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Old 08-07-2018, 03:14 PM   #1
Herewego
 
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Sams Club Gas?

Anyone with reliable information on the quality of Sams Club gas? I'm north of Chicago and they really jack up the price on premium at the normal top tier stations (BP, Mobil, etc) Some stations are $1 more than regular.

Ridiculous. The Sams Club prices are really tempting at about 50 cents cheaper per gallon but I'd like to know what I'm putting in my car. I know Costco is listed as top tier but I don't have one of those near me. My internet search on the topic came up inconclusive.

Should I avoid or not worry about it...
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:25 PM   #2
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The one here in Bentonville has good quality. No complaints or issues. I use it occasionally, especially when I score me a Sam’s gift card deal.
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:30 PM   #3
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i use the 87 in my daily but not sure if i would use the 91
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:34 PM   #4
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You can do research yourself, but what you will find is that . . . Sam's is just fine. In fact, probably better than most.

First off, all gas is the same (or damn close). After all, think about it - does Sam's, or Costco, or Circle K, or 7-11, etc. have their own refineries? Nope. They buy their gas from the same few petrochemical companies - Shell, Conoco, BP, Valero, etc.

Also, those companies buy their "base gas" (gasoline before additives) from each other! A Shell refinery may refine crude from a BP oil rig, then sell it back to BP as gasoline.

And, a word about "additives". They really don't help all that much. By far the most important additive is detergent that helps prevent sludge from building up on intake valves. However, because our cars are direct injected (gas injected AFTER the valves, directly into the combustion chamber), all that detergent just gets burnt up without helping at all. They can help keep injectors clean. But, frankly, injectors can last a hundred thousand miles or more before degrading enough to need cleaning. And then, just add some over-the-counter injector cleaner for $5.

By far the most important factors in gasoline choice are:
1) age of the gas (how long does it sit in the underground tanks at the fill-up station)
2) age of the equipment at the fill-up station

Gasoline is hygroscopic. It attracts water (from the air, mostly). The longer it sits, the more water it attracts. Now, I did some calculations way-back-when (when I was racing karts and cars), and you really have to let it sit a while (months in a plastic gas jug) before it attracts enough water to degrade performance. But, you don't want gasoline just sitting in an underground tank.

So, how do you know how long the gas has been sitting there? You don't. But, the busier the gas station, the less time it is sitting in the tanks. The Sams near me fills up it's tanks once every 1.5 days. That means that the gas going into my tank has been sitting in the underground tank, on average, around 18 hours. That's not enough time for ANYTHING to happen to it (assuming good equipment).

Coincidentally, the stations that need the most-often refillings, also tend to have the lowest prices. Because most people are going to places with low prices.

The second point (age of equipment) is also easy to deduce. If the station looks crappy, then their underground tanks and pumps are also probably crappy. They may not be sealed. They may let water in. They may let gas vapors escape. But, if it all looks good above ground, it's probably good underground, too. My Sams replaced their pumps and tanks about 5 years ago, so they still have that "new pump smell" (hahaha).

TLDR - Find the best-looking station with the most traffic (and usually cheapest prices), and you've found the best gas.
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:54 PM   #5
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The pumps at the Sams by me are brand new, just installed this spring. That's another draw knowing that the tanks shouldn't have years of crud and water in them.
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Old 08-07-2018, 04:16 PM   #6
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Sams gas around here use Murphy, I think. They have decent gas, but thankfully premium is about $.45 over regular at many stations. However, I use CostCo, since the Sam's station isn't convenient to get in and out of.
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Old 08-07-2018, 04:35 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram View Post
You can do research yourself, but what you will find is that . . . Sam's is just fine. In fact, probably better than most.

First off, all gas is the same (or damn close). After all, think about it - does Sam's, or Costco, or Circle K, or 7-11, etc. have their own refineries? Nope. They buy their gas from the same few petrochemical companies - Shell, Conoco, BP, Valero, etc.

Also, those companies buy their "base gas" (gasoline before additives) from each other! A Shell refinery may refine crude from a BP oil rig, then sell it back to BP as gasoline.

And, a word about "additives". They really don't help all that much. By far the most important additive is detergent that helps prevent sludge from building up on intake valves. However, because our cars are direct injected (gas injected AFTER the valves, directly into the combustion chamber), all that detergent just gets burnt up without helping at all. They can help keep injectors clean. But, frankly, injectors can last a hundred thousand miles or more before degrading enough to need cleaning. And then, just add some over-the-counter injector cleaner for $5.

By far the most important factors in gasoline choice are:
1) age of the gas (how long does it sit in the underground tanks at the fill-up station)
2) age of the equipment at the fill-up station
All of this is good information, but I would add that one of the most important aspects is what kind of additives are used. Although the base gas might be the same, the additives vary from one company to the next. That’s why when in doubt I always check the Top Tier list. Sams is not on the list, Costco is. That doesn’t necessarily mean Sams sells inferior gas, but it does mean they didn’t pay to get it certified by Top Tier, so for this reason I do not use their gas.

I realize our engines are direct injection, however I still remember the days when gasoline detergent additives were rare, and the entire fuel system would get gummed up with garbage. So let’s say you run several tanks of fuel with no detergents and plaque starts to build up on your lines, then you fill up with detergent gas and wash all that crap downstream to the injectors all at once. I can’t imagine anything good coming from that. This was actually a big problem with carbs back in the day when detergents were introduced and the carb would get clogged with crap and kill the engine. This was with cars that ran non-detergent gas for years, so maybe it would take a while for this to happen with injectors, I have no idea. But Top Tier gas is cheap insurance as far as I’m concerned.
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Old 08-07-2018, 07:00 PM   #8
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I recently asked the truck driver unloading gas at a Murphy station about the gas he was hauling, he advised the additives are added to gas before he loads. He advised the 93 on his truck was going to Murphy, WaWa, and a Shell station, all from the same tank on his truck.
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Old 08-07-2018, 08:40 PM   #9
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+1 for Costco!!!! Good gas for less.
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Old 08-08-2018, 05:26 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram View Post
You can do research yourself, but what you will find is that . . . Sam's is just fine. In fact, probably better than most.

First off, all gas is the same (or damn close). After all, think about it - does Sam's, or Costco, or Circle K, or 7-11, etc. have their own refineries? Nope. They buy their gas from the same few petrochemical companies - Shell, Conoco, BP, Valero, etc.

Also, those companies buy their "base gas" (gasoline before additives) from each other! A Shell refinery may refine crude from a BP oil rig, then sell it back to BP as gasoline.

And, a word about "additives". They really don't help all that much. By far the most important additive is detergent that helps prevent sludge from building up on intake valves. However, because our cars are direct injected (gas injected AFTER the valves, directly into the combustion chamber), all that detergent just gets burnt up without helping at all. They can help keep injectors clean. But, frankly, injectors can last a hundred thousand miles or more before degrading enough to need cleaning. And then, just add some over-the-counter injector cleaner for $5.

By far the most important factors in gasoline choice are:
1) age of the gas (how long does it sit in the underground tanks at the fill-up station)
2) age of the equipment at the fill-up station

Gasoline is hygroscopic. It attracts water (from the air, mostly). The longer it sits, the more water it attracts. Now, I did some calculations way-back-when (when I was racing karts and cars), and you really have to let it sit a while (months in a plastic gas jug) before it attracts enough water to degrade performance. But, you don't want gasoline just sitting in an underground tank.

So, how do you know how long the gas has been sitting there? You don't. But, the busier the gas station, the less time it is sitting in the tanks. The Sams near me fills up it's tanks once every 1.5 days. That means that the gas going into my tank has been sitting in the underground tank, on average, around 18 hours. That's not enough time for ANYTHING to happen to it (assuming good equipment).

Coincidentally, the stations that need the most-often refillings, also tend to have the lowest prices. Because most people are going to places with low prices.

The second point (age of equipment) is also easy to deduce. If the station looks crappy, then their underground tanks and pumps are also probably crappy. They may not be sealed. They may let water in. They may let gas vapors escape. But, if it all looks good above ground, it's probably good underground, too. My Sams replaced their pumps and tanks about 5 years ago, so they still have that "new pump smell" (hahaha).

TLDR - Find the best-looking station with the most traffic (and usually cheapest prices), and you've found the best gas.
THIS.

I did not read all the post points - but by in large this is correct. Grabbing 91 at the Valero that serves the lower budget market is going to yield lesser quality than the Costco.

All the fuel is coming off the same racks - for the most part here in N. California - the "additive packets" are there - your best bet is high volume "top tier" fuel. This has long been the case.
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Old 08-08-2018, 09:27 AM   #11
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I agree with the whole underground tank thing...I have a couple of Exxon stations near me that they just converted over from BP and renovated but the same old crappy tanks that they are always pumping out and working on...even though it is Exxon I stay far away from them for my vehicles, my awn mower gets gas from those stations and that is it. I always try to use gas from a Top Tier gas station, there are tons near by where I live, QT, BP, Exxon, Shell, etc....I tend to go to QT and BP a lot since they are usually the cheapest are newer stations that are kept up nicely, but just because it is Top Tier doesn't mean the station itself with its tanks meets high standards and that is where your real issues start and end if the tanks are dirty and old.
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Old 08-08-2018, 10:10 AM   #12
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Sams and Costco have super fresh gas because they turn it over fast due to lots of customers and lower prices.

That's actually something of an incentive to go there.
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Old 08-08-2018, 02:22 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S2K+1LE View Post
Sams and Costco have super fresh gas because they turn it over fast due to lots of customers and lower prices.

That's actually something of an incentive to go there.
Don't know if Sams is top tier, but CostCo is.
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Old 08-08-2018, 02:30 PM   #14
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For anecdotal reference, this is an intake valve off my 2008 G8 GT. I removed it in 2013 when the car had 135k miles (redid entire top end for a cam swap).

I cleaned it with some gasoline and paper towel, then some soapy water. There was no real "residue" or anything on it previously (I display it on my office desk, so I didn't want it smelling).

I always used Sams, Shell, Racetrac, or whoever had the cheapest gas. Never was picky. Ultimately, I don't think it all matters that much.

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