Optimax

[chuck 0]

Basically, what is it? Haven't seen it here (N.Ireland). Who sells it?

At last fixed the oil leak, rebuilt head and I thought I'd treat it to a tank of proper 98 RON fuel. The only one I found was Esso Super Plus, which was 80.9p per litre!!!!!!!!!! :shock:

Does make a difference though, but running costs would be a good bit higher.

[J a m e s 0]

Shell garages sell it

 

i think it makes alittle difference to performance engines, "turbos etc" dont think it will do alot in a 1.1 though

[Scott 0]

Optimax is 98.6 RON and with cars using adjustable timing these days via knock sensors some advantage can be had....

 

VR6 for instance :

 

Not many people know that you will only get book figure of 190bhp if running 98 RON fuel (super plus at least) - substancially less if running normal unleaded as the timing is retarded slightly...

 

Also with the Optimax it cleans and helps clean the valves, etc....

 

Cheers

 

Scott.

[LowG 0]

yea optimax rocks,i use it on my g60 and i get loads of poops in my exhaust :D

[dubster82 0]

i use it on my g60 and i get loads of poops in my exhaust

 

:shock: Jesus!!! Where do you live and ill remember to stay away!!!!

 

Does it attract dogs? :? Strange Tramps perhaps? Freaky place. Must be a bitch to clean! :x

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

[VR6 0]

No Optimax on Fraggle Rock :(

 

Plenty of in-bred Vikings to make up for it though ;)

[G60 0]

octane is key to high output. with a boosted car, the hot intake air is no good. the extra octane combats this.. reduces ping.. :D

 

F1 cars puttin out 1000hp (yes, 1000hp) per cylinder running 100psi (yes, 100psi) of boost run 115 octane so they don't blow up their motors.

 

in a naturally aspirated 16v? might make a little difference at the high rpms. i doubt that you'll really notice it pulling harder.

[LowG 0]

north london,my exhaust or bumper never gets black though,dogs start barking everytime i pass one they seem to remember my car :lol:

 

G60 what F1 cars are you talking about? 1000hp per cylinder? and 100ps1 of boost? I dont know which F1 cars u thinking but nowdays F1 cars are V12 engines 3L dissplacment and they are normally aspired.

[G60 0]

yeah. nowadays. old school was 1.5L turbocharged at 5-7bar boost, producing 1500hp. and sorry... it was on 102 octane, not 115 like i said :oops:

[G60 0]

been talking with sam at SNS a fair bit about octane, adding toluene, etc. he says its pretty much impossible to blow apart an engine on 100 octane... and i'm sure he's tried!! :lol:

[LowG 0]

well high octane is better,its known to lower the combustion chamber temperatures. Where can you buy toluene?Its a cheap way yea but dont know how safe.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Optimax is 98.6 RON and with cars using adjustable timing these days via knock sensors some advantage can be had....

 

VR6 for instance :

 

Not many people know that you will only get book figure of 190bhp if running 98 RON fuel (super plus at least) - substancially less if running normal unleaded as the timing is retarded slightly...

 

Also with the Optimax it cleans and helps clean the valves, etc....

 

Cheers

 

Scott.

 

I disagree with that, my standard VR6 makes 200bhp on the nail with 193lb/ft torque on regular 95 Unleaded. Proven on Stealth's rollers in March.

 

I find Esso 97 RON Super Unleaded is better than Optimax. Optimax is roughly 78p a litre and Esso 97 is nearer 80p litre, depending where you live. Nobody knows what is in Optimax but as a guess it contains a number of detergents and an upper cylinder lubricant. To get 98.6 RON, they just refine it to that level, rather than putting expensive octane boosters in 95.

 

Kev

94 VR6

[G60 0]

highest you can get at the pump here is 94. regular is 87. :?

[chuck 0]

Mmm, maybe i was kidding myself then that the good sh!t was making it run better...

I'll stick to good old premium then, unless I have money burning a hole in my pocket :wink:

(I could still swear its running slightly smoother tho)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Optimax has different effects on different engines. Some see no difference at all where as others love it. My 16v used to like Optimax but in my VR6, it just doesn't feel as torquey compared to 95 UL. I'm not overly convinced every batch of Optimax is the same either as I've had different results from different filling stations. Perhaps some of it is a placebo effect, like air filters and exhausts?

 

Optimax does make the engine run a little smoother but I think that's just down to an upper cylinder lubricant. Using Redex would give the same result, in theory.

 

If you're not sure it's doing anything, don't use it and don't be suckered in by Shell's marketing tactics. All good fuels (not supermarket stuff) contain detergents, anti-oxidants, stabilisers etc etc so your valves are not going to gum up like Shell claim if you stop using Optimax.

 

Cheers

Kev

94 VR6

[Joe M 0]

highest you can get at the pump here is 94. regular is 87. :?

 

It isnt measured in ron over there though, pon I think?

Dont know exactly but its somethin like ure 94 would be about 99 over here.

[julesz 0]

I usually run on Super but occasionally have to put 95 in. Definitely notice when theres 95 in it... :(

[Rams 0]

why do VW recommend on the VR6 that you should use Super plus? Surely there is a reason for that than using a normal unleaded. My knowledge on the higher octaine fule is that it burns faster therfore getting a faster combustion process making your car work faster!

 

I use super plus normally but when I am near a shell garage I stick Optimax in and this week I definitely felt like the car was pulling harder in the gears, only slightly but enough to notice.

 

Has anyone got on with normal unleaded than apposed to Super or Optimax? I've never run unleaded in mine so may give it ago if I have any good feedback.

 

I have a mate with an M3 EVO Cab and he pours 2 bottles of octaine booster in his car and it smells really rich but he says its great, he sometimes mixes the octain boosters and pours it in!

[Rossco 0]

i've always used optimax, tried esso super unleaded but i'm pretty convinced that optimax is the shit

[Scott 0]

why do VW recommend on the VR6 that you should use Super plus? Surely there is a reason for that than using a normal unleaded. My knowledge on the higher octaine fule is that it burns faster therfore getting a faster combustion process making your car work faster!]

 

 

Exactly my point... VW RECOMMEND that 98 RON is too be used at all times and the back of filler flap also says so - so why skimp and put cheap petrol in?

 

I feel the difference between UL and optimax... thats all I need to be persuaded to put it in my tank *:)

 

Its all matter of personal opinion.

[Rams 0]

OPTIMAX HER RITE UP THEN!! Its almost like you know its good vitaims for her!

[dub16 0]

Hi everyone,

 

The way i thought it worked was that the higher the RON rating the more combustable the petrol, and the more intense the explosion in the combustion chamber. This in turn gives a more powerful spark creating more power.

 

I know for sure that on a standard A3 1.8 20V T, that would usually run on super unleaded, normally from BP, when a couple of tankfulls of Optimax had been flushed through the car, it was keener to rev round towards the red, and also I have found on the cars I have used it in, it does give increased fuel economy over a tankful, driving the same routes every day.

 

In my opinion i don't see why you should put a fuel in that is lower than the manufacturers rating, it is there for a reason, but everyone is different. :)

 

In response to Kevhaywire, the power a car can put out on the rollers can vary very drastically as to the way the car is driven, and also the distance and type of journey it travels each day. A car which is just driven round town, on short journeys will put out less power than a car which drives on a dual carriageway or motorway everyday doing a steady 3500-4000rpm.

 

A friend has done back to back tests on his car on the same rollers, on different days using Optimax, and normal unleaded, and although there was no apparent power increase, on the road the drivability of the car was very different and was definately keener to rev through the gears on the Optimax.

 

Hope this can be of some help??

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Blown 0]

No Optimax on Fraggle Rock :(

 

Plenty of in-bred Vikings to make up for it though ;)

 

HAHAHA!

Same story here in Orkney.Must be the same vikings!

I took my car down to Ipswich for Inters this year and filled it up with Optimax every chance I got.I don't know whether it was the long motorway cruising,or the fuel,but it definately felt a a lot smoother and more responsive after filling up on the stuff.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Hi everyone,

 

The way i thought it worked was that the higher the RON rating the more combustable the petrol, and the more intense the explosion in the combustion chamber. This in turn gives a more powerful spark creating more power.

 

Sort of.....RON (Research Octane Number) is a measure of the fuel's resistance to knock when compressed. It is because of high octane fuels in the 80s that engine designers could safely raise the compression ratio to give more squish, and then more bang for buck. When 95 unleaded came around in the late 80s/early 90s, engine designers were forced to either lower the CR or include knock sensing circuitry.

 

I know for sure that on a standard A3 1.8 20V T, that would usually run on super unleaded, normally from BP, when a couple of tankfulls of Optimax had been flushed through the car, it was keener to rev round towards the red, and also I have found on the cars I have used it in, it does give increased fuel economy over a tankful, driving the same routes every day.

 

If you notice a difference, then by all means use it. Some engines respond well to Optimax, others don't. Shell in all their marketing wisdom insist that you don't get the full benefits unless used continuously. How much of that is the truth or down to revenue gathering remains to be seen, but mixing Optimax with 95 won't give you the full benefit, I'm sure. What I've noticed though is how much variance there is between filling stations. One tank of Optimax from one Shell station could give fantastic results, whilst filling from another actually makes my car underperform or yields no difference.

 

In my opinion i don't see why you should put a fuel in that is lower than the manufacturers rating, it is there for a reason, but everyone is different. :)

 

VW state in the manual that if you're worried about the quality of fuel, use 98 RON. The petrol flap says "95 Oktan Min" so basically the knock sensing circuitry will have been optimised for 95 since it is the lowest Octane you can get in the UK and universally availabe. Using 98 Octane will allow the knock circuitry to relax a little, although my VR has never pinked on 95 UL. The manual says you can use 95, can't argue with that.

 

Maybe my knock sensors aren't working, I don't know, but it seems to prefer 95.

 

In response to Kevhaywire, the power a car can put out on the rollers can vary very drastically as to the way the car is driven, and also the distance and type of journey it travels each day. A car which is just driven round town, on short journeys will put out less power than a car which drives on a dual carriageway or motorway everyday doing a steady 3500-4000rpm.

 

Yep I realise that, for a start you've not got 4 x tyre resistance or wind/air pressure to contend with but my car was on the rollers for half a day and consistently put out 200bhp. It's just a benchmark figure and indicates how healthy the engine is, regardless of what it does on the road. Motorway cars have less carbon build up resulting in a cleaner burn, hence the variance in readings but it's never massively different from that reason alone, a few hp + or -.

 

A friend has done back to back tests on his car on the same rollers, on different days using Optimax, and normal unleaded, and although there was no apparent power increase, on the road the drivability of the car was very different and was definately keener to rev through the gears on the Optimax.

 

Glad someone has done a optimax/95 back to back test as I've been wondering about that. At the end of the day, use what ever fuel suits your car and your wallet but you can't say "use 98 only because that's what it says on the tin" because most petrol engines these days can run on anything, except of course diesel. It's like arguing over what boot polish is better for your shoes because one has slightly better shine agents but your shoes can take any polish.

 

Horses for courses!

 

Kev

94 VR6

[skid 1]

No Optimax on Fraggle Rock :(

 

Plenty of in-bred Vikings to make up for it though ;)

 

HeHeHe bet you guys brew your own though eh! :wink: