Supermarket fuel

I can remember my father putting a couple of squirts of Redex in the tank when he filled up. Subsequently I believe that it has been proved that it did no good whatsoever.

The petrol situation is the same as supermarket food own brands that are actually from the same factory as the branded goods and identical in every way e.g. Cornflakes. People still convince themselves that the branded goods are better.

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In the case of fuel it is better. It can be proven on the dynomometer. If you go to Goodwood theres a petrol station near by. Theres a speical pump there with racing fuel. Stick that in & tell me theres no difference! I've been involved with motor racing & engine developement for years. If you want to deny the wisdom of profesionals like the AA man go ahead. It will be your wallet that suffers. I know because I have tested my Porsche on the dyno on stock pump fuel & on shell V power. Guess what it made nearly 20hp more on the V power. If you don't believe me try it yourself. The difference is massive. Oh and my aged Audi still makes 140hp just the same as it did when it was new. But only on nitro. The economy improvement is clear to see from the onboard computer. And it's not my imagination that it runs perfectly on nitro. And in limp home mode on supermarket fuel. It's a fact. Proven on the dynomometer. I originally was blaming the turbo. So much so that I took it off the car & stripped it down to check the variable vanes were working correctly as I was convinced that they must be sticking. But the Turbo was working perfectly.

I can remember my father putting a couple of squirts of Redex in the tank when he filled up. Subsequently I believe that it has been proved that it did no good whatsoever.

The petrol situation is the same as supermarket food own brands that are actually from the same factory as the branded goods and identical in every way e.g. Cornflakes. People still convince themselves that the branded goods are better.

Write your comments here...

In the case of fuel it is better. It can be proven on the dynomometer. If you go to Goodwood theres a petrol station near by. Theres a speical pump there with racing fuel. Stick that in & tell me theres no difference! I've been involved with motor racing & engine developement for years. If you want to deny the wisdom of profesionals like the AA man go ahead. It will be your wallet that suffers. I know because I have tested my Porsche on the dyno on stock pump fuel & on shell V power. Guess what it made nearly 20hp more on the V power. If you don't believe me try it yourself. The difference is massive. Oh and my aged Audi still makes 140hp just the same as it did when it was new. But only on nitro. The economy improvement is clear to see from the onboard computer. And it's not my imagination that it runs perfectly on nitro. And in limp home mode on supermarket fuel. It's a fact. Proven on the dynomometer. I originally was blaming the turbo. So much so that I took it off the car & stripped it down to check the variable vanes were working correctly as I was convinced that they must be sticking. But the Turbo was working perfectly.

If you are talking petrol, then I will (and have earlier in this thread) agree if you have a race tuned engine, see benefit from the fuel with additives in.

But cannot accept what you are saying about diesel, it's just not correct.

There is a difference between supermarkets and branded fuel.

That's a fact. But the difference is ONLY in the additive pack, the base fuel is exactly the same.

Assuming the branded fuel is superior to supermarkets fuels, which themselves use different additive packs, then its claimed to be of benefit to the engine only over a high mileage.

Which is why i only usually use supermarket fuels, my favorite is Morrisons, but usually we use Tesco because it the nearest and cheaper than Shell locally. Least favorite is Asda, i'm sure their additive pack isnt as good.

Basic BS EN 590 only has the same additives for lubricity etc, so for the base fuel they are all the same*. We have small additive tanks for the premium versions of the branded versions, as other have said, these are metered into the road tanker during loading - all other additives are added at the blenders before coming to the main RTW loading tanks. 

If you buy the Turbo-Nitro-Carlos-van-Dango version, then yes you are getting a brand specific additive to the standard fuel. Typically at the ppm level, which equates to around a spoonful in a full tanks fill, for which you will pay perhaps £5?

If you have a performance petrol car, I would agree these are perhaps worth the extra (if you feel you need the extra), but diesel vehicles are quite indifferent to additives and operate on a much broader calorific range - as I have said before, my old 90 runs fine on old veg oil, the only difference is that it smells like I'm cooking chips.

If you buy bog standard, then its just bog standard!

*When I say same, see my comments previously - its slightly different week to week based on what goes into the blend and its different summer to winter (if you have a jerry can, fill it in winter, winter spec fuel has less water in it) and also will vary refinery to refinery subject to what distillates they make and also what 'bio' components they blend Ethanol or Methanol or both, to enable them to get the best 'government incentives' 

How do you know what the additive packs contain?

As far as i know Esso, Shell, and the supermarkets generally keep their additive packs a close secret.

Yes the base fuel is the same, but not the additive pack added into the tanker at distribution. That's even been televised in the past.

If you have a link i'm more than happy to say i'm wrong, but having read posts from OTHER  people that work in the industry they admit to using branded fuel simply because they say the additive pack benefits the engine LONG TERM.

I don't bother because my cars have less than 30K miles on them when i change.

I should also point out than some cars are designed to run better at 98 octane, that's another FACT, it was provided in print when i owned a 1999 Audi A4 Quattro petrol.

The car produced 180 BHP when run on 98, but could be used with a lower octane with a power reduction.

My local AA man may not work in the fuel industry however in conversation with him many months ago I noted he owns an Accord and Passat diesel and his comment was he always uses premium brands. When asked why his response was simply down to overvation of problems over the years from car owners using supermarket fuels. 

accepting that is subjective response and putting that to one side what can CJ tell us about cetane values in diesel? do they vary and can additives improve values? 

The fact that performance race cars use special fuel has been put forward to draw the conclusion that supermarket fuel is rubbish. 

However as far as I know a formula one engine has a life of about 1000miles, before they are scrapped and mpg is poor as well. .  So therefore you can come to the logical conclusion that the fuel they use is rubbish as the engines don't last may be they would be better filling up at Tesco's?

On a more serious note I can't remember when I last had a mechinical engine fault at least 500,000 miles ago.  I use almost exclusively Supermarket fuel and that 500K miles includes two Passat's and an Accord and I gladly trade a bit of performance for longevity and reliabilty

At the end of the day it is your money and your choice.

When ever I fill up with supermarket fuel, my diesel Santa Fe smokes on start up. When I use branded fuels it doesn't.

Maybe the bad reactions to Supermarket fuels is down to the Diesel engine fitted to certain vehicles, maybe not as robust as others. The engine does seem to be a common denominator. I've never had a problem over the years & I use S/mkt fuel exclusively.

When ever I fill up with supermarket fuel, my diesel Santa Fe smokes on start up. When I use branded fuels it doesn't.

does the Smart get the full fat petrol?  

When ever I fill up with supermarket fuel, my diesel Santa Fe smokes on start up. When I use branded fuels it doesn't.

does the Smart get the full fat petrol?  

Yes it does, and the supermarket ones are fine!

If supermarket fuel is so bad then half of the cars in preston should be brokem down as the morrisons near to where i live, never has an empty pump