Super vs Regular gas

Can someone explain how super gas compaires to regular as far as burning speed? Someone on the net told my friend super burns slower than regular and super gives less power than regular... My friend knows for a fact that he gets more miles on super but i told him thats because with super he's getting more compression bigger explosion and therefore more power with each stroke. OK go ahead explain it to me :-) thanks And please answer my E-250 question so i can buy the van

none of you know what you are talking about. The higher the octane, the more stable the gas, which means it takes more to ignite it. This is why high compression engines require high octane gas to run to their full potential, and to run without knocking.

I know my mustang wouldn't run on regular but that doesn't realy explain why it takes more to ignite. Wouldn't it ignite faster because it has more gas in it and less water or whatever else they add to it..... The higher the octane the more it takes to ignite it? OK .... well a spark is a spark right? Are you saying some cars won't run good on high octane? :smile:

Octane. God forbid any company would mix water with their gas.

I know my mustang wouldn't run on regular but that doesn't realy explain why it takes more to ignite. Wouldn't it ignite faster because it has more gas in it and less water or whatever else they add to it..... The higher the octane the more it takes to ignite it? OK .... well a spark is a spark right? Are you saying some cars won't run good on high octane? :smile:

wtf are you talking about? go read some engine dynamics and racing physics books or something. I don't want to explain it. And yes, your mustang WOULD run on regular, it just wouldn't run very well until the ecu adjusted the timing, depending on what year and trim your car is.

Uh.. technical forums, anyone?

I don't want to explain it. Maybe because you can't explain it ..... yeah thats what i thought. Little punk

Maybe because you can't explain it ..... yeah thats what i thought. Little punk

First... posted this in the wrong forum. Second.. No personal attacks n00b :rolleyes:

Then send it to the right forum and explain it to me. He was the wise ass not me.... If anyone of you needed help with bodybuilding i'd help without any wise ass comments but thats just me

Then send it to the right forum and explain it to me. He was the wise ass not me.... If anyone of you needed help with bodybuilding i'd help without any wise ass comments but thats just me


Quit, while you're ahead, or at least still a member.

Quit, while you're ahead, or at least still a member.only on the internet :grinyes:

How about someone answer the question instead of mouth off comparing penis size? :)

Octane is a meaurement of resistance to detonation. Certain parameters of an engine change their cylinder pressures; e.g. static compression ratio, dynamic compression ratio, cam timing events, ignition timing events, port shapes, efficiencies and even things like the roughness of the casting of the head and cooling efficiency have huge impacts on detonation. Detonation is pre-ignition where the fuel ignites by itself before the spark.

Increasing octane in fuel doesn't really change the amount of energy the fuel has to offer; at least not that you could measure in real life. It changes the amount of energy it takes to get it to burn. Any spark plug will ignite it, but if you have a high compression engine where detonation is a problem, increasing octane prevents ignition until the spark plug does it.

If you have an engine that does not require high octane fuel, running high octane does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for mileage, power, or economy, and in fact can hurt all three. Some people buy the expensive fuel to keep their engine "clean" but that is just an advertising ploy. Many high octane fuels have FEWER detergents than their cheapy low octane counterparts.

The moral of the story is; buy the cheapest fuel your car will run. Anything else is just a waste of your money. Use the owner's manual recommendation and nothing else (unless you've modified your engine to the point where it needs it, of course)

How about someone answer the question instead of mouth off comparing penis size? :)

Octane is a meaurement of resistance to detonation. Certain parameters of an engine change their cylinder pressures; e.g. static compression ratio, dynamic compression ratio, cam timing events, ignition timing events, port shapes, efficiencies and even things like the roughness of the casting of the head and cooling efficiency have huge impacts on detonation. Detonation is pre-ignition where the fuel ignites by itself before the spark.

Increasing octane in fuel doesn't really change the amount of energy the fuel has to offer; at least not that you could measure in real life. It changes the amount of energy it takes to get it to burn. Any spark plug will ignite it, but if you have a high compression engine where detonation is a problem, increasing octane prevents ignition until the spark plug does it.

If you have an engine that does not require high octane fuel, running high octane does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for mileage, power, or economy, and in fact can hurt all three. Some people buy the expensive fuel to keep their engine "clean" but that is just an advertising ploy. Many high octane fuels have FEWER detergents than their cheapy low octane counterparts.

The moral of the story is; buy the cheapest fuel your car will run. Anything else is just a waste of your money. Use the owner's manual recommendation and nothing else (unless you've modified your engine to the point where it needs it, of course)
Now this is a man who knows what he's talking about. Thanks alot bro and to all others PLEASE stay off my post if you can't answer my question........ thanks again bro

It should however be noted that detonation (knocking, pinking) occur after the air/fuel is ignited by the spark. The high temperature/pressure caused by the combustion makes the fuel to self ignite.

When the air/fuel mixture is ignited by a hot surface it's called surface ignition, which can be separated into pre-ignition (before the spark) and post ignition (after the spark).
Octane is resistance to detonation, not to surface ignition.

Flame velocity is similar for super and regular, energy content and density are marginally higher for super (typically caused by the higher aromatic content).

Excellent points SaabJohan. Always listen to this guy when it comes to engineering topics.

Also, to literate on sabbs literations (big words :) ) the reason post ignition detonation is bad because it results in an uncontrolled or the flame has 2 flame fronts. that equals bad for hte engine. pre ignition detonation is bad because the flame head is started before is intended hindering performance and raising TDC tempatures causing more hot spots and more porblems...

Pre-ignition tend to increase pressure before the piston has reached top dead center which can decrease power output, but it can also destroy the con-rods because of this.