehicle.
I have ran E 85 in my truck before.
And what E 85 actually is it's regular gasoline just regular
87 only 15% of it is regular gasoline.
85% of it is ethanol pure ethanol 85% ethanol 15% gasoline.
That's where they get the actual E 85.
The ethanol starts the E 85% is E 85.
Now, like I said, you only want to use this.
If you have a flex fuel vehicle car or truck or car that's
actually tuned for 85, you can take a regular car like my
370Z, which is only recommended for regular gasoline and regular
premium gasoline, not flex fuel, not E 85, but you can do a full
conversion kit and actually make it so it can run on E 85.
Typically is the injectors, the fuel lines, the computer
because the computer in the car figures out the actual like
octane tune and it actually figures things out as you drive.
That's when they say when I put gas or put E 85 in my pickup
truck, that to drive it for like a mile or two, maybe longer
to kind of get the computer to figure out the actual ethanol
blend and kind of figure things out.
That's what it kind of does.
So my truck has run on E 85 and what I have noticed when I
put E 85 in my truck, it does seem to run a little different
like as if I have a slightly more power, it sounds a little
more pepier.
It just feels like it likes it for some reason, although there
was some downside to actually put an 85 in my truck running it
for a while.
Kyle's running E 85 for like a while and I did notice that I
did get a check engine light on my truck and I ran regular
gas right after that and the check engine like went away.
So I don't know what's up with that, but the thing about
E 85 is that it is much, much, much cheaper than regular
gasoline.
In fact, when I was buying 85, I think I was paying, I kid
you not, probably like maybe $3 or $2 cheaper than regular
gasoline, maybe quite not that much.
Maybe it was a dollar cheaper.
It was quite a savings, which might sound amazing.
Like Chris, that sounds great.
Why wouldn't everybody use it?
Who has got a flex fuel vehicle?
Well, the downside is that you do burn through it much,
much faster.
I noticed on my pickup truck, my Ford F 150 with a 5.0
coyote engine.
Typically it says it runs an average of like 16 miles per
gallon average.
I know it probably sounds horrible, but when I ran the
E 85 gas, it knocked it down to 13 miles per gallon
average on the 85.
So I lost like three miles per gallon on average overall
by running the E 85 versus the regular gasoline.
So you do burn through it much faster, but on the flip
side, it's much cheaper to buy than regular gasoline.
So it may actually weigh out the cost to be about the
same, but when I was running the math, I was running
the numbers on it and it seemed to be even still, even
though I burned through it faster, it still was actually
cheaper than running regular gas.
But like I said, it all depends on where you live and
the price of gas compared to the price of 85.
Now, if the price of gas is $5 a gallon where you live
and the E 85 is $4 a gallon, it's cheaper, but it's
not like crazy cheaper.
Now, if it's $5 a gallon for gas regular and it's like
$2.50 for E 85, well, that is a really killer deal.
That's half the price.
You're saving so much money and you're creating more
horsepower for your sweet ride.
Like I think mine with my setup, I think I was getting
an extra like 30 horsepower, 50 horsepower, something
like that is what they claim based on the numbers.
I was running the numbers on it with E 85 running in the
truck.
So that's a lot of power and you definitely feel it.
You definitely feel the power, but every time I step
on the gas, you feel that power.
It surges.
I just know I'm like burning through the gas
quickly, quickly and faster.
Watch that, that needle of the gas tank just like
start to drop as soon as you hit the throttle, but it
feels fun though.
It sounds great.
Gots of power.
It feels great, you know, but the bottom line is you
want to use the gas that your car was designed to
actually use.
You know, more expensive doesn't always mean better.
Read your owner's manual.
Look at the actual gas cap on your car when you flip
the little lid open the fuel gas.
There's a little tag on there and sometimes it'll
say premium only sometimes like my truck.
It'll say E 85 slash gasoline, which means I can run
a mix of E 85 or gasoline or both or either or it
doesn't matter.
And so look at your manual for your car and you
make the best decision for your vehicle.
Okay.
Moving on to top tier gasoline and some fuels that
you probably want to avoid.
So you think that one refinery, one gas gets sent
down there to the gas stations, but not all gas is
created equally.
Even if it has the exact same octane like a premium
at this station versus a premium at that station,
they're still different.
Now what is top tier gas?
You probably heard about this commercials for top tier
this where station delivers top tier gasoline.
Our gas is top tier gas.
What does that even mean and is it something to be
aware of top tier gas is the standard created by
major automakers to guarantee high quality fuel.
So it's not just about the octane.
It's about the additives that clean and protect
your engine.
It's like their secret sauce.
Every single gas station company or gas station
you go to has got their own version of this.
If you ever been to a Chevron gas station, you might
have seen the powered by Techron that Techron is
their additive they put in their gasoline.
And if a station says top tier gas right on the
pump, all that means is that that station meets
the minimum required by the EPA as far as the
additives are concerned and top tier claims that
they actually exceed or go beyond the minimum
requirements for the additives that need to be
put into the gasoline at the gas station.
So why do these detergents even matter?
Well, you see when you drive your car and the
pistons go up and down, the oil slides around
the spark plugs burn and they got all this
stuff happening and all this stuff and crud and
crap that happens and gets clogged up in the
engine and the valves intake valve exhaust valve
in the cylinders himself.
The detergents help clean these things.
It helps clean the fuel injectors helps clean
the intake valves and it cleans out help prevent
some of this carbon buildup.
All the like certain crap that gets burnt up
and gets left there inside your engine because
nobody wants to fill the engine inside or out.
You don't want your engine to be horrible and
crappy because that starts to cause issues
with your engine later.
So having these detergents in the gas helps
prevent these things.
So you're wondering which gas stations actually
have top tier gas?
Well, you can look it up at top tier gas.
I'm sure the website is something like
top tier gas dot com something like that.
I'm sure is what it is, but you can look
these things up, but you'll find places
like Shell Chevron mobile Costco and a
bunch of other places that all claim top
tier gas, which means they meet or exceed
the minimum standard for additives in their gasoline.
And just because it says top tier does not mean
it to pay top tier prices places like Costco,
which have very, very cheap gas considered
like compared to other places.
Their gas is very cheap.
It's on the like minimum of price point
compared to other places.
And they have additives in their gas.
They meet and exceed top tier levels
with their gasoline.
And I know you're probably wondering,
Hey, Chris, I just buy at like Joe's blows
house of gas down the street and that's
the only gas that I've ever got from my car.
Did I destroy my car?
Am I like ruining my sweet ride by
putting Joe blows house of gas in there?
It's definitely not top tier.
I don't know where it comes from
tell you the truth, but what do I do?
Well, hold your horses.
Just chill out.
Is it bad?
Well, not necessarily.
The base fuel coming down the pipeline
is the same base gasoline that's put
in all the other gas stations.
All the gas, whether Chevron or Shell
or wherever that base gas, the gas
that comes down the pipe to the tanks
here in San Diego or wherever you live.
That gas is all the same.
The only real difference is the actual
additive package.
The type of added like that
tech one I was telling about with Chevron
that stuff every station,
every company has their own little secret sauce.
They're a little secret added.
They use Chevrons happen to be tech run
and how well maintained the pumps
and the actual gas tanks themselves are
because some of these smaller stations
not to throw any amount of the bus,
but I'm going to right now.
Some of these small independent stations
like special ones out on the little
nowhere, we don't know
if anybody's maintained that tank.
We have no idea.
But definitely not top tier.
We have no idea if they change the filters
because there are filters
on the actual gas pumps.
When you pump gas in your car,
that thing you hook the nozzle on
behind that little shed behind little
buttons that say premium regular
and mid grade behind that.
There's a filter in that system.
There are filters of fuel before it
goes into your tank.
Now, do they change those filters?
I don't know.
Maybe they do.
Maybe they don't.
You don't know.
But hey personally for me,
that is why I only stick to name
brand gas lanes.
If I have to and if I absolutely
have to like if I'm stranded in the
middle of nowhere and it's like the
only gas station around for miles
and I got to get the next destination.
Yeah, of course.
I'll get whatever I got, right?
But living here in the city,
having multiple choices,
name brand choices personally for me.
I'd rather go to a name brand
gasoline that I know it's top tier.
I know the quality of the gas is good.
I know the tanks are maintained.
I know the filters have been
replaced on the pumps
because I want to make sure that the
gas I put in my truck in my cars
is the highest quality possible.
Now, I can remember a story
years and years ago that I've heard
this happen multiple times,
not from this story,
but from other people said the same thing
is that a lot of these smaller
independent gas stations,
these really small not name brand places,
but like Joe blows gas station of gas
or whatever, right?
Small independent stations
since they don't have a contract
with a major company like like Chevron
or Shell or anything like that.
They have, they can buy gas from
anywhere in any place they want
that they will buy gas
from companies that siphon the gas
out of wrecked cars at wrecking yards.
All those cars, all those cars with
accidents, they've got gas in their
tanks still, right?
So they siphon all the gas out
and put it in a storage tank.
And technically the gas is still
quote unquote good, I guess,
but company will come take that gas
and they will sell it to some of
these independent stations for like dirt
cheap and then they will put in there
and they'll top it off with a gas
load of like regular gas on top of it
to kind of mix it up, make it somewhat
decent because they can't run all
because they don't know what it is.
It could be, it could be diesel.
It could be, you know, premium regular.
Who knows?
It could be 85, could be a mix
of all kinds of stuff.
And that's what happens as some of
these independent stations and another
thing that happens to these
stations too, I've heard this story
too, is that you'll be there delivering
gas at an independent station.
I don't do that, but I know other
people have have and they would say
that they get to a station and the
regular load that they have wouldn't
fit in their regular tank.
The regular won't fit in the regular
and the station owner will say,
well, just put the rest in the premium.
Don't even worry about it.
Put it in the premium.
So basically you're making your
premium or downgrading it down to
mid grade now, but you're going
to sell it for premium prices.
Of course you are, right?
The owner doesn't care because he's
getting a discount.
He's getting now premium for regular
prices and he's selling it for premium
prices.
So there's a lot of shady things
that kind of happen at these
independent stations.
So personally, I stay clear of these
places and I only stick to major
companies when it comes to buying
gas.
Okay.
So what do you look for when
choosing a gas station?
Well, if you stick to the major
brands, you're probably going to
be just fine.
The major gas stations, the major
oil company gas stations, you
want you, once you all know and
you've all seen, stick to those
and especially if you go to the
pump and it says top tier gas,
you're clean, you're fine.
It's all good, good to go.
Like I said, you can buy gas
wherever you want to buy gas.
You can put whatever gas you
want to put in your car, go
right ahead.
But personally for me, I try to
avoid the smaller independent
stations that can buy gas from
any place, anywhere and just put
whatever they want in their gas
take and sell to you for whatever
they want.
Okay.
So now moving on to choosing the
right fuel for your car, which
is what this is all about in the
first place.
So you got a cool car or any
kind of car really, you want to
make sure that you are buying
and fueling up your vehicle with
the correct gas that you need.
Now we've talked all about regular
premium top tier racing blends
and so like how do you actually
choose the best fuel for your
car?
Well, let's make it simple so you
can make the right choice, the
best choice every single time
you fill up.
It starts with your owner's
manual.
I know I said this before every
car that you buy hopefully
new comes with your owner's
manual.
But if you bought a used car
like I go about my Z for
example, it did not have an
owner's manual at all.
But with a little googly
ugly little search on the web,
you can figure out which kind
of fuel is required for your
car.
If you do not have an owner's
manual and it sounds simple.
It sounds basic.
Sounds like a no brainer.
Yeah, look at the manual.
If you can't find in the
manual, then you look actually
at the gas cap itself.
It should say right on that or
the actual gas cap door.
It should say inside there,
whether it's a premium only or
they can run E85 or whatever
it is, it should say right
in there.
It sounds pretty simple.
But if it says regular, you're
good to go.
If it says premium, then you can
use regular if you have to, but
you will lose some performance.
And as soon as you get a chance,
put premium in that tank, stick
with whatever your manual says
to putting your car.
And there are some people out
there that think that if they
run premium in a car that only
requires regular, it'll make it
run better.
It'll make it run faster.
I'll make it run like a like
a sports car all of a sudden my
regular like, I don't know,
Jetta, it's going to run great
if I run premium in there.
Even though only requires regular.
Well, that's actually a myth.
Yeah, I know you're actually
losing money and throwing money
away by running the wrong fuel
or higher grade of fuel in a car
that doesn't actually need it.
Premium isn't cleaner or more
powerful.
It's just more resistant to
knocking in high compression engines.
Now, if you are Jetta that runs
on regular regular 87 does
have like that engine knocking
sound, then running premium
might help fix that and clean
that out.
It might actually improve
when that happens.
So that is some instances
where you actually might want
to run premium in a car
that has regular.
And the next time you're at
the gas station and you're
getting gas and you see
that extra little nozzle
and it says E 85 run on that
thing, you're considering
well, hey, you know, should I
use 85 in my car?
Should I do it?
Why not?
It's right there.
It's it's a way cheaper than
this regular I'm getting.
Maybe I should do that.
Well, slow down.
If you do not have a flex
fuel vehicle, don't even think
about it.
And how do you know if you
have a flex fuel vehicle?
It'll say right on the owner's
manual, it'll say on the actual
gasoline gas cap, it'll say
on the gas cap door.
And usually if you can't see
it written down, the gas
cap itself will be a yellow
color.
So if it's like a yellow color
on the actual gas cap that you
take off to put gas in there,
that usually means you can run
flex fuel in your car.
But if you want to run flex
fuel because you can run flex
fuel, you do get lots of power.
You pick a how more power
baby, let's do this.
You do get more power, but
you do spend more gas getting
that power.
You will lose MPG miles per
gallon when you run that.
But if you have a high
performance sports car and it's
tuned for 85, you got all the
stuff done, the injectors.
You got everything done
necessary to run the 85.
You're probably going to run
85.
I see a lot of sports cars that
I know did not come stock from
the factory to run 85 and people
were filling these things up
with the 85.
I saw a Nissan GTR getting
85 at a gas station.
I seen lots of 200 type cars
getting 85 at the gas station.
And one guy was telling me at
the pump once and he was saying
that like all these different
numbers and different dino charts
he was getting with the 85 versus
running the premium he was
putting in before.
So he loves that.
He was telling you how much he
loves that stuff, how great
it is, how much power it is,
how fast it is.
Well, hey, if that's what you
want, then go ahead and go get
it, baby.
It's what it's all about, baby.
Getting your cool car with
your cool gas in the 85 and
get your zoom, zoom on.
And just remember that not
every grade of gasoline, not
every gas station itself is the
same.
Choose the best choice for your
vehicle.
Look at that manual.
Figure out what your car actually
needs to run on it.
And if you are hearing weird
sounds coming from the engine
when you step on the gas
pedal and it makes like this
like pinging sound or like,
you know, sounds like
something kind of like pinging
around the engine, like a high
pitch, like ball bearing
bouncer or something you'll
hear it.
And if you hear this kind of
weird sound, well, then maybe
change things up or take it
to a mechanic and ask them
what they think, you know, is
the problem with your car.
It could be something more
serious than just changing the
gasoline.
But most cases if you are
hearing pinging sounds or
knocking sounds in your engine
upgrading to premium might fix
it changing to an actual like
top tier gasoline might help
with that.
There are gasoline additives.
You can buy it, you know,
auto zone, pet boys, any kind
of like parts store, they've
got these different fuel
additives.
They're designed to kind of
clean out your car, clean
out your injectors.
It's probably good every so
often and throw one of those in
your gas tank, no matter what
you use.
And it will help clean things
out, keep keeping your car
running as smooth and as
optimal as as possible
because you want your car
to last, right?
I mean, who doesn't want your
car to break down?
Nobody wants a car to break
down.
I don't want my truck to
break down.
So stay on the maintenance
schedule, of course, and make
sure you're running the best
gas, the proper gas for
your cool car.
Thank you so much for being
here all the way to the very
end of this episode.
I appreciate you so much.
If you could do me a small
favor.
If this episode and this
podcast meant something to
you, if you learn something
new, if it was entertaining,
if it was a great time just
being here and joining the
show, could you do me a
small favor and head on over
to wherever you're listening
to this podcast, hopefully
to their Apple or Spotify
wherever you listen.
If you could leave me a
rating and review for this
show, that would be super cool.
I would really appreciate that.
That would be amazing.
And until next time, drive
safe, stay legal.
Don't crash it.
Don't give the insurance
companies a reason to be
around and I'll see you on
the very next episode.
About this episode
A gasoline tanker driver shares insider knowledge about fuel types, delivery, and what really goes into your gas tank. From crude oil origins to refinery processes, the episode explains differences between regular, mid-grade, premium, racing fuel, and E85 ethanol blends. It debunks myths about fuel grades, highlights the importance of top tier additives, and warns about shady practices at independent stations. Practical advice is given on choosing the right fuel based on your vehicle’s manual and fuel cap, plus tips on handling accidental wrong fuel use. The episode offers a clear, behind-the-scenes look at fueling your car smarter.
Original notes
Confused about what gas to put in your car? Wondering if premium is worth it—or what E85 even is? This episode has all the answers.
In this power-packed episode of Cool Cars with Chris, I break down everything you’ve ever wanted to know about fuel—from how it’s made to which type your car actually needs. And yes, I know what I’m talking about... because I literally drive the fuel to your gas station. 😎
We’ll explore:
⛽️ What really makes premium, mid-grade, and regular different
🚗 Should you run E85 in your car? (It depends!)
🛢️ Where gasoline comes from and how it gets to your local pump
⚠️ What “Top Tier” fuel means—and why it might save your engine
💸 Are you wasting money by using the wrong gas?
🏁 What racing fuel is—and who actually needs it
🧼 Additives, ethanol, octane ratings, and myths—all decoded
Whether you're a car enthusiast, weekend tuner, or just tired of guessing at the pump, this episode will help you fuel smarter and protect your engine (and your wallet).
🙌 Support the Show:
💬 Liked this episode? Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it helps more people find the show!
📲 Follow to get new episodes every week on cars, culture, and horsepower.
00:00 – ⛽️ Ever Wonder What Fuel You *Should* Be Using?
00:31 – 🎧 Welcome to Cool Cars with Chris
01:08 – 🧪 What *Is* Gasoline? Petro vs. Fuel vs. Gas
02:00 – 🦕 From Dinosaurs to Your Tank: Where Gas Comes From
04:09 – 🔥 How Crude Oil Becomes the Fuel You Use
05:11 – 📊 Fuel Grades Explained: Regular, Mid, Premium
06:02 – 🚛 My Life as a Gasoline Tanker Driver
07:17 – 🛢️ How Gas Gets Delivered: Pipelines, Transmix & Storage
08:13 – 🏁 Inside the Delivery Process: What Really Happens at the Station
10:18 – 🧪 What Makes Each Brand’s Gas Different? Additives Explained
12:09 – 🎯 Octane Demystified: What Those Numbers Really Mean
14:14 – 🧪 Mid-Grade Magic? How It’s *Really* Made at the Pump
16:12 – 👑 Premium Fuel: Who Needs It (and Who Doesn’t)
18:00 – 😱 What Happens If You Use the Wrong Gas?
19:23 – 🏎️ Race Fuel 101: Who Should Use 100+ Octane?
21:06 – 🌽 E85 Ethanol: High Power, Low Cost, But Worth It?
24:52 – 📉 Real Talk: MPG Loss with E85 (Chris’s Data)
26:44 – 📘 How to Know What Fuel *Your* Car Needs
27:18 – ✅ What Is “Top Tier” Gas and Why It Matters
29:03 – 🧼 Fuel Additives & Engine Cleanliness
31:22 – 🚫 The Risk of Shady Gas Stations (and Filter Horror Stories)
33:32 – 🧃 Salvaged Fuel? Wild Stories from Small Stations
35:43 – ✔️ How to Choose a Reliable Gas Station
36:10 – 📖 Don’t Guess—Check Your Manual or Gas Cap
37:18 – 💸 Will Premium Improve a Car That Only Needs Regular?
38:24 – 💛 Can *Your* Car Run on E85? Here’s How to Tell
40:13 – 🚀 Tuning for Power: Why Performance Cars Run E85
41:53 – 🙌 Outro + Leave a Review (Thanks for Listening!)
fuel types explained, premium vs regular gas, E85 fuel, top tier gas, octane rating, gas station secrets, mid-grade fuel, race fuel, ethanol vs gas, best gas for your car, gasoline 101, fuel tips from a pro, tanker driver podcast, how gas gets delivered, automotive podcast
#AutomotivePodcast #FuelTips #E85 #PremiumGas #CoolCarsWithChris #OctaneExplained #Gasoline101 #TopTierGas #CarCareTips
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