Wastes money.
Using an octane rated lower than your vehicle specification will damage the engine. I would recommend not doing that.
Use the lowest octane that does not 'ping' (detonation). The higher octane is not only more expensive, it can, in some cases, cost you performance. Its got to do with things like the latent heat of vaporization and other scientific formulas.
No. * Added - Unless you are prepared to modify the tuning of your engine, the recommended octane rating is the best. Higher octanes do not provide more power, they simply burn slower. The higher the octane, the harder it is to ignite, which in most cases, will have no effect, but can make make the car harder to start. If you have an older car and have the equipment to adjust your vehicles system, using a higher octane fuel can result in higher gas mileage and more power. It requires that the spark timing be advanced to begin burning slightly sooner - and if a lower octane is then used with the same set-up, it can destroy the engine.
It can, ultimately. It will ruin the plugs and valves, the compression ratio will not be correct, thermal transfer will be to high. The timing will be wrong. It will not be efficient. The small amount of extra HP is not worth the expence when it goes wrong
From the owner's manual: "If your vehicle has the 4.6L V8 engine (VIN Code Y), use premium unleaded gasoline with a posted octane rating of 91 or higher. You can also use regular unleaded gasoline rated at 87 octane or higher, but your vehicle's acceleration could be slightly reduced, and you might notice a slight audible knocking noise, commonly referred to as spark knock." So you can use either regular, mid-grade, or premium. I have not noticed any loss of acceleration or spark knock by using 87 octane fuel.
2 Possibilities come to mind immediately: 1) Low coolant and air in the cooling system. As coolant is circulated through the heater core you may hear this noise you describe 2) Perhaps vehicle is "pinging" due to Spark timing advanced too far or the fuel you are using has too low an octane rating for the vehicle. try another grade of fuel. Perhaps a 91 octane if you are using an 89 octane rated fuel.
RON stands for Research Octane Number, which is a standard measure of a fuel's ability to resist knocking in a combustion engine. An octane rating of 95 RON indicates that the fuel has a higher resistance to knock compared to lower octane-rated fuels.
Premium gasoline is rated between 91 and 93 octane, while regular is rated at 87 octane. The octane rating is the resistance of the gasoline to igniting, and higher compression engines need higher octane rating to prevent pre-detonation or pinging. Check your owner's manual to see if you need premium or can run the less expensive regular.
Octane Rating. I could get into the stoichiometry and how they rate it and what not, but the short answer is that a higher rated octane fuel burns for slightly longer than the lesser rated gasolines. This can help reduce or eliminate knock while improving engine performance.
For a 2012 Ford Mustang GT : ( I believe that is rated at 412 horsepower if using " premium " unleaded , 91 octane ) although it runs fine on " regular " unleaded , 87 octane
BMW only takes gas rated at octane 91 or higher, and that is Premium at the gas station.