Inexpensive and even FREE ways to maximize your vehicle's performance

1) Check your tire pressure

Low pressure will make the tires drag and use more gas. Look in your owners' manual and see what the recommended tire pressures are. Add two pounds to that number, and you'll increase your car's gas mileage by a mile per gallon. Think of it as adding an extra 1/2 gallon to your tank for free.

2) Keep Your Engine Tuned

Keeping your engine well tuned is another good way to stretch your gas dollar. An engine that grinds for ten seconds before firing up wastes enough gas to take you two miles. Maybe it's time for a new set of spark plugs and a new air filter. Now is a good time to go get them. Also have a mechanic bump the timing a degree or two if possible.



A handy tip: Index your spark plugs. With a permanent marker (never a pencil) mark the position where the outer electrode connects to the base of the plug on the side of the plug where you can see the mark from the top when installed in the head of the engine. When you put the plug in you want your mark to face away from the center of the combustion chamber. The rationale for this is that if the back of the electrode is facing into the combustion chamber your spark is directed toward the outer wall of the cylinder, and a lot of the spark is wasted. You want the spark directed into the middle of the combustion chamber where all the air/fuel mixture is. Many auto parts store sell "indexing washers" to help in this task. Indexing spark plugs has been Dyno tested and shown to give 1-2 hp gains when correctly indexed.

3) Time For An Oil Change

A good rule of thumb is once every 3,000 miles. For vehicles using synthetic oil, once every 5,000 miles should be adequate. However, for vehicles that constantly see higher speeds than the average driver (long freeway commutes, etc) the oil should be changed more often. Once every 2,000-2,500 miles or so.

4) Clean Out Your Trunk

If you keep a lot of junk in the trunk of your car, get it out! When your car is carrying extra weight around, it requires more gas to get you from here to there.

5) Check Your Pedals

Seems pretty self-explanatory, however, let's just think about this one for a minute. How much ass would it suck to be flying down the road when all of a sudden you need to lock 'em up just to find that the brake won't budge because there's a plastic soda bottle under it. That would ruin anyone's day. Check brake, clutch and gas pedals for any objects that might obstruct their full range of motion. This includes bunched up floor mats.

Well folks that's all for now. Stay tuned for new updates with tips on...well...anything I'm interested in that week. Thanks!