Fuel Economy Tip - Fill Your Tires With Nitrogen?

Today's tip will hopefully help you increase your car's fuel economy by 1 to 2%. While that may not seem like much, over time, it'll definitely add up (assuming this theory is correct).

Fill your tires with pure nitrogen as opposed to filling them up with "regular air."

The last time I had the tires changed on my car (which was a week or two ago), when I got the receipt back, I noticed a small additional charge for filling my tires with pure nitrogen. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but a few days later I decided to do some "internet investigation" and find out why I was driving around on nitrogen filled tires.

As a side note, yes, I realize I could have just called the tire place, but that would have been too easy.

Anyway, what I found out through my research (here's one site I found) is there is a belief that tires filled with pure nitrogen tend to hold proper tire pressure longer than tires filled with regular air. The theory behind this is because nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules, thus less likely to escape the tire.

To be honest, I haven't really noticed much of a difference, but maybe a month down the road when I go to check my tires, I'll be pleasantly surprised to see that my tires have held their pressure.

So, for the time being, I would recommend that if you go out and get a new set of tires in the near future, go ahead and spend the couple extra bucks to try it out. If it doesn't work out, you're not going to be out much, but if it does work out, you stand to save some gas and money.

Fuel Economy Log - Week 13

This past week I drove 314.5 miles, used 10.28 gallons of gas and paid $3.00, all of which equates to an average of 30.6 mpg or 5.5% above my car's average fuel economy.

This 5.5% increase in fuel economy equates to a "savings" of roughly $.17 per gallon, which saved me $1.75 on this particular fill up. Not too good, but I'll take it.

This $1.75 combined with my previous 12 week savings amounts to a total savings of $64.29, or roughly two fill ups.

Not bad for just paying better attention to my driving habits.

Fuel Economy Tip - Reduce the Use of "Electrical Devices"

Today's tip is along the same idea as the headlights tip, only it's a little more broad.

Minimize the use of your car's "electrical devices."

Here's what I mean by "electrical devices":

• Rear window defrost
• Radio
• Navigational systems
• Dome lights
• Power locks and windows
• Plug-in DVD players

While this certainly isn't an all-inclusive list, I think you catch my drift.

Anyway, the reason behind minimizing the use of these devices is when you use your car's electrical systems, in a round about way you are using more gas.

This is because your car's electrical systems are powered by it's alternator (while the car is running), and the alternator gets it's energy from the car's engine. If you need the alternator to produce more power for the electrical systems, it's going to sap more energy from the engine, meaning worse fuel economy.

Obviously, having a failing alternator will only exacerbate the problem.

So, long story short, if you can minimize the use of your car's electrical systems, you should see a slight increase in your vehicle's gas mileage.