New Poster: Akron, OH / '07 Hyundai Elantra 4A

[Tomjones76]

Hi all!
First-time poster here.
Just got rid of an '02 Merc Sable (22-24 MPG driven carefully) and into an '07 Hyundai Elantra GLS Automatic. Managed to snag the Elantra with just 11,500 miles on it, for only slightly more than I would have paid for a same-year rental with 30K on it.
I'm a heavy [fat and wide] guy, and this car was the roomiest vehicle I could find rated for 28/36 or better. It's also the smallest I can fit into well with the wife.
I've had a Scangauge for about 3 years, and while experimenting with it I became quite fluent in:
DWB
DWL
also, not sure what this is called, but I'm also a big believer in keeping RPMs to 2000 when possible and 2200 when needed.
My personal top speed is 55 MPH except when merging and getting onto a particular exit ramp that I must enter from the left lane on a 3-lane interstate.
My vehicle turns just over 2K at 55, which I'm not crazy about, but I suppose I can't do anything to fix that in cost-effective fashion, at least 'til these tires wear out.
I'm on the Toyo Optima 426 that ships OEM with this vehicle.
I'm running 32 PSI per the door sticker.
My favorite tire dealer says that on this particular car you don't want to exceed 35 PSI due to squirrely handling that results. I'll still try 44 (sidewall rating) this weekend just for kicks.
A tribology expert I trust (Terry Dyson) reccomended the Fuel Power 60 gas additive product as resulting in a 6% MPG improvement in ICE that he'd tested, so I'm running that at 1 OZ per 5 gallons.
My commute is as follows:
1. Start
2. Transit 2 miles, surface streets.
3. Transit 8 miles, interstate superhighway. Speed limit varies from 55 to 65, but I run 55 with cruise for 90% of this.
4. Transit 1-2 miles, surface streets.
5. My commute home is the above in reverse order.
6. Commuting, I'm getting 33.4 to 37.3 MPG per fill-up.

Anyway, hi all!
Not sure if I left anything out.

Appendix A: Trivia
I'm also running the Lube Control 20 to cut down on motor oil oxidization and carbon build-up, but obviously that won't help at all with mileage, at least on a new car.

Appendix B: Fuel Power 60
The Fuel Power 60 product is made by Lube Control Distributors. There's a Fuel Power product made for diesel tractors by an unrelated company, but it's not what I'm using.

Appendix C: Errata
My SG-1 product is out of order due to getting staticed by my friend's '06 Elantra. Getting it fixed will cost me $30, which I'll probably be spending very soon.

[Kacey Green]

Welcome!
It sounds like you're already well on your way to getting some impressive numbers, I'll let the more senior members weigh in on the additves, what you described with the RPMs sounds like DWL to me. Its great to see you already have an SG too, I'll let someone who's owned both the new and old SGs comment on if they'd repair or upgrade. I always feel a bit blind when driving a vehicle without an SG now, even worse without and iFCD .

[Showbizk]

Tomjones, welcome! I also am in the Akron area, commuting daily between Mogadore and South Akron via I-76. What color is your Hyundai? I'll watch for it. BTW, everything I've ever heard about fuel and oil additives indicate you're wasting your money...

[Tomjones76]

Dark blue, and as of today I'm still on my temp tags, so no front plate yet.
As far as the additives go, you're right, for 99.9% of additives on the market.
Out of dozens of products out there, there are no more than 5 that are worth considering:
1. Chevron Techron
2. Auto-Rx
Lube Control Distributors:
3. Fuel Power 60 [or other varieties in some applications]
4. Lube Control 20
5. Actually, can't think of 5...

If it makes you any happier, I've been buying these for 5 years or so, and several gallons at a time. I'm using a whopping 2-3 ounces of the products in question per week, so... if I'm wasting money, I'm wasting it slowly, at the pace of $8 per month.
You can check out the results of instrumented testing on FP in diesel applications here if you like:
http://www.lcdinc.com/tests_swri.php

Once again, I'm not affiliated with them, although I am a customer of one of their tribology consultants, Terry Dyson. The FP product certainly won't result in drastically better mileage, but I suspect that it'll be a break-even proposition once I consider it as preventive maintenance on my injectors. I'm guessing my gains are in the 4-6% range based on a comment by Dyson.

I'd try to set up a test on that, but... to be honest, that's close to the margin of error for consumer testing.

[Thumper]

Hi,
I am driving 2001 Elantra with aftermarket toyo tires. I am running 60 psi and do not notice any handling problems. My sidewall max is 51. I would recommend that you do indeed press them up to at lease sidewall (44 for you).

Stan,

[Tomjones76]

I'm running 41 all around right now, with no noticeable changes to ride/handling:
That is, the ride is very, very harsh and the handling remains awesome.
I'll probably spin up to 44 on Saturday; I check tire pressures every Saturday morning, so I can get my pressure cold.

[run500mph]

Tomjones76 wassup? Welcome to the site.

I agree about the additives as showbizk said... In the 6 months of being a member I have not heard of one real additive that did anything. But having said that...

Great! you are already beating the epa numbers on your car! Good work!

I can tell you that from experiences of others and myself, PSI=MPG as lamebums says.
I am at 65psi all around on tires rated 44 in front and 35 in back. Forget the placard rating, it is awfully low and wears tires out extremely fast and puts you at more likely risk of a blow out due to it being flexed more and running hotter due to more friction than neccessary over time..

If you read threads on tire inflation here, many many hypermilers are well above side wall max. But at the absolute minimum keep them at 44. Wayne Gerdes the owner of this site has his original Honda tires still with 105,000 miles and still not worn out and hes had them inflated to 50-65psi the whole time. Cops train with 100psi in their tires for high performance driving.
A tire blows up at approx. a whopping 200psi. But you do only as you see fit and I ain't recommending anything. Just read the tire pressure threads.

The tire wear I originally had on the sides because i inflated to the door placard stopped completely after I pumped them up! No sign of wear whatsoever.
And your mileage will DEFINITELY go up.

Read the article "Beating the EPA - The How and Why to Hypermile" oN the top left of the home page. Section 2 and on may be a good fast start.

You will get amazing numbers out of an Elantra once you master the full range of Hypermiling. I can see 70mpg just waiting to be brought out of that car.

I have a car rated at 23 combined EPA 2008 ratings and I just got a 67.2mpg coming home today from work on a 36 mile run. I got 56mpg goin to work. Your car is higher rated then mine so you can go higher!!

Pay attention to the guys with similar cars and who have very high numbers and you will learn fast. Keep practice up and you will blow your own mind.

Just trying to encourage you with what can really be done. Also I achieve these numbers with no modifications whatsoever and Zero additives. I don't even practice great maintenance really, either.

Remember the real secret to high mpg after tires being pumped is your actions and skill while Hypermiling. Nothing gives you more giant numbers than your skills. Weight and aerodynamics are a piece but again the most important Hypermiling tool is you.

Again welcome!

[Showbizk]

I have a car rated at 23 combined EPA 2008 ratings and I just got a 67.2mpg coming home today from work on a 36 mile run. I got 56mpg goin to work.

I'm green--GREEN, I say!!! My Veracruz's best tank is 21.5 mpg! And that was with a 100-mi trip where the iMPG registered 23.3 at best. I can't even get to EPA! And now the weather turning cold bodes even worse for me! I just raised pressures to 50 psi all around (the ride is as harsh as I want it, now), so we'll see if the present tank is improved at all.

[run500mph]

Hey Showbizk, keep it going you can squeeze and choke more mpg's outa that car!
What techniques do you use? Pretty much everything, or some? Airing up tires is a very good move! They will last you much longer.

[Tomjones76]

Well, I've been running 41 PSI all around, and not one of my friends or family noticed.
I'll ratchet it up to 44 and reassess in another week.