Greenhorn Greeting!
 

Hi all,

New member here with a 2003 Hyundai Getz (Affectionately, Lucy) which my wife fell in love with despite the absence of oil in the engine and an incessant squeal; so we bought it.
It's 1.5L, dohc, 5 spd auto, 2 door.
Now you've got the gist of how my life works lol, I've been steadily trying to get her back into shape (clean throttle body, new gaskets head upwards, cleaned cam and valve assemblies and valve cover of muck, new engine and gear box oil and filter) and push more km's out of her and stumbled upon this site whilst trying to figure out if the best combination for wheel/tyre improvements - would it be a smaller alloy rim with less offset and a narrower tyre or to keep the standard size rim and narrower tyre, and just swap to alloy. We rarely travel at 80km/hr and next to never travel on freeways/highways with a 100km/hr limit so to move towards the taller end of the gearing spectrum seems counterproductive (Emphasis on seems, no numbers behind that yet). Especially given that the Getz has a 5th unlike my last corolla lol.
We are currently getting ~500km from a 45L (26mpg? US gallon i think?) tank of petrol (not the high octane stuff) so there is along way between what people on here get and what we do!
Still haven't come to a conclusion on that one so any input would be great (Have been working my way through the threads: there is quite a deal of info but just have to find it through all the pages on here!)

Current mods:
Rear seats removed
Baby seat attachment bolts removed
Rear seat belts removed
Spare tyre, jack and tool set removed
Mud guards removed both front and rear
P/S nearly removed (still swaying the wife on permanency lol)

Near future mods:
Alloy wheels new tyres (tyres need to be done anyway so no loss)
Templates made for rear wheel arch skirts but think i'll be able to narrow in a bit with rims with less offset
2 x front racing seat swap over from standard (2nd hand purchase)
Front sway bar removal
Dyno test (Not a mod but will be handy info to know which way to move forward)
Lowered springs front and rear

Little bit further into the future mods:
Front guard from fibreglass (have got the foam to make mould but that's as far as I've gotten)
Belly pan
Mini rear spoiler to continue kback shape a little better. The getz rear ends drop off relatively quickly and I am under the impression that you either try and mimic the ideal boat tail as much as possible by dragging it out or make the drop as steep as possible? *Just from the small amount I've read thus far.

Thanks for all the info, research, time and effort you've all put into making it easier for everyone new to the game!

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Welcome...

I see that your jumping in with both feet. :)

Your first mod however should be a instant MPG gauge. (Ultragauge, Scangauge, etc.)
The gauge will give you instant feedback so you can see what works and what doesn't.

It will also help you to adjust the nut behind the wheel.

Which by the way, happens to be the most important mod... ;)



:turtle:


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I'm not an expert, but for your situation, seems like the narrowest wheel will be best. Gearing doesn't seem to be important, and skinny rims/tires will help out your rear wheel skirts.

But anyway, welcome aboard! And keep your current tires pumped up :)

Welcome to the site and good luck with the Getz!

From what I've discovered in my short time, the 2k max revs really wins some friends on the road :o Tempted to get a sticker made up for the rear windscreen, "Don't hate, just overtake." lol.

I'm currently on 40psi which was the max pressure on the sidewall for these tyres.

Welcome!

If gearing doesn't matter and you're getting new wheels... Have you considered with going with a 14" wheel if it can fit past your brake calipers? I ask because you can then run 165/65R14 Bridgestone Potenza RE92 LRR tires. These give the best fuel economy, hands down my man!

And yes, 2k revs from a stop gives you lots of friends... Especially those who wave at you with one finger... :)

Tried to source some of those tyres you speak of locally but apparently its an older model and we no longer have it (maybe just in Aus?). So will have to delay the tyres.

So this is the first, of what I'm sure will be many, rear wheel arch cover mock up.
I'm toying with keeping the rear of it vertical to try and obtain a "Crease" in the rear of the vehicle that phil knox referred to in a document.

Although I've extensively modded my cars, the biggest gains I saw were from changing my driving habits and picking the route that best suited my car.

Of all the mods I've done, I'd say my side mirror mod had the greatest effect on mpg.

I searched around and found these tires talked about on PriusChat. Might be worth looking into - MICHELIN Energy XM2 Car Tyres | Michelin Tyres Australia

Your rear covers look good! I would caution about not conforming the front to the shape of the body. Wind can get under it and start to shred it off while you're driving and you would never know.

Here is how I did my covers. I made them so that they would follow the contour of the body, very similar to the Honda Insight like cowmeat has.

http://s26.postimg.org/h90lkiyl5/0421151616a.jpg

IIRC they were worth 2 mpg for me, or a 4.5-5% increase in FE at the time.

I know what you are talking about when you say crease. You are looking for a hard break in body angle like is on a Prius. It supposedly helps the air to have a clean break off from the body.

http://images.paultan.org/images2/20...ta-prius-2.jpg

It sounds to me like you're mostly using your car around town. If that's the case then I wouldn't recommend going to taller tires, though making the switch to alloys and narrower tires will probably pay some dividends. Reducing the rotating mass will allow the car to accelerate up to speed more quickly, and of course you already know about reducing the frontal area.

Not spending a lot of time at high speed does take the aero improvements to a somewhat lower priority, but you sound like you're already on your way and I sure don't want to dissuade you. If you're up for it, by all means: go for it.

It sounds to me like you've hogged out a LOT of unnecessary weight. Any idea how much? And how much the car weighs now?

Anything you can do to improve your information profile is good. How much load is on the engine, operating temperature (very relevant when you start looking at grille blocks), instant MPG of course. Absolutely +1 on the Scangauge or Ultragauge, it's the thing that makes "adjusting the nut behind the wheel" so much more effective.

For my part I purchased a Torque app for my phone and paired it with an OBDII bluetooth adapter. It's proved useful in my Honda, and now my son is using in the Subaru (up 10% already, just one week!) So there are ways to do that and not break the bank.