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  #21  
Old 08-03-2012, 02:50 PM
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Just to ,
I had the privilege to meet a BMW engineer who came to our local dealership from Germany. He was investigating what happened to an engine of a brand new 550i w/ less than 10k that decided to have a catastrophic failure. I luckily just happen to walk in when they had the new engine assembled and the old one disassembled. First of all, what a work of ART!!!!
The engineer has stated that this country has extremely low quality gasoline in order to keep it "cheap". The amount of carbon buildup inside the turbos and valves was excessive!! The customer on this particular vehicle was running cheap and low octane fuel (70k car and going cheap on fuel!!). The low octane fuel was less stable and can/does combust before the spark ignites it, causing the knock. It also does not ALL burn causing the carbon buildup. He told us a story of the last time he was here to examine a V10 M5 from St. Louis. Customer took to dyno and was about 100bhp short of advertised power, wanted his money back. BMW send him and a 50 Gal drum of Shell fuel from Germany. With only one tank he was up to 475 bhp and after two it was about 510, or a little over advertised.

A question was posted early about not knowing what the fuel quality was at any given gas station. I simply found 2 in my town that were both convenient and clean one Shell and one Mobile. I then spoke with the owners of the gas station and asked them 1)ethanol blend of any kind in their premium? (no at both stations) 2)how much priemium do they go through? (ensure clean fresh fuel).
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  #22  
Old 08-03-2012, 03:59 PM
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I wouldn't say the US has very low quality fuel, but rather that the US has very variable fuel quality. It isn't all crap, but the bad stuff is really bad.

That quality has little to do with the AKI rating of the fuel. Any fuel that is actually 87/89/91/etc will work fine. Yes, the lower AKI ratings sometimes have fewer detergents, but it isn't a direct relationship.

Too much ethanol, wrong additive package, water, sediment, stale fuel, all cause significant problems, and all of those can happen to 91 as easily as 87. In some cases the 91 is worse, because there is less of it sold, so it is more likely to be stale, or in a smaller (older) storage tank.

As to the Top Tier comment posted further up this thread, as MD points out, Top Tier is not a quality indicator. It is simply an indicator of the occurence of lab testing for the quality and quantity of one specific type of additive, in order to reduce deposit formation on intake valves. They don't measure or care about anything else, including AKI, freshness, water, and ethanol. And since the fuel companies responded to the original problem that Top Tier was designed to address, by going back to reasonable levels of additives, the Top Tier program has been rendered somewhat irrelevant for any name brand gasoline. They have been successful at getting consumers to think of it as a quality indicator, however.
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  #23  
Old 08-04-2012, 09:46 PM
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So..........

The general direction of responses has been along the lines of, "ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances."

Hehehehe. Just like the rest of the E53 ownership experience.

Cool.
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  #24  
Old 08-05-2012, 12:46 AM
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Interesting question.

I have an 05 4.4 and the fuel filler door say Unleaded Gasoline Premium.
What does yours say?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Franksauto View Post
Just wondering what fuel grade you run in your X5. Usually they say "Super Unleaded Only" on the gas gauge. My 06 4.8is says "Unleaded Fuel Only". I just filled it for the first time. I went ahead and filled with regular 87 octane unleaded. If thats a mistake I'll have to wait till she gets down some and refill with super.
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  #25  
Old 08-05-2012, 10:51 PM
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I havent checked in the fuel door yet however the gauge says unleaded gasoline only. Just took her out for a 200 mile run this weekend. Computer said it averaged 23.2 mpg but my gas gauge is just over 1/4 tank. Ill fill it and find out for sure what the mpg's were. I'll check the fuel door at the same time.
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  #26  
Old 10-12-2012, 09:43 AM
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4.8 needs 93 oct.
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  #27  
Old 10-12-2012, 11:17 AM
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I use a mix. When I think I will be using the car for "normal" around town driving, I use 91.

When I KNOW I will use the entire tank on the highway I use 89 or even sometimes 87.

I have never gotten a fuel related CEL.
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  #28  
Old 10-12-2012, 11:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1stE53 View Post
....The customer on this particular vehicle was running cheap and low octane fuel (70k car and going cheap on fuel!!)....
I see 760s, X5Ms, M6s, 550s, M5s, M3s and even a Z8 at the local QTs, Kroger, Sams Club filling up on swill. Can't understand the owners who drop big coin on a car and try to save a dollar or two at the pump. Don't even get me started on the owners who install cheap off brand tires on these vehicles, saw an M5 last week with Sunny brand tires!!!
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  #29  
Old 10-12-2012, 11:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TiAgX5 View Post
Don't even get me started on the owners who install cheap off brand tires on these vehicles, saw an M5 last week with Sunny brand tires!!!
My experience has been that unless you are a member of the "Car Acrobatic Team" and drive your car at 7/10ths or over all the time, buying tires that only last a year or less is a waste of money. Added up, it could be a difference of about 3K or more. That is money I would rather put into other toys or life experiences.

For normal, everyday driving the cheaper tires do just as well.
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  #30  
Old 10-12-2012, 12:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blktoptrvl View Post
My experience has been that unless you are a member of the "Car Acrobatic Team" and drive your car at 7/10ths or over all the time, buying tires that only last a year or less is a waste of money. Added up, it could be a difference of about 3K or more. That is money I would rather put into other toys or life experiences.

For normal, everyday driving the cheaper tires do just as well.
Tire Rack ran a comprehensive test on BMW 3 series cars a few years ago, they tested "bargain" brand tires alongside their name brand counterparts (the tires the bargain brands copied for their tread patterns).
Full spectrum tests, standing start, stop, cornering, slalom, road course, in both wet and dry conditions. The Linglong "bargain brand" looked identical to the Goodyear F1 tire yet 60-0 wet braking distances were almost DOUBLE the distance the F1 took to stop.
They found the "bargain" tires had limits so inferior to quality tires that the DSC and other electronic handling controls sometimes became "knife in the back" uncontrollable when they interveined, this was due to the fact that their limits were so far below the abilities of a quality tire, performance parameters that were used to establish the algorythms that the systems function with far exceeded the "bargain" brand tire capabilities.
So realize you are taking millions of dollars BMW has spent on development and saying "no thanks", I don't want it. There's also the fact that those who almost never drive their car over 7/10th need to have the DSC and other systems functioning as designed during emergencies due to the fact that they are not familar with how their vehicles react at the limit.

Saving a few hundred on a set of tires for other life experences? Like insurance deductable?
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