Originally Posted by +fireamx
I though "Regular" fuel burned at a higher temp. than premium. I thought that's why if you use reg. in an engine that needs premium, it will eventually burn a hole into the top of your piston.
It has more to do with compression and the ability to with stand self ignition based on that compression. Overall, regular gas will self ignite at a lower compression than premium, hence it cause premature ignition. This results in the "knocking" that you hear sometimes in high compression engines thats running on reg fuel. This can cause damage to the engine components. And for those that say the oil companies rather sell premium..that is not always true.