Highway specific mods
 

hey guys I have a (so far) unmodded xA that I only use around the city, never highway. We are about to take a trip from south carolina to new orleans and will be taking the xA. Is there any easy highway specific mods I could do? I would feel good with doing a upper grille block since its not all stop and go like my usual route, how much of the bottom part of the grille can I block off too? Will it really make a difference since its all highway?

my civic gets cooled from a 2" x 3" opening only..everything else is blocked off and it never overheats...you can try the same

Recomend an air dam and a complete upper grill block and a partial on the lower. Maybe a quick kamm back?

Be sure to pump the tires up as far as you dare, too.

- and drive as slow as you can stand: maybe 50? If you happen to have a ScanGauge, you could maybe do a quick test to see where your best MPG speed is....

There are plenty of threads on this- research those.

Also, fold the mirrors in. Do quick rear wheel skirts with corrugated cardboard if you can. Painters tape might hold it well enough to do highway speeds if you shut the ends into the door jamb... although you'd have to check on it now and then. 60mph winds tend to unravel things.

I will probably pump them up to 40. door jam says 22psi, They are at 32ish now.

Yeah I plan on driving as slow as my wife lets me, haha. Especially since the final gear on my car is extremely low, 65mph=like 3500rpm.... I plan on maybe 50-55mph

Yeah I will probably put some painters tape around the gaps and stuff, I really dont want to use anything that will leave a bunch of residue, the car is less than a month old, good paint job, id hate to ruin it with duck tape like I've done with all my other cars :)

"door jam says 22psi, They are at 32ish now."

What does the tire sidewall say? I've never seen a car tire rated for less than 44psi.

Fair enough; I know all too well what tape can do to a car.

You can get residue free duct tape. It comes off just as clean as painters tape but is alot stonger. Used it on my Town car with no ill affects.

i've got some 35 MAX tires.... they're all kinds of junk though.

Plan your stops in advance. About 100-miles/2-hours apart for 10-minutes. Fuel & food at 4-hours to be out of the vehicle one hour. It isn't just best safe practice (truck industry), it also is the preservation of fine motor skill. Keeping the vehicle lane-centered is nearly as important as chosen travel speed, in a manner of speaking.

By knowing in advance the stops (and where, specifically one is headed at low speed as in across a parking lot) one loses only a few tenths from the overall mpg. I try to keep my choices to, [1] the direction of travel, [2] past any intersection that would be between me and the IH entrance ramp, [3] that affords ease of entry and exit. Etc.

I also prefer stops at the periphery of metro areas (unless lunch, let's say, iis planned at a highly-regarded local eatery), both before and after. An after-meal restroom stop should be included inside the first hour after departure.

A trip broken out into legs of time/distance with known stops is one where it is much easier to keep a higher level of attention en-route. Avoid random stops altogether.

And, traveling at 50-mph would be rather stupid, IMO. Too much energy watching the mirrors for overtaking traffic. Try 57-58 and keep the center of your chosen lane. (If you move to the right of the lane, the passing traffic will nearly cross over to your lane . . keep 'em bumped over to theirs, if need be, by judicious use of the left of your lane. Most all drivers are unconcious of how they make choices. Include yourself in this: always have 4-seconds separation between you and others, no exceptions? . . The goal is to keep the energy expenditure low as is reasonable, both driver and vehicle).

Good luck, and have an enjoyable trip :thumbup:

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