So I'm finally back home and man is it warm! 80s to 90s (Fahrenheit)!
Of course I immediately went back to work on my car. First step was to redo the wheel covers since they were getting a bit shabby and aren't perfectly smooth. Making them perfectly smooth will make redoing my wheel skirts easier.
So I took the first one off along with the wheel. I punched out holes for the lug nuts and air valve access, painted them black, and reattached them with the zip ties facing inward for a smoother surface:
Paint is still wet in photo so it looks glossier than it actually is. I'll try to get around to posting a picture of it on the car tomorrow.
I only got one wheel cover done before going into work. I can finally check my tire pressure now!
I was interested in seeing what kind of FE I could get on my way into work and back. Previously, my best MPG going into work was 49.2 mpg and my best driving home was 58.2 mpg.
Without actually hypermiling that much (I was using cruise control instead of P&G) I got 51.9 mpg. I noticed vibration while driving, and it turned out that I hadn't tightened the wheel all the way back on.
Drove back home that night after tightening the wheel and got 58.0 mpg despite having to drive a little less "hypermiley" due to more traffic than usual for the hour.
I slept in today due to still being exhausted from my trip, so I had limited time to work on the car. I couldn't find my template for the cutouts in the wheel covers so I had to remake it. I got around to taking the wheel cover off the passenger rear (the first cover was the passenger front), but then it started raining and I ran out of time before having to go to work.
So with three wheel covers on I drove to work. I was struggling to get good FE and got "only" 50.7. I got out of my car and realized that my trunk wasn't closed all the way, so it had been bouncing around and causing drag. Grrr lol.
BUT, on my way back home tonight (after making sure my trunk was still closed lol) I managed to score
62.6 MPG!!!
This is largely due to warmer weather, but also due to a better P&G technique: I started pulsing in 3rd gear instead of 4th gear. Pulsing is twice as quick and so my glide-to-pulse ratio is better. It seems to work!
So happy I hit my goal of a 60 MPG trip!
Now for a 50 MPG tank.. I'll be filling up soon, but this one won't be above 50. It's
supposedly at like 47.7 mpg right now, but this is over a period of 2 months, and I haven't averaged 50+ for that long yet. But since I'm currently averaging over 50 mpg now, so hopefully the next tank will reflect this!!
