What oil and octane fuel do you use?

[M3TROY]

honestly... in my last car i ran 87... i can feel a difference...

same here, its not more or less power its more throttle response/smoothness and over all smoothness at idle.

[kalib0y]

elf or Total 10-50 and 91 octane

[Wh33lhop]

76 brand 5W30 semi-syn that I get for stupid cheap and whatever 91 octane is around. I still notice detonation sometimes with 91 so I want to try a half tank of 100 octane they have at a nearby station just for shits.

[Def30]

Ok looks like the majority of you use 20-50 and 87. If I'm not mistake your talking about Conventional 20-50 not synthetic right?

[Isostar13]

I'm on 15w-40 and 89/93 (can't find 91 around here.)

[smooth]

Ok looks like the majority of you use 20-50 and 87. If I'm not mistake your talking about Conventional 20-50 not synthetic right?

Yes, the majority of people are going to follow the owner's manual except those of us who are running modded or chip'ed cars.

If you're running a stock system and using higher than 87 octane fuel you're wasting money and possibly causing issues. If someone is feeling a performance boost after switching it's likely imagination or possibly detergents in the fuel cleaned some things up...but the octane rating doesn't have anything to do with an engine's performance (other than too low an octane rating will be detrimental.


As for oil, I used to run the cheapest I could get my hands on but after reading this I've changed my views on oil

http://www.gress.org/Home/Cars/TrackTales/DIY/OilingSystem%20Improvements/Oil%20Debate/Corvair_oil.pdf

[M3TROY]

If you're running a stock system and using higher than 87 octane fuel you're wasting money and possibly causing issues. If someone is feeling a performance boost after switching it's likely imagination or possibly detergents in the fuel cleaned some things up...but the octane rating doesn't have anything to do with an engine's performance (other than too low an octane rating will be detrimental.

you couldnt be more wrong...
magination has nothing to do with it.
my brothers 07 vet owners manual says to run 87 so he tryed it.... lets just say NOT GOOD!

[smooth]

I'm 100% correct and your brother's experience is irrelevant to the thread and this board, in general.

Your personal impression that you got better throttle response and a smoother idle from switching to a higher octane gas is imagination. The only thing you've accomplished is wasting money on more expensive fuel and your emissions are higher...gratz.

[Dj Buttchug]

always castrol. as far as octane it depends on elevation. In gay utard ill run 85 in the daily car cause of 7k feet elevation. when in SD always 91.

[long tall eta]

15/40 in the summer and 10/40 in the colder weather and 93 octane with the chip

[eur04lif3]

I have looked into this and everybody has their own "expert" opinion, but I want to know what everybody on the forums personally uses.
-Oil wise BMW of Bellevue recommends 5W40 Synthetic, and Orielly/Autozone
recommends 10W30 Conventional
-Fuel wise Bmw and owners manual recommend regular unleaded 87, while forum users say use supreme unleaded 92

Again, I'm not asking whats better (because there are already forums like that), but I wanna see what most e30 owners use.

My current set up:
Vehicle: 1990 325i
Oil: Castrol GTX 10W30
Fuel: Shell or Chevron Supreme Unleaded 92

you should make a poll, that would visually help

[Fusion]

10w60 VR1, important is the heat index
95 octane street 100 track (RON)

I like to reward the engine for kicking so much ass and never failing.

[M3TROY]

I'm 100% correct and your brother's experience is irrelevant to the thread and this board, in general.

Your personal impression that you got better throttle response and a smoother idle from switching to a higher octane gas is imagination. The only thing you've accomplished is wasting money on more expensive fuel and your emissions are higher...gratz.

how is my reference NOT relevant? YOU where the one who pointed out the FACTORY OWNERS MANUAL says to run 87 so i just pointed out you cant go by what the manufacture says all the time as there are other factors at hand.
but i guess you believe everything you read right
you seem a bit mad, whats up with that?

[EThirty318i]

minus all the fighting

Havoline 20w50
93 octane

[Emre]

For the E30 weekend toy:
Brad Penn PG-1 (20W-50)
Sunoco 91 (street) or 93 (track)

For the 190E 2.3-16 race car:
Amsoil RD-50 Dominator Race Oil (15W-50)
Sunoco 93 (in USA) or PetroCanada 94 (in Canada)

For the 560SL daily driver:
Chevron Delo 400 LE or Mobil Delvac 1300 Super (15W-40)
Sunoco 87