How To Go Farther On A Tank Of Gas. Mileage Tricks.
Mileage Trick #1. To Get Better Gas Mileage Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated
Inflate or watch your wallet deflate! Should be the slogan of a national campaign, or not. Keeping your car’s tires inflated can save you as much as ten percent.
Remember pedaling a bike as a kid when your tires were low? It made you have to work harder. Your poor car’s engine has to work harder as well when you have low air pressure. The recommended air pressure for your cars tires is printed on the sidewall. Air is cheap, gas is not.
Mileage Trick #2. Be Easy On The Accelerator and Brakes To Save Gas
Another trick to saving gas is to anticipate when you have to stop, say for a stop sign up ahead and take your foot off the gas early instead of making your brakes stop the car.
Speed is another gas waster. The faster you drive the more wind resistance your car encounters. Reducing speed means your car’s engine does not have to work as hard to slice through the wind. Imagine walking with your palm held out flat to the side and do the same at 55 mph in your car and you get an idea of how speed affects how hard the engine has to work.
If you have roof racks on your car, remove them.
Mileage Trick #3. Remove Extra Weight To Go Farther On A Tank Of Gas
Another way to save gas that is often overlooked is to get rid of extra junk in your car. All of us are guilty of hauling around stuff we don’t need. It is possible to spend an extra $50 a month hauling around extra weight. Pickup truck drivers are guilty of this too.
Also if you have a pickup, consider a flow through tailgate or bed cover to reduce wind drag.
Mileage Trick #4. Lose The Weight
There really aren’t any miracle gadgets that work to save fuel but keeping our car tuned up does work. One bad spark plug can reduce fuel economy significantly. The same goes for plug wires and distributor caps.
Using fuel injector cleaner once a month is a good idea since clogged injectors are another case of poor fuel mileage.
Make sure you drive in overdrive on the highway if your vehicle has a button to engage it.
Finally, if your car is still costing a fortune it may be time to trade it in on a new or used model that is smaller and more fuel efficient.
It may take you a couple of years to recoup the difference in cost but you will then be better prepared to survive fuel prices that may be even higher in the future.
