There many ways to save money while operating your car. It is becoming more and more important to make sure that your car is in perfect working condition. If you are going to limit your costs at the gas pump make sure it is well maintained. Many of these things can be completed by the driver with no need to take your car into the dealer or to a local garage. And, these things do not cost a lot of money either. You can easily save money and get better gas mileage by following a few simple steps. We will try to capture a few of them in this post.
Getting Better Gas Mileage
Keep Your Tires at Full Pressure
One area of maintenance that will help to maintain gas mileage with your car is to keep the tires at the optimum air pressure as specified by the manufacturer. Tires at low pressure will not only deliver poor mileage, the tread will also wear off more quickly. The tires can also over heat at high pressure potentially causing an accident if they were to explode at high speed. If your tires are filled with nitrogen, which more and more cars are you will need to go to a some place that can handle nitrogen filled tires. The good thing is that tires filled with nitrogen require less topping up!
Change your Car Fuel Filter
A blockage in the car fuel filter can rob the engine of power, causing it to run lean and actually hurt the engine over a period of time. The fuel filter is designed to remove deposits in the gasoline and prevent them from entering the engine. Over time it will become clogged so change it as per the manufacturers instructions.
Good Quality Tires
Tires that are well balanced without excessive wear can give you better fuel consumption as well. Ensure that they are always balanced and as mentioned earlier are at full pressure.
Clean Air Filter
Replace the air filter in your car on a regular basis. As a minimum check it each time an oil change is performed on the car. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve the mileage that you get with your car by up to 10 percent.
When you calculate that 10 percent into gasoline savings, you’ll be saving up to 45 cents per gallon at current prices in North America. You can ask your mechanic to check the filter and recommend if it needs to be replaced. The mechanic can then replace the air filter in your car or you can do it yourself.
Wheel Base Alignment
Improper alignment will cause bad tire wear on one side or another and a certain amount of engine drag,. This will also increase the amount of gas that you are using. If you notice that the tires are wearing on one side or another, talk to your mechanic about your next alignment servicing.
Another way that you can tell if your car is due for alignment is if the car pulls to one side of the road or another. You may also feel this pulling on the steering wheel when you are driving.
Rotate Your Tires
Regularly rotate your tires and check them for uneven use and wear. Rotating your tires ensures even wear across all of your tires. This step will extend the overall time that you can use the tires on your car as well as you will find that you are saving in gas costs.
After you have an alignment done on your car most mechanics will also rotate the tires. This doesn’t by any means mean that you should wait until you need an alignment to get those tires rotated.
Balding Tires
Not only are they not safe to drive on especially at high speeds They are far more dangerous in snow and rain conditions, since they will not grip the road at all. You may lose control causing an accident.
Comments are welcome. Look after your car and keep it well maintained to ensure that your driving is safe and you get maximum gas mileage. For more information about getting better gas mileage, click here.
July 30th, 2012 on 1:24 pm
with gas prices going up again it is again more important that we squeeze every drop out of the gasoline we purchase. this is becoming more important all of the time especially if you drive to work every day.