BY BENJAMIN HUNTING / ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 17, 2018 / NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE PARTS ASSOCIATION / The benefits of premium gas can be difficult to separate from the&hellip;{"id":10914,"date":"2018-12-17T11:42:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T19:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/?p=10914"},"modified":"2018-12-17T11:42:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T19:42:57","slug":"benefits-of-premium-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/17\/benefits-of-premium-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Premium Gas: Do You Need To Pay More?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\">BY BENJAMIN HUNTING \/ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 17, 2018 \/<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.napaautocare.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE PARTS ASSOCIATION<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\/<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The benefits of premium gas can be difficult to separate from the marketing hype that goes with it. Presented as the \u201ctop tier\u201d fuel at your local filling station, it can often seem like a question of \u201cgood, better, best\u201d when choosing which option to pump into your own tank.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The reality, however, is a little more complicated than that. There are very good reasons why you might want to pay more for premium gas, but most of them were mechanically predetermined long before you pulled in to fill up.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What\u2019s That Knocking Sound?<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The reason there\u2019s more than one\u00a0<\/span><strong><a class=\"SWhtmlLink\" href=\"http:\/\/knowhow.napaonline.com\/premium-vs-regular-gas-which-one-do-you-really-need\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">type of gasoline<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">available is because car companies manufacture engines that require fuels with different resistance levels to \u201cknock.\u201d Knock is the sound an internal combustion engine makes when the fuel being compressed in the cylinder ignites before the spark plug has a chance to fire. This is called \u201cdetonation\u201d or \u201cpreignition,\u201d and it not only robs your vehicle of power, but it can also cause damage to numerous mechanical components.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The octane rating on a modern gas pump is actually a representation of its resistance to knock. In fact, one of the main benefits of premium gas is that it avoids detonation better than regular gas. The higher the octane \u2014 usually expressed as a range from 87 to 94 \u2014 the stronger the resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Use As Directed<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Engines that have a high-compression design or utilize a form of forced induction, which usually includes a turbocharger or a supercharger, often require high octane fuel to prevent preignition from becoming a problem when the vehicle is under load. If this is the case for your car, then the benefits of premium gas will be listed in the owner\u2019s manual, and it is typically noted as a requirement on the sticker found inside the fuel door itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If your engine isn\u2019t specifically designed to require 91, 93 or 94 octane fuel, however, you won\u2019t see any difference running the more expensive gasoline in your car. It won\u2019t improve fuel economy, allow your engine to burn \u201ccleaner\u201d or offer any other benefits. If a vehicle\u2019s ECU isn\u2019t programmed to advance timing and to take advantage of premium gas, it will burn just like the 87 octane that your vehicle was designed for \u2014 even if you use an aftermarket<\/span>\u00a0<a class=\"SWhtmlLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/p\/PARAS740?cid=social_blog_112018_octane_booster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>octane booster<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Premium gas is helpful to engines that need it, but wasted on those that don\u2019t, so don\u2019t feel pressured into paying for more octane.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Check out all the<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/c\/fuel-emission-systems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>fuel and emission system parts<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">available on<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>NAPA Online<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">or trust one of their 16,000<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.napaautocare.com\/store-finder.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>NAPA AutoCare locations<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on the fuel you should use in your car, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.napaonline.com\/en\/store-locator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>local NAPA AUTO PARTS store<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Photo Credit:<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jeepersmedia\/18383663964\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Gas Pump, 6\/2015<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">by<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jeepersmedia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mike Mozart<\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/legalcode\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>CC BY_2.0<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, National Automotive Parts Association. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more<\/span>\u00a0<\/i><strong><i><a href=\"http:\/\/knowhow.napaonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">automotive tips and stories<\/a><\/i><\/strong><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0from NAPA, or here for more information on<\/span>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/event-info\/car-show-hours-dates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the next Pomona Swap Meet &amp; Classic Car Show<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":10915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[805],"tags":[6722,6723,6719,6720,6721,6724,3342,6714,6725,5762,6338,4844,6339,6718,6707,3491,3037,769,6706,768,6715,6713,6712,6709,6711,6710,6708,6717,6716],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/18383663964_d59b70efd2_o.jpg?fit=2592%2C1936&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9nnZN-2Q2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10918,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10914\/revisions\/10918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}