Archives

Hello
Can my little Aspire with the little rinky-dink 13" tires (50#psi) glide far enuf on
gravel to offset pulses? Usually my pulses are in 4th to 40 and then glide back down
to 25. No, there is really not an alternative route. I would gain 1 1/2 miles pavement starting uphill, but the trip would be 10 instead of 8.
I think half of my mpg gains are from warmer weather. I've gone from 34-36 mpg to 40-41 mpg.
trip details:
FAS, P&G, very little braking, almost no reversing, psi @ 50, radiator 75% covered for faster warmup, no idling, almost all continous gravel, but about 2 miles each day consists of start-stop from job site to job site.
I want to break 45 mpg,can I ? Help please?

Paul

Maybe DWL instead of Pulse and Glide?

During road construction season I get detoured from my usual chip and seal roads onto gravel frequently--it's tough, but at least it isn't mud. The best advice I can give is to find the sweet spot in the gravel road. Often you can find a track in the gravel that isn't too washboarded, but still doesn't have too much loose gravel--it coasts/rolls better there. The first spot I look for it is on the edge of the beaten track (the center of the track is usually washboarded and the edge of the road is usually loose). Each gravel road is a little different. It'll probably take several trips to figure out a good track. You also may want to go easier on your pulses than you would on pavement because slinging gravel hurts your efficiency.

Gravel, sand, and other roads where your tires leave tracks behind as you drive will actually have higher rolling resistance if you over-inflate your tires. An old beach driving trick is to temporarily lower the pressure in the tires to only 10~15 psi so that the tires float on top of the sand instead of sinking down into it.

Not an expert, but I do travel 18 miles a day on gravel/dirt roads. Freshly graded roads are near impossible to P&G. I'm too busy dodging tire-flattening rocks. Also when I back off the throttle the car tends to decelerate rapidly. P&G seems to use more gas in this case. If you have clean ruts to follow, then P&G has a better chance. I try to accelerate briefly on the downhills - coast in neutral as long as possible and follow the hard packed or clear ruts on the way down. I keep steady throttle on the level parts, and back off the throttle on the uphills.

Freshly graded I can only manage 40mpg, but clear ruts I can sometimes hit 55mpg. I feel your pain - EVERY day!

Tnxs for your replies. My country gravel road does not get bladed
that often so there is seldom loose gravel and I don't see my wheel tracks. :)
So tire psi will stay high (50). It looks like a combo of FAS, DWL, and some P&G.
Should I accelerate (P&G) in 4th or 5th?:confused:
Met my sixth vehicle for the year last week!

Tnxs again: Paul