manual on mine says premium only

 

Manual on your what?

 

There are more TC options than just those 2....there are several choices of traction control and stability control combinations:
http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Fo...userMarket=USA

 

what does that do?

 

Click the link in post #43...above yours.

 

i guess what i meant is what's the real world experience?

 

I don't own a 5.0 but of the cars I do own I will note a few things.

similar to what was said previously I mostly change octane based on usecase and OAT. IE if I was towing a significant amount (1/2 capacity) I'd probably run 93 octane. Or if the OAT is over say 85 or 90F - I'll run 93 octane.

On the ecoboosts this makes a pretty noticeable difference. On the 3.5L TI-VCT (or 3.5L N/A mill) that is in my explorer - it also makes a bit of difference. Especially the OAT part, around here in July- September tends to pick up a few mpg even on highway, and it runs smoother. This is all untuned mind you.

Now my other car - is a tuned, modded N/A V8 (it's a GM LS3) - and that runs 93 all the time. Because the tune took all the margin out of it so I won't run anything else.

If I had a mustang or other ford product with the 5.0 I would certainly try running 93 in it when hot out side to see what difference it makes, if any. And go from there.

 

Same for me. When running 87 I get a lot of pinging. Tested with 91 and after the ECU adjusted to the higher octane, it's quiet and runs better. I even tried going back to 87 and the detonation came back so I'm sticking to 91.

 

One thing that( forgive me if I'm wrong) no one has mentioned is Ford bumped up the compression ratio to 12:1 for 2018.
That fact, along with Ford's half assed recommendation of premium fuel makes me think 91 or higher is the way to go with my '18.

Now, my old work beater, a 2010 chivy with the 4.8 litre v8 only has about 9.2:1 compression,
and I would strongly agree with anyone who said putting premium fuel in that motor is a waste of damn money.
However, anything with 12:1 compression is squeezing 87 octane pretty hard.

edit the 5.0 and 3.3 n/a v6 are 12:1 compression.

 

The 2018 5.0 is actually much better equipped to eat 87 than your old beater, in fact, I'd contend better than a 17 5.0. The modern engine controls can easily adapt to the lower octane while your older truck's ecu isn't advanced enough to do it.