Let's be honest. 97% of the people on earth and 95% of the people on this forum had never heard of "Top Tier" gas before this thread. I have been driving a long time and I never heard the term nor saw it in my owners manual (did I miss it)?
The majority of people are going to buy gas based on 1-3 factors:
1) Shit. I am almost out of gas and there is a station.
AND/OR
2) That station is $ 0.08 cheaper than the one across the street.
AND/OR
3) I get $ 0.30 a gallon off at XYZ because of my grocery store loyalty points.
XYZ in my case is Loaf and Jug and they are not on the "Top Tier" list. I have been filling there for probably over 10 years and never once had an issue.
I have a buddy that is a petroleum engineer and he was once explaining how the whole process works.
First, every gas station name brand does not have a refinery. In fact, almost none do.
Lets take the city where I live. There is one refinery that serves the front range and the majority of Colorado. Suncor Energy in Commerce City. Anybody that lives here knows it because it is a huge complex (like any refinery) and when you pas it on the highway, the smell is refined (so to speak).
If you are buying gas or diesel in your refineries market you are getting gas from that refinery whether you go to Shell, Costco or Mom and Dad's Pump and Squat. Sure, the individual retailers may order slightly different blends of non-enhanced, Ethanol or MTBE (required here in the winter months) but in the end, they all have to meet the same octane testing and purity requirements.
So I will argue that the Top Tier thing - don't mean squat in the real world.
Geez, when did Colorado residents become the official representatives of the "real world"? I guess if the overly in tune, perceptive, genius, dope smokers :smokin: up there didn't become aware of Top Tier between drags on the joints or while dealin the stuff, then we need to call the consortium of OEM's and tell them that Blitzkrieg and his Colorado buddies aren't aware of it and they better scrap the whole program.
In all seriousness, I'm continually surprised to find that people join forums tied to a particular make or model of vehicle, which I would think means they care about maintaining or improving it, but then such flippant attitudes manifest when something arises that they don't know about, but actually may help them in the long run. I guess just because one person doesn't know about something, or care, it means that the rest of the world doesn't know or care either. Fascinating perspective, albeit extremely myopic.
Back to the topic at hand. I don't intend to bore the group here, but since absolutely incorrect information was thrown out here, I feel the need to address it for those that do care to know how things work with gasoline, Top Tier, and distribution. if that's no one, so be it, you can stop reading now. Please understand that I've spent the last decade working with U.S. and global refiners, fuel marketers, and fuel pipelines. I live and breathe it daily, so I'm pretty certain I have it right...
Fuel buying decisions are based on a little bit more thought than the oversimplification above. In fact, fuel quality, the potential for improved performance, and auto longevity are considerable driving factors behind the gasoline buying decision. How do I know? Reams of market research data compiled over many years regarding customer sentiment and what motivates a fuel purchase. Yes, price and grocery points definitely enter into the equation for some, but so does a concern over doing what is best for the life of their vehicle and fuel quality itself for optimum performance. Given the lack of supercharger option on the t4R, I'm all for getting 100% out of mine. Personally, I couldn't care less about grocery points getting me $0.30/gallon off of crap LAC fuel bought at the lowest possible price. If I'm spending $40K on a truck and a ton more on upgrades, I'd like to maintain it as well as possible. Apparently a large number of refiners and marketers agree with and have mined the same data we've seen in support of this mindset, given many have made a move to Top Tier over the past few years. I'm certain they wouldn't go to the expense of doing so with higher additive treat levels in gasoline if it didn't mean something to the consumer. Maybe not you or anyone you know, but consumers somewhere care about it.
Over 50% of the fuel sold in the U.S. is at Top Tier treat levels so it must resonate or it wouldn't be growing annually. Valero, the nations largest independent refiner, just went Top Tier this year. I guess we better tell them its a stupid idea too. Surely Blitzkrieg knows best what Joe Consumer wants...
How do you know if Loaf and Jug is purchasing Top Tier gasoline or not? Did you ask them where they purchase their gasoline? Just because they don't have a Top Tier campaign (most Mom and Pop's don't) doesn't mean they aren't buying Top Tier fuel for one reason or another. Or they could just be buying LAC out of ignorance or lack if interest in making more $$.
As for Suncor servicing all of Colorado, absolutely not true. Colorado's gasoline consumption is ~5.7 millon gallons per day, and Suncor produces ~2.7 million gallons of gasoline per day. I'm no math major, but no way that Suncor could keep up with the demand for the entire state, or half of it for that matter.
Below is a list of fuel terminals and pipelines that service Colorado. You are correct, not all service stations have their own refineries, but they do have the ability to pull fuel from those that operate refineries, pipelines, and fuel terminals, and can spec. the amount of additive in their fuel.
Suncor Energy USA
5800 Brighton Boulevard
Commerce City, CO 80022
Suncor Energy USA - Denver
5575 Brighton Boulevard
Commerce City, CO 80022
NuStar Logistics, L. P. - Denver
3601 East 56th Street
Commerce City, CO 80022
Phillips 66 PL - Denver
3960 East 56th Avenue
Commerce City, CO 80022
Magellan Pipeline Company, L.P.
8160 Krameria
DuPont, CO 80024
Magellan Pipeline Company, L.P.
1004 S. Sante Fe
Fountain, CO 80817
Golden Gate/SET Petroleum Partners
1493 Hwy 6 & 50
Fruita, CO 81521
NuStar Logistics, L. P. - Colorado Springs
7810 Drennan
Colorado Springs, CO 80925
Sinclair Transport.- Denver CO
8581 East 96th Ave
Henderson, CO
CO
Phillips 66 PL - LaJunta Terminal
31610 East Hwy 50
LaJunta, CO 81050
Golden Gate/SET Petroleum Partners
1629 21 Road
Fruita, CO 81521
Here's how it works:
Refineries produce gasoline or diesel and move it to an on site terminal where it gets trans-loaded into trucks and then on to a retail station, or into a major pipeline such as Buckeye, Magellan, or NuStar to name a few. Pipelines move an incredible amount of fuel daily, and have different fuel terminals where fuel is taken off along the way. Seen the arguments for Keystone and the jobs/revenue it would drive? It's just like that, multiple times over. The fuel terminals across the U.S. where the gasoline goes are owned by any of a number of fuel distributors or oil companies, many you have probably heard of before. Exxon, Shell, Valero, Suncor, P66, and a hundred others. There are thousands of terminals across the U.S.
At the terminals are truck racks. A retail marketer or wholesaler sends in a truck to pick up fuel. The driver swipes a card, the computer recognizes him as XX company, and the gasoline is then dosed with the appropriate amount of additive per their contract with the terminal. Boom, they just pulled fuel from somewhere other than one refinery in that region (Colorado in your case). Gasoline is "fungible", meaning that it's traded between fuel trading entities all of the time, typically when a particular refiner doesn't have a refinery in a state or region, or their own pipeline in that area. The truck rack treats it to a specification, which becomes the differentiator at the retail level if LAC+. Many times a major fuel marketer (pick one), will have their own additive tank at a terminal or truck rack so that they can maintain the quality of their fuel using the same additive system everywhere. The fuel may not be that from a particular refiner's own refinery, but its of the required specification and contains the agreed upon additive system.
Its not about Octane or "purity". Gasoline has to meet certain ASTM specifications, including Octane so its a given. It's about additive content, Top Tier, Top Tier +, LAC, or something in between. It's about gasoline detergent, performance, and subsequent marketing claims. Have you ever heard of Shell V Power? Not just a marketing campaign. There is data backed science behind it.
Any fuel brands that go Top Tier must treat at those levels for ALL of their retail sites. Costco is Top Tier too, but then again I'm sure you weren't aware of that either since you could care less about what you put in your truck, as long as it's cheap. Guess you are only here to see how to put all of the cool accessories on your truck for the bling factor. Your prerogative to buy cheap gas and dirty up your engine, but don't say I didn't try to help keep the parts under the hood clean.
