Fuel Additives Comparison

How to know which is best for you?

When comparing additives it's important to weigh in all the benefits (direct and indirect). Since additives are meant to be used on a longer term, it's important to also factor in the price, more exactly price per treated gallon.

All three products do a decent job of cleaning injectors for one and there are benefits to each product. Among the comparison elements we included were:

• MPG
• Power/Torque gains
• EPA approved or not
• if they clean injectors
• the results for the Wear Scar Tes (most important since today's fuels lack upper cylinder and fuel injector lubricity)

Enough of this... who wins overall?

Let's assume that you're a regular driver that clocks in over 10,000 miles per year. You desire to keep your gas/diesel burning ride in top condition to benefit from it as much as possible. Price is not the key element, however you want to know which one offers more bang for the buck and benefit per stroke.

EPA approved fuel additives

From all the data we gathered, CleanBoost® Maxx™ and Lucas are EPA approved.  Stanadyne is not.
What does this mean? That 2 producers had aligned their formulas to stringent US fuel regulations to insure that clean air benefits are maintained. Non EPA approved products run the risk to be banned by the EPA for on road use. They may/may not turn out to have ingredients that could be harmful to your engine and/or combustion cycle.

Injector cleaning

In order for your vehicle to move along with any real efficiency, a high number of mechanical and electrical components work together to create the necessary power and torque that is directed to your wheels. One of the very important fuel components in this assembly are the fuel injectors. These are located in the firing chamber, where the pistons compress air+gas to create all the magic.
Explosion after explosion create impurities of carbon, soot and others that might stick to parts of the chamber. This happens due to improper fuel burning, low quality fuels and so on. If injectors get clogged/dirty, fuel is not directed to the chamber as it should be, resulting in reduced performance.

All 3 - CleanBoost® Maxx™, Stanadyne and Lucas thankfully offer injector cleaning as a benefit.

Horsepower/Torque

Looking for more pulling power or just increased throttle response from your vehicle?
Then horsepower and torque are the elements we should improve upon if possible.

CleanBoost® Maxx™ was dyno tested by Youtube star ChrisFix. His testing showed an increase from 161 hp and 123 ft-lbs to 172 hp and 132 ft-lbs. That is a 7% increase in performance from only a half ounce of product. With a Honda Civic that doesn't compare to some higher producing vehicles which can pump out even better gains.
Unfortunately Stanadyne and Lucas do not have such tests completed by users or the company that we could find.

MPG

What if you could pay up to 22¢ less per gallon for your gasoline/diesel fuel at any fuel stop? Since test data is not available for Stanadyne and Lucas, we only assume that they might offer increases as well. CleanBoost® Maxx™ was tested by an independent lab however . The result was between 4% on the low side and 15% on the higher averages to increase mpg. One can safely assume that a 10% average increase in overall fuel economy is attainable while still generating the other benefits of this article. This means that this fuel additive pays itself over time. See our Fuel Savings Calculator here.

Wear Scar Test

This is an important test in the industry. It tests how good the additive bonds to components (to protect them) and how much protection it ends up offering. For this test, special equipment is used (see picture below) at a certified independent lab.

The ball specimen is the element submerged into the additive and has friction applied to it with various loads. This tests how well it performs with lubrication. Then lubrication is eliminated, the ball specimen is wiped dry and the test is run again, this time metal to metal with various loads until the equipment seizes.

All 3 fuel additives were independently tested and created interesting results.

Lucas generated a wear scar size of 641.
Stanadyne generated  a wear scar size  of 603.
CleanBoost® Maxx™ generated  a wear scar size of a mere 298 (the lower the number, the better).

In plain English this means that CleanBoost® Maxx™ provided the best protection to the components even after lubrication was eliminated.

As a bonus CleanBoost® Maxx™ is the only of the 3 that offers the benefits of a combustion catalyst. This doesn't sound much, however it helps the engine burn fuel more efficiently with higher BTU and outstanding soot control. In the end, efficiency translates into smoother engines, lower working temperatures and more power squeezed per stroke out of the fuel.

Conclusions after testing these 3 fuel additives

After you factor in the above details, you have to take into consideration the amount you pay for each fuel additive on a per gallon basis:

> .18cents/gallon for STANADYNE

    .12cents/gallon for Lucas

< .07cents/gallon for CleanBoost® Maxx™

Remember that these add up in time and any slight difference is worth the savings after longer term use.

For even better performance, better protection,  better energy (higher BTU's) and more efficient fuel burning combined with better fuel consumption PLUS+ a cleaner running engine in ANY season or condition, we recommend using CleanBoost® Maxx™ at every fill up. It's the most concentrated fuel additive on the market at just 1 oz per 30 gallons of fuel. Get yours today.

Stanadyne™ is a trademark of CLARCOR Inc. | Lucas UPPER CYLINDER Lubricant™ is a trademark of Lucas Oil Products Inc®.