Hi again from AUTOMEGA® world. Can you believe it’s already November? It seems like once we get done with August the rest of the year just flies by. In no time we’ll be ready to ring in another new year. I like the fall, aside from the whole “fall back” issue. In theory it seems like a good deal—who would turn down an “extra” hour of sleep? But then that first Monday evening commute when you’re driving home in the moonlight it hits you that, hey, my day is missing something. Like, I don’t know, daylight maybe. It’s not until then that you really realize what that extra hour of sleep has cost you. Maybe we should all move to Arizona, where for whatever reason they’ve decided to buck convention and bypass the entire fall back/spring ahead extravaganza completely. In any case, these shorter days do make it a little more difficult to get in that quality time with your car or truck, but we’ve got a few things to get you excited about spending Saturday out in the garage.
TIP SHACK
This month we’d like to address something a little different—saving money at the gas pumps.
We all know that gas is just about as expensive as it’s ever been. And yet, despite rising costs, we still have just as many places we need to go. But there are ways you can cut costs, without having to cut back on your driving. The thing we’d like to focus on is how you can get better gas mileage every time you drive. And these tips are so easy to implement that you’ll be doing them for life, even when (if) that gas prices finally go down.
The first thing you need to look at is your car or truck’s wind resistance. If you drive a pickup truck, this is likely the easiest thing you can address when it comes to saving money. This is because as you drive, air flows into a pickup’s bed and runs into the tailgate, causing a lot of resistance and making your car work harder to get from point A to point B. To reduce wind resistance, you can drive around with your tailgate down, as some people do. Or you can remove your solid metal tailgate and replace it with a tailgate net, so the air can flow through. An air gate operates under the same principle, but it’s made from metal tubing or mesh, instead of vinyl netting. Another option is to install a tonneau cover or a truck cap. Not only do these products smooth the airflow over your bed, they also can provide lots of secure storage space.
Another simple savings solution for both cars and trucks is to keep your tires properly inflated. Tires that are low on air are going to decrease your gas mileage, again by making your car work harder. Under inflated tires will also wear out more quickly and require replacement sooner.
Taking it a step further, you can improve your gas mileage by making your car’s engine more efficient. An engine that burns 90 percent of the air and fuel mixture is much more efficient than one that burns 60 percent. It therefore will make more power from the same amount of fuel–because what isn’t burned in the combustion process becomes waste and gets sent out your tailpipe. So, a more efficient engine is not only more powerful, it gets better fuel economy. One way to address this is to improve the spark to your engine, so it burns the air and fuel mixture better. You also can make a motor more efficient by reducing internal friction, so it doesn’t have to work as hard. One way to reduce friction within an engine is to run a high-quality–or synthetic–motor oil.
This is by no means all of your options for improved fuel economy, but I hope this will get you thinking of other common sense practices you can put into play to shell out a little less cash at the pumps each week.
WEB NEWS
This month we are proud to offer you a brand new product to AUTOMEGA® at a fantastic deal—Aluminium Billet Grilles, as well as on our very own brand, MegaBillet Stainless Steel Billet Grilles. These lightweight all stainless steel Billet Grilles are made of 304 grade polished stainless steel that will not tarnish. This grille will look brand new even five years down the road. Several makes and models available.
If you haven’t gotten yourself a set of Altezza tail-lights yet, now is the time. We’ve recently added in several new models and have everything in stock reduced to it’s lowest pricing yet. This won’t last forever, so get started finding what you need.
Tags: car tips, fuel economy, Saving Money On Gas, tires, tonneau covers