Additives, Tire Pressure, Fuel brands??

[Kevin Barrett]

I think I'm off to a pretty good start with the BIG BUICK boat, but would like additional suggestions.

Are there any oil/fuel additives worth consideration? Are they gimmicks in general or are there some stand-out products. I've tried Motor-Kote once or twice and that's about it so far. Also, I'm running Valvoline 5W30 motor oil.

Tire Pressures - Don't want to over-inflate, but is there a safe increase over the recommended pressure worth considering? I run Michelin Harmony's.

Fuel Brands - Pretty much the same, or is there a differences worth consideration?

Thanks in advance!

[xcel]

Hi Kevin:

___Fuel additives are bunk. Fuel … Most come from the same place anyway but a newer station usually has less chance of contaminants in the storage tanks then an older one. I use both Shell and BP just because I have their CC’s and they actually save me a few cents vs. the no names. I used to fill up wherever and never really saw a difference in FE so just consider the CC deals as the ace in the hole.

___Tires, start at 44 #’s all around if you are high already … You can work your way up from there. If you are currently running 32 as an example, why not do a 35 all around for day 1 and 2, 38 for day 3 and 4, 42 day 5 and 6, and 44 day 7 forward.

___Tire pressure is the easy item. The fuel stuff is bunk no matter what professional mechanic you have spoken with telling you otherwise. If they insist, ask them when was the last time they doubled the EPA combined not using the concoctions and that will hopefully silence the experts that have not been there/done that … You next oil change … Well, you know what to do about that as I am sure you read the right articles floating around here for that A clean air filter is something I will recommend however. Not a K&N or CAI (Cold Air Intake) but a simple air filter change can at least remove some pumping losses vs. a dirty one. Your FE will come from the techniques you will soon be accustomed too, the setup just gets you into the ball game in my experience.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[brick]

Prior to CleanMPG (I keep saying that like it's a line dividing my life in two ) I screwed with acetone for a couple of tanks and FP60 for more than a couple. FP60 did precisely squat and the first Acetone tank coincided with a long, painful string of the worst mileage I had seen in the car to date. No more of that!

The reality is that there isn't much for additives to do for a car that is in good tune, as there isn't a significant amount of energy left to be liberated that isn't already. All that talk about more complete burning, aligned molecules, etc. is complete nonsense because you generally get a 99%+ combustion efficiency anyway. The major gains come from improving the efficiency of how that energy is used, not converted from chemical to heat.