5 Easy Ways To Improve Gas Mileage

Free And Simple Gas Saving Tips

Nobody likes to sit at the pump and watch as their hard earned cash gets fed into someone else's pockets, so we've compiled 5 easy ways to improve your gas consumption. After all, less stops at the pump means more money for mods, track events, and the occasional car show.

Tire Pressure

Easily one of the most overlooked aspects on many people's maintenance list is tire pressure. Most get away with eye-balling them once a week or so, but even 1 psi drop in pressure can rob you of precious gas.

According to fueleconomy.gov, a 1 psi drop accounts for about a 0.3 percent drop in fuel economy. That means if you're driving at 25 psi while your recommended setting is 35, you've just lost 3%.

As usual, the trade-off for better fuel economy is performance. Slightly under-inflated tires will yield better traction, while slightly over-inflated tires will net you a marginal amount of fuel savings. Doing either will pose a considerable threat to you and others, so don't risk it.

Hard Braking & Accelerating

I know it's hard to resist the temptation of a wide-open freeway late at night, or the vacant twisty right before you turn into your neighborhood but hard acceleration and braking literally force feeds the gas straight out of your tank and vaporizes it into nothingness.

The same can be said for that guy on the freeway during start-and-stop traffic that has to redline it in first, only to come screeching to an abrupt stop milliseconds later so no one cuts him off.

Letting off the gas to cruise to a stop and gradual acceleration instead of aggressive driving can yield anywhere between a 5% and 33% gain in fuel savings. Needless to say, other people sharing the road with you will be less prone to keying your car.

Lighten The Load

I know those three 12" Kickers in the back of your ride sound sick, and going anywhere without your DJ equipment, your 50 JDM plushies of Domo-Kun, and your spare set of track wheels seems unreasonable but it's hurting both your performance and your wallet.

As a rule of thumb, every 100 pounds you add to your car means a 2% decrease in mileage, and a .1 second longer 0-60 mph time.

After you finish taking all of those expired air spencers and empty boba cups out of the back of your car, consider replacing some body panels or other components with aluminum or carbon fiber equivalents.

Steel can weigh up to three times as much as an aluminum equivalent, and Aluminum can weigh up to twice as much as a carbon fiber equivalent. Granted, new parts won't be cheap.

Reduce Drag

There are two types of drag we can optimize to improve fuel consumption.

Mechanical drag caused by all of the components in your engine and drivetrain all absorb minute amounts of kinetic energy. By using the correct oil and changing it regularly you can reduce the friction among these components, which in turn increases your mileage. An added benefit of properly lubricated components is longer life span, which means you won't see any expensive repair bills from your mechanic any time soon.

Aerodynamic drag is a force caused by your vehicle against all of the surrounding atmosphere. About 60% of the power used at highway speeds is taken up just to overcome drag caused by air resistance.

Drag coefficient is the metric used to determine how much force is acting against the car at speed. For reference, an NSX, which has a low profile, has a drag coefficient of 0.32. A Hummer H2 has a drag coefficient of 0.57 - almost double that of the NSX.

It sounds like reducing aerodynamic drag should be left up to the professionals, but there are a few things you can do to reduce drag, especially if you have a roof rack. Lowering a car reduces the amount of air that can travel under the vehicle. Removing your snow skies, bikes, or other sporting equipment after usage will definitely help in reducing drag as well.

Engine Tune Up

Cars are like complicated math equations with hundreds if not thousands of variables. Every time one of those variables is changed slightly, it affects the outcome. In the case of the combustion engine, things like spark plugs, fuel injectors, sensors, and dozens of other parts all act as variables.

In short, if you neglect your car, it won't hesitate to return the favor.

According to fueleconomy.gov, fixing minor things or updating your old worn out parts can improve your mileage by up to 4%. Updating a major problem such as faulty sensors can improve your mileage by up to 40%. Something like this won't exactly be free, but it'll pay itself off and end up saving you a fortune over time.

So What's That Add Up To?

Depending on how well you already maintain your car, combining these fuel saving tips can net you almost double whatever miles per gallon you're currently averaging. At the very least you should see a good 10-20% net gain, especially if you curb your speeding. So the next time you hop into your car, take an extra minute out of your day, clean it out, take off the bike rack you haven't used in months, or ever, and make sure it's tuned up.