Jump to content
SAU Community

  

496 members have voted

You do not have permission to vote in this poll, or see the poll results. Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

If you try a search on "BP Ultimate" or "Optimax" or even "Opticrap" (which appears in most threads on the subject!), you should get some good background. The thread below gives quite a bit of discussion on the topic with some quite informed views.

Here's the thread.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...50&page=1&pp=25

Cheers. :P

  • Replies 105
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

You do realise that all fuel comes from the one supplier and refinery - BP. They then process and refine it and sell it in two different barrels being - unleaded and premium unleaded. Once sold to all the other companies they then go about adding all there own additives and cleaning agents (probably why you notice differences in why some have higher sulfur content than others) But essentially they all still have the same octane rating as premium unleaded not the 98 RON which they try to advertise with. (I'm not sure but they may add octane boosters to there fuel maybe?)

The reason for the high prices of oil is one reason why fuel is becoming so expensive. Another is that there is no competition amongst other refineries and BP can raise the prices of there barrels of fuel to what ever they like to make as much profit as possible. Thats what I have been told anyway, it's like that over in Perth but may be different elsewhere.

:D

BP 98 RON or mobil is what i use... BP seems to be better.

There is a servo here that has 100RON racing fuel.  at $1.40 it isn't cheap... i put in 15L and it only lasted 80km.  hehe apparently a mixture of premium and avgas.

where is the servo sell 100ROM racing fuel? :D

BP is the only fuel i use

Hey, GotBoost, have a read of the thread I put up earlier ..... and bear in mind that most people reading this thread are not way out West, like us.

Having said that, there are a few things that you haven't quite got the right end of the stick on. You are right that in the West, the other fuel retailers have to buy their raw product from BP at Kwinana. As the other thread says, they then add their additives and sell it as their own. I am fairly sure that this happens vice versa in other locations around Australia where there is only one refinery within cooey. But there are a number of refineries in NSW / Vic, so there is competition nationally (so the price argument is a bit more complicated than you suggest).

The main point where you are not quite right is:

But essentially they all still have the same octane rating as premium unleaded not the 98 RON which they try to advertise with. (I'm not sure but they may add octane boosters to there fuel maybe?)

BP's 98 octane fuel, BP Ultimate is a refined fuel - i.e. it achieves its octane rating through refining, not through additives. It is not a 95 octane fuel with additives boosting it to 98. The Mobil 98 octane fuel is the same. On the other hand, Shell Optimax is a 95 octane fuel with additives boosting it to 98. I believe from what others have posted elsewhere that the Caltex 98 octane fuel also achieves its rating through additives.

Here in the West, BP produce the 98 octane fuel at Kwinana, but refuse to sell it on to anyone else. Shell do not market Optimax here, presumably because it is uneconomical to build the plant required to take the raw 95 octane fuel from BP Kwinana and mix it up to 98 octane. Mobil are also left in the lurch, with their lovely 98 octane fuel only available near their refinery over East.

As for which fuel is best, the conclusion from several other threads was that BP Ultimate or the Mobil 98 octane fuel were the best. Not surprising, given that their octane rating is not achieved by additives, unlike the rest.

Cheers. :(

Such fun.

Sorry but this survey is a waste of oxygen. As has been posted a number of times, in this thread and many others, oil companies have refinery sharing agreements. If they didn't then, for example, you wouldn't have BP service stations in Sydney. It is simply too expensive to truck fuel around the country and still compete with local refineries supplying their service stations.

To be of any use at all, you would need to have a a number of individual surveys that are state based. Even that is questionable as day to day supplies can vary in source.

:(

Something to think about;

We have 4 cars, that use around 65 litres of Optimax each per week. Last year they always seemd to run out of petrol on Thursdays. I don't know why, but petrol in Sydney is always more expensive on Thursdays. Maybe because Thursday is pay day for many people. Someone suggested to me that it's because people go shopping on Thursday nights and use their shoppers' discount to buy petrol. Eventually (being a scrooge) I got a a bit peeeed of with paying up to 12 cents litre more, just because of timing.

So one Tuesday (the cheapest day) I filled up one of the drums we use for the race cars and stuck it in the garage. I told the drivers to only fill up on Tuesdays and to fill up out of the drum if they ran out on other days. Plus we always use shopper dockets to get the 4 cents per litre off at the local Shell.

The result, so far this year we have saved over $1K on petrol, compared to if we had bought it on Thursdays and not used the shopper dockets. So every year I can buy a new turbo for one car, and that will make it go faster than using any other brand of petrol.

:cheers:

PS; we have been know to fill up 3 cars and the drum on one shopper docket, just don't reset the bowser between cars.

PS; we have been know to fill up 3 cars and the drum on one shopper docket, just don't reset the bowser between cars.

I have tried that many times with the work trucks filling 2 or 3 at once with each truck having 3 tanks each with approx 180L capacity so the bowser ends up pumping out about 1200-1500L with a potential $50-$60 rebate. ( the drivers toss a coin for the flybuys, lol)

But in VIC anyway, the dockets are limited to 150 litres from memory and most attendants wont let it happen. On average, we get away with it evry 3rd or 4th time.

  • 2 weeks later...

OK, so after seeing the poll, and understanding that more than a few people here know what they're on about, I decided to try BP98, again. Well, that's the 3rd and final time for me.!! I'll stick the the smelly Expensomax, and my car will continue to run well. I just don't see anything 'great' with BP98, car goes/idles like crap until it gets rid of the tank. i guess it must be an 'age' or 'tune' thing in each car?. Ayways, each to their own I guess!

OK, so after seeing the poll, and understanding that more than a few people here know what they're on about, I decided to try BP98, again. Well, that's the 3rd and final time for me.!! I'll stick the the smelly Expensomax, and my car will continue to run well. I just don't see anything 'great' with BP98, car goes/idles like crap until it gets rid of the tank. i guess it must be an 'age' or 'tune' thing in each car?. Ayways, each to their own I guess!

I noticed that you live in Melbourne, there is no BP refinery in Victoria.:rofl:

My car simply runs better on optimax than ultimate. I've tried it several times thanks to posts like this and it just runs better on optimax. On ultimate it stalls more from the revs dropping and bouncing while idling etc.

I accept that Ultimate may be better in some places/some cars but so is optimax, definitely.

running in my vc commodore w/ worked 253, high torque cam, 4 barrel rochie with oversized jets and high flow air filter, i did 2 dyno tests, 1 with optimax and the other with bp ultimate, both using top end lubrication oil in the tank, which provides no fuel character stats. my car pulled 79 horses on optimax, 112 on ultimate 98, i think that speaks for itself!!!! i also found that i get about 45 k's per tank more with ultimate versus normal unleaded

running in my vc commodore w/ worked 253, high torque cam, 4 barrel rochie with oversized jets and high flow air filter, i did 2 dyno tests, 1 with optimax and the other with bp ultimate, both using top end lubrication oil in the tank, which provides no fuel character stats. my car pulled 79 horses on optimax, 112 on ultimate 98, i think that speaks for itself!!!! i also found that i get about 45 k's per tank more with ultimate versus normal unleaded

You live in Perth, that's where the best BP refinery is in Australia, using one of the best oil feed supplies in the world, NW shelf crude. Having been to Perth many times I have yet to see Shell Optimax on sale, have I simply missed it?

:cheers:

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Shouldn't need a "base map" for anything other than guidance to ignition tuning. You just need the engine capacity right, the injector size right, and something, almost anything, for a VE map. On an NA engine, fuelling is almost completely a function of load signal & rpm. It should run and drive with a completely flat fuel map. It will be too lean under load, but that's easily fixed. We used to tune all ECUs without any base map. There were no such things (until someone had tuned a near stock engine on one, and then they had a "base map".
    • What did you actually buy/how much did it cost? When I got mine in like.. 2017...? 2019? the aim was to run Torque for gauges via ODB2 and things like Track Addict/Laptimers/Dashcam/Reversecam/Spotify etc. Mine never broke, but I wonder if you've got the same needs (it sounds like it). Cause I liked the idea of being able to do anything with it. That said, yours also cost 3x the cost of what I spent so... food for thought.  
    • For me there is a massive difference in manufacturer or big brand crippled android (Sony, Kenwood etc) vs the sort of thing I've installed here, which is basically just a tablet in DIN form factor with open Android, and the other model of course is mirroring - Android Auto/Carplay. I hate the locked down manufacturer and AA options where they decide what apps I'm allowed to install, including the Launcher but also importantly things like Ecutek (for this car) or Real Dash (Stagea) are not supported. Plus those crippled versions tend to be slower due to both overheads and lower spec hardware. On the other hand, when this breaks I'll likely be in trouble for support....but how is that different to owning an Infiniti anyway
    • Yeah, Duncan is helping sell me back to Android devices. I've hated the whole Android head units due to their speed issues. Even in my old Hyundai Kona (2022 model), it behind the scenes was Android, and slow and shitty to start up. Once running wasn't bad, but still a good 15 to 30 seconds.
    • My roof rails are off atm on the E39 until the rust is fixed. I did find another little bit of surface rust under the rails when I took them off. As @soviet_merlin said I'd just leave them alone unless you're planning on ensuring they're properly sealed. I was on the fence about leaving them off as the delete is still a thing in BMW E39's but I feel like the car is missing something (er, it is, der) with them off and I'm looking forward to putting them back on.
×
×
  • Create New...