I live in the southwest where 91 octane is the highest you can come by. I do not even know if they sell these but do they have any type of octane additive that boosts the rating-to maybe a 93 octane or such and would that be fine to run on a 530?

 

Why do they only sell 91 octance, every state I have been to has at least 93???

 

As far as I am aware of California and Arizona sell only 91 as the highest octane. Having said that, I do know at least in CA you can buy 100 octane race fuel to mix with 91 octane. This combined mixture will result in 95.5 octane. My dyno butt can tell the difference.

 

Will running >93 octane ruin the engine or be counterproductive? I have tried to read but have found mixed reviews anywhere from a decrease performance, damaging to the engine to increased performance.

 

here's a list of places in cali where you can get 100 octane.

http://personal.linkline.com/dbarton/Unlea...l_in_SoCal.html

i know vt would go to the one on san miguel road. ive been to the one on beach blvd at the car wash.

 

Here in Hawaii the highest rating you can get is 92. You can try 104 octane boost, it will bump you up about one octane number if you use their strongest formulation at its maximum concentration. The claims for octane boost are misleading. They will comonly say increases up tp 7 point or similar language. Each point is 1/10th of a number. below is a quote from a FAQ section on octane boosters



. The term "points" is commonly used in the automotive industry when referring to the octane increase a product offers. This is different from the figures shown at your local gas pump, where the octane "rating" of a gasoline is measured in "numbers". This can sometimes create confusion as to how "points" translate to "numbers". The following calculation can be used to translate points to numbers:



1 octane point = 0.1 octane number

Increasing the octane of gasoline has several positive effects on automobile performance. A higher octane gasoline will allow a car to run smoother by reducing knocks and pings, which ultimately restores lost performance.

An example of this might be:

Common regular unleaded gasoline is rated at 87 octane at the gas pump. If you treat that gasoline with an octane enhancement product that claims a 5 "point" increase, then the end result will be a gasoline that has an 87.5 octane rating. In this example, the octane enhancement product provided 5 "points", which is equal to 0.5 octane numbers.

 

Adding higher octane fuel will not do anything for performance unless the car is tunned for the higher octane fuel. BMW's are tuned from the factory for 91 octane fuel, adding higher octane fuel or octane boosters will do nothing for performance, however it will lighten your wallet. A test was conducted a few years ago on octane and performance. Without going into detail, the test concluded that cars made more power using the manufacturer recommended octane fuel then with fuel with higher octane. Remember octane suppresses combustion and unless you compensate with more compression, timing, tuning etc you will not get more power.

This is a good read

Bill

 

That is odd-I have seen consistenly higher numbers at 93 octaine on a dyno compared to 91 but no increase further after that-isnt 93 the standard "premium" octane in some states with the others being 89, 87? thus dont some only off 93 octane or else the next is a 89? I dont know since I live in 91 land

 

Forget gas "boosters".

No actual benefits.

 

It's odd because it what the oil companies do want you to know. They add cheap ethanol and some other stuff in gas to raise the octane and charge 30+ cents a gallon. Some higher octane (Sunoco, Amaco, BP) have certain additives and cleaners that help keep carbon build-up to a minimum. Adding a tank of this gas or a cleaner once a month is a good thing. But don't thing you will be making more HP. Here on the east coast depending on what gas station, we have 87, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94 and 100 (racing) octane. These higher octane gas are meant for engines (high compression or high boost) designed to to use them.

Bill