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 |  |  | | | | How to Get Better Fuel Economy This Summer | | By Mark Salem | |
Poor fuel economy can put a costly damper on any summer vacation taken in the
family vehicle. But there are a few simple things you can do to enhance your
fuel economy no matter what type of vehicle you drive, which means you’ll buy
less gas and have more money to enjoy the summer.
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Let’s go through a few ideas that are proven to improve your fuel economy.
Get the Junk out of the Trunk
I own an auto-repair facility,
and you’d be amazed at the amount of stuff I find in trunks of cars these
days. I've seen junk in the trunk of cars equivalent to a full-size man. Why
haul the dead weight? Remove unnecessary winter supplies such as bags of salt
and tire chains from the trunk of your vehicle. Get that bag of old newspapers
to the recycling bin. Your vehicle will require less energy to move without
the dead weight. So ask yourself if you really need to be transporting around
that card table, set of golf clubs or storage container, and unload any
unnecessary items from your trunk.
Keep Air in Your Tires
Remember what it was like riding your
bike as a child with half-flat tires? It was hard to get the bike moving. Once
you inflated the tires, your bike was like a new sports car; it went faster
with far less effort. Your car feels the same pain when the tires are at, say,
28 psi instead of the recommended 35 psi. (Just to be clear: not every tire
should be inflated to 35 psi. Look for the recommended psi rating on a label
on your driver’s door or in the glove box.)
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