Does Octane Booster Work?

Performance in a bottle. Efficiency, power and refinement. Every motorist’s dream. For such a small outlay, it all seems too good to be true. Octane boosters claim the world, but many doubt their creditability and claim that producers are less than truthful with their product marketing. Some may even say that octane boosters will cause damage to your vehicle.

These days performance-enhancing additives are everywhere, from online stores to supermarket shelves, but should you really risk your hard earned on an octane boosting product?

What is Octane Booster?

Octane boosters are additive products that, when mixed with petrol, claim to raise the octane level of the fuel. Manufacturers of these products all claim their solution will increase power from the engine, allow for a cleaner fuel burn and may increase fuel economy.

Thousands of brands from all over the globe are supplying the market, with millions of bottles sold ever year, a good portion of which are sold right here in the UK. Most will be tempted by the low purchase price, which is extraordinary, when compared to the price of hardware changes needed to gain the same level of performance. Unlike changing mechanical components however, octane boosters require no tools or specialist knowledge and can be used in just a couple of minutes.

The additives are simply added to a tank of petrol, where they will mix together and pass directly to the engine. Due to the expendable nature of these additives, octane boosters will need to be added at every refill in order to continue reaping the full benefits.

How Does Octane Booster Work?

Raising the octane rating of petrol has long been known to have a substantial effect on the way an engine can perform. Fuels used in race cars and aeroplanes contain much higher-octane ratings, due to the high demand for power from their engines.

A higher octane gives the fuel a better resistance to detonation, raising the pressure at which the fuel will ignite. Lower octane fuels are renown for their reputation to cause “knock” or “pre-ignition”, these terms are mechanical speak for the fuel mixture in the engine igniting at the wrong time. This can cause a multitude of issues from a minor decrease in performance to serious internal engine damage. Hence, octane booster may also increase reliability as well as performance.

Extra performance is found by the ability to adjust the vehicles timing, which is often done by the cars internal computers, though extra results may be found at the hands of a specialist. Due to the higher resistance to knock, the fuel can be compressed with more force, creating an increase in engine power as the pistons move with more speed and momentum.

The gains in performance from product to product do vary and performance-oriented vehicles are much more likely to see positive results than common, lower-powered derivatives. This is due to high-performance engines reaching the limits of standard octane fuel more quickly.

Choosing the Best Octane Booster

As mentioned, there are hundreds, if not thousands of octane booster products currently available in the UK market, all laying their claim to the best performance enhancing products available. It can be difficult to decide on which really is the best octane booster to buy.

Our advice is to always go for the trusted brands, they often have the best testing and research into their products, ensuring reliable results without any risk of damage to the engine. Well known manufacturers products (many of which are made in the UK) often will not set you back much more than those from smaller brands and are easily available across the web.

Ingredients can vary massively from manufacturer to manufacturer and product to product. More expensive octane boosters will often (though not always) contain the more reliable chemicals, backed by years of research and testing, if possible, go for one of these options. Those proven on the race track, by race teams and enthusiasts are used for a reason, they push their vehicles to the limit and need a reliable product to see them get to the finish line first.

Conclusion

Many will doubt the legitimacy of octane boosters, but the results are clear to see. Well-proven additives, when used on petrol vehicles, particularly those with high performance engines, do see positive results more often than not. Millions of customers see the benefits of octane boosters every year, with the potential gains being massive, both in terms of increased performance, reliability and a potential boost in fuel economy.

For such a small outlay, octane boosters are surely worth a go for those that seek the best from their vehicles. No expensive tools, minimal time and essentially no effort go into implementing these additives and the potential upsides are huge. We recommend you give an octane booster a go, at worst they will simply clean your engine out a little, at best they could improve performance, fuel economy and give your vehicle that extra kick you desire.

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