There hasn't been any noticable difference in stopping/gripping in my HCH's Dunlops set at 51PSI.
One of the main MPG tricks I use is to keep momentum, which includes some really hard Left and Right turns, often times on sand/stone covered surfaces. I've never had even a hint that the tires were loosing traction, even on wet (resonably) puddled pavement.
They make alot of rolling friction noise as any car does under similar conditions but never sliding.

My Honda dealer even sets them up at that pressure for me, under my request.
After 40K miles there hasn't been any unusual tire wear at all.
The only drawbacks I've found is extra wear on my seat (not the car's ) and slightly more effort with steering correction.

Last count I've owned 17 cars and all have had sidewall pressure, never a problem.

Wayne, you wrote:
Last winter (28-40 degree) for a few commutes home I took the freeway almost all the way home. 18 miles of this is 70MPH limit so I had to keep going. Likely averaging around 60-65MPH I'd end up with about 54MPG on the dash.

Still pretty good but a far cry from my 63-66MPG with bypassing the freeway and using a nearly abandoned highway instead.

 

I had recently moved the tire pressure from 32 to 40 psi, and yesterday, for the first time, I drove in hard rain, with a lot of standing water.

Wow, was I scared.

I have driven through several inches of snow in the old configuration, through driving rain, under severe conditions, and I was satisfied with the performance. Yesterday, I had to back down to 40-45 on a normally 65 mph zone. Thought I would not have gone 65 in this weather, I expected 55.

Arg.

 

i know what you mean - but then again driving with any compact car in heavy rain and standing water is scary i wouldn't mind 45 mph if i wanted to stay safe. sometimes, rainstorms over here get so bad that you have to pull over to the shoulder and wait because you just can't see.

not that i should be talking though, california has pretty mild weather..generally, not that much rain. i used to live over in morris plains, new jersey though - haha, it was cloudy or rainy most of the time. it still must be

 

I had owned my 05 HCH just under a month when this thread began, had just filled my first tank and was halfway through a second, and I remember thinking to myself, "my god these people are nuts, how can they plug 700 miles out of this thing when I barely made 400?"

My tanks have for the most part been steadily improving thanks to all the tips I've picked up - my latest had personal highs in not only both mileage and MPGs (526 @ 50.5), but also in gallons used up (about 10.4). I've never felt entirely comfortable running dangerously low as I've always been trained to keep 1/4 tank so's not to burn fumes.

Still, especially after re-reading this thread I hadn't looked at for 3 months and everything I've learned since then, I'm thinking maybe it's finally time to throw my name into the mix for a 700 miler. I pulled into my apartment tonight about 2 or 3 bars above the halfway mark on my ULEV, with the gauge showing 56.3 MPG after 330 miles. Since the recall my dash has been virtually perfect, so assuming I can hold my 56.3, it would take me about 12.4 gallons to hit the magic number. Certainly within the range of my 13.2, though I've never liked topping off so I won't push it to a breaking point. Here's to the challenge.

 

I'll hit 700 miles tomorrow (er... later today) when I come home for lunch. It's at 688.8 right now, and the fuel guage is still bouncing between 1 and 2 bars. The FE display has been sitting at 57.9 for over a week now, though it'd bumped up to 58.2 for a few minutes here and there before settling. What sucks is that the average over the first 180 miles was over 62mpg, and then I volunteered to take three passengers to a party, which involved a 40 mile roundtrip at ~65mph. During that short but weight-burdened trip, the average slipped from 62 to 57.1! Oh well... at least we took one fuel-efficient car instead of three cars.

Anyway, by my calculations if the FE display is close to accurate, I'm good for about 764 miles on this tank. I'm gonna push it about 20 miles after the last bar disappears, or to ~725 miles, whichever comes first.

 

That IS fantastic! (And +100 miles more than your last tank I might add!)

Now, set your goal for 775. You can find those little areas that need refining in your technique.
Begin implementing your 775 goal on the first turn of the key as you leave the pump.
Verify your tire pressures.

Yes, you can and will. That goes also for you Michael!

 

This was after driving on IMA only and filling up to a click. My tank was D-R-Y. Even though I agree with Lars-ss that it is a bad idea to fill up past where the pump clicks, I dont think that if you did you could fit another gallon and a half in the filler neck, especially without causing problems/wasting gas.

 

I just posited my first post in Share, so since I don't know my way around there too well I'm going to risk repetition and paste the link to it. Can anyone give me a good estimation of how my chances are at 700 for this tank? It's a little tough to make out but I'm showing 6 bars left at 541.7 miles. I've heard it's about 40 miles to the bar but that of course would depend on the MPG for each one of those remaining bars. Anyone with a comparable experience in a similar mileage situation I'd really appreciate hearing from!

https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fi...5_09030007.JPG

 

I just stumbled onto this thread. Are those steaks still available?

Wayne, I presume you have since noticed my tank on July 28 when I was able to fill my HCH ULEV tank with 16.027 gallons? I understand the issues with topping off, but thank God this is still a free country. In topping off, I don't spill a drop, and I know enough to keep the vapor recovery boot seated for as much of the fill as possible. Other than that, I don't open my tank as often as most people.

Lars-ss, I didn't know anyone was challenging me to post photos of my pump numbers, but I presume you have seen my pump and trip meter photos? https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image336.html
https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image338.html
At this point, that is no longer my highest mpg tank, or my highest miles tank, I just don't bother to take more photos unless I do something...extraordinary.

Of course, If I wanted to falsify all of this, I could just pump gas into another vehicle, or several containers, and simply claim it all went into my HCH, but why the he** would I care enough to go to all of that trouble? I just don't like taking the time to stop and gas up. You do your thing, I'll do my thing, we are both doing much much better than 95% of the drivers out there, and I would submit that none of us are doing as much as we really could if we wanted or needed to. For instance, we could simply ride bicycles. Or, others could drive as I do, get 70-80 mpg consistently in their HCH, and pollute less.

Nothing personal, of course.

 

Hi Bob:

___I watch most everybody’s tanks including yours so yes, I have seen what can be pumped into the LEV-2 based HCH’s My Accord’s 17.2 gallon cap tank routinely holds 18.6 gallons on average not including my last with a high of > 19.5.

___As for the top offs, I am all for it too. I do not understand why someone would want to drive to the gas station 150 to 200 + miles earlier. Vapor recovery issues possibly although I have never experienced any such thing in my own 750K miles over the last 25 + years of topping off and knowing very close to dead on what I have received in the FE department vs. a best guess with a first click at the pump method …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net