Debunking a Mileage Myth: Can You Really "Pump Up" Your Fuel Economy?

Read more: Debunking a Mileage Myth: Can You Really "Pump Up" Your Fuel Economy? - Popular Mechanics

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/4199963

 

That article does show that increased tire pressure does not improve ones highway MPG at 65 and 70 MPH. I would postulate that is mainly because aerodynamics have a greater effect at those speeds.

My experience has been that it does improve my city MPG by around 6%, by maximizing my glide segments while driving. My measurement was done over two 12 month periods of primarily the same 28.8 mile round trip commutes.

 

There is a reason why the top hypermilers in the World know what works and what is BS. Do you think for one second that the writer of Popular Machanics could tell how the tires were wearing in that short of a trip? The vibration? Give me a break. The center of the tires don't wear out like that with steal belted tires. The writer must have been over a 100 years old to say that.

You don't have to listen to people that get super mileage, the longest tire wear, and say their car handles safer with high inflation. Just listen to Popular Machanics and get shitty MPG, wear out your tires sooner, and have a wreck because you can't control your vehicle.

GaryG

 

I have a vehicle with 13,692 OEM miles on it. The Goodyear steel belted tires have center tread wear not from over inflation but just door sticker settings. Just neglected to notice the wear too late before dropping the tire pressure to compensate.

 

That sounds like the tires were to big for the rims. Know what the tire stores say about Goodyear? They only last a good year!!!

At any rate, you can put the tire pressure you want if that makes you happy. I know what works for me and I'm not going to change something I've learned out of experience.

GaryG

 

Good points. You also need to read the comments to the article. This one (typos and all) pretty much embarrasses the author of the article.

"So the author of this article went from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_angeles - 71 meters above sea to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale,_Arizona - 351 meters from sea level, with overinflated tires and made 42.19 mpg. Then, reduced the tire pressure and went back, then made 42.14 mpg... Well, if making the same milleage goind from a higher level terrain to a lower level terrain doesn´t indicate that the car was performing better at first trip, also considering all other variations as air humidity, temperature (the return trip was taken 2 days after), the article should has no credibility to me, regarding the milleage (that is the main point here)."

 

If the author wasn't paid by Big Oil to write that article, he should have.

GaryG

 

OEM stock tires used for four model years.

 

I find my tires on my '09 FEH Michelins and '11 Explorer Hankook tires run very well at 55psi. Michelin max sidewall is 44psi and the door sticker says 35psi on my FEH. Max sidewall on the Explorer Hankooks are 51psi and the door sticker says 35psi. The Hankook front tires have never been rotated and still may get 50,000 miles out of them and I'm at 44,000 miles now. The back Hankook tires may go 90,000 the way they look today. I have 30,000 miles on my Michelin Tours and they still look like new on the back and the fronts may go 55,000 without rotation. I corner hard to maintain speed as fast as I can as part of hypermiling. My wife and I share the Explorer, so the lifetime MPG is only 23.6mpg. I'm the only driver of my '09 FEH FWD with a lifetime MPG of 53.9mpg. Florida mandated 10% ethanol in April of '08, so I burn only 87 octane E10.

It appears high tire pressure works for me and I have no center or any wear problems at all. I had problems with my '05 FEH because of factory alignment settings, but raising my tire pressure to 50psi solved that.

GaryG

 

How many freeze/thaw cycles do you go through in Florida? Not many, if any? I'll guarantee you that if you lived where I live, potholes will knock you silly. You'd have to be a fanatic or crazy to drive on over inflated tires like that. Dangerous for sure. I've had a oil change place over inflate my tires and know what the results can be.