Shoed Foot = Less MPG

[broski499]

I wear Rainbow sandals almost exclusively, I just can't think of why I would want to toss my feet in a closed space and subject them to socks. With that said it has been a rather chilly January in Southern California, and I decided to challenge myself to wear socks for the entire month of January. What I found was shoes are not that bad, but I also found that my MPG dropped. If you look at my fuel log I was getting 23 and 24 mpg pretty easy. I do a lot of around town driving so I was not expecting much from the Camry. But when I dawned shoes, I barely got 20 MPG with my last fillup. Since then I have purchased 2 new tires, got an alignment and new brakes(not really relevant to MPG, but anyway) and an oil change. With that said I'm still struggling to get 23 mpg. I'm hovering at 22.5 right now.

I'm going to do a test in February where I am barefoot every time I drive and will see if that changes my MPG at all.

I know this is not very scientific but has anyone else experience greater feeling of their cars, money spot, barefoot then in shoes.

Anyone else Rainbow Sandal Fan?

[wmjinman]

I have read, either on here or on another hypermiler forum, that to squeeze out that last little bit of MPG, the hardcore hypermilers drive barefoot to feel the pressure on the accelerator more accurately.

You also said you started wearing shoes because it got cold. They say on here that it's pretty well accepted that a car will get less MPGs when it's cold (thicker oil, longer warmup times means longer time with rich fuel mixture, heater/defroster fan uses electricity, making the alternator work harder), etc.

And I've also read on here that new tires tend to get worse MPGs than worn ones - more rolling resistance with all the tread, and also older tires tend to get harder with age.

[Sven7]

It might be the denser winter air instead of your foot covering choices.

Last week it was fifteen to ten degrees below zero for several days on my way to work, so consider yourself lucky.

[c_silva88]

ive noticed a difference in mpg depending on if i wearing my boots or my sneakers like what wmjinman mentioned i can "i can feel the pressure on the accelerator more accurately' with my sneakers then boots not huge difference but noticeable id say 1-2 mpgs

[PaleMelanesian]

It depends on the car. It really didn't matter with my old 96 Civic. That had a mechanical throttle cable and took real movement of the pedal to change the throttle. My new Fit has drive-by-wire throttle and is much more sensitive.

I have always kicked off my shoes for longer trips. I may start doing so on short trips now.

[ksa8907]

personally, my opinion on the matter is that for even better feedback from the engine you should have a relatively loud exhaust, obviously not the most pleasant idea. my car is fairly loud at cruise, mostly because im too cheap to buy a muffler and i can easily tell how much load i have on the engine just by the exhaust note. it will have a certain resonance, but when you ease off it will go sharp, and if you push it a little it goes flat, easy way of knowing.

[broski499]

Yeah I feel pretty lame when I say its been cold, in Southern Cal when I say cold I mean like 40s during the day. Some of you are prob thinking thats t-shirt weather. It was getting pretty low at night though. I didn't even think about the cold weather affecting mpg, totally makes sense though because this is the coldest its been in our area for a long time.

Interesting on the new tires, I had not idea about that!

I like to think I'm hardcore when it comes to hypermiling so off with the shoes it is.

If only my mpg was hardcore.

[niky]

Don't like driving without shoes, because my feet are wide and my toes fumble over the pedals. A very good option is aqua socks. I use Adidas Jawpaws. These give you excellent pedal feel and traction on the pedals without the need to have your shoes banging around in the footwell while you drive barefoot. They make "hell and toe" a breeze, too.

[kanoshee]

i get alot worse mpg barefoot, as stated above i can definitely get a better feel barefoot but that's the problem, it's a nice feeling lol. the worst problem is i will find myself curling my big toe thus pressing harder down on the pedal, if i drive barefoot with the window down, hypermiling is out the window no matter what car. i just thoroughly enjoy the drive
in the winter with shoes on is when i get my best mpg. i've heard cars run better in the cold the air is more dense so it contains more oxygen. but, the air is more dense and harder to move through, but the road is colder equaling less rolling resistance. so, idk which is better it all has to be done specific. but i do think warm air intakes are kinda dumb. the reason i think some work are because of intake air temp sensors may throw less fuel idk, one guy i knew permantly put a resistance on his ecu engine tempature sensor so the car though it was over heating and put less fuel it was slow and all but at 45 mpg vs 32 who can care?

[Sven7]

^^ Care to back up your opinions?

Originally Posted by broski499

Yeah I feel pretty lame when I say its been cold, in Southern Cal when I say cold I mean like 40s during the day. Some of you are prob thinking thats t-shirt weather. It was getting pretty low at night though. I didn't even think about the cold weather affecting mpg, totally makes sense though because this is the coldest its been in our area for a long time.

Last week the lows were hovering between -20 and -5, with the highs barely reaching zero. Even while coasting, driving slow, etc. the car got terrible mileage. So, even though 40 degrees may feel warm and fuzzy to me, it likely deviates quite a bit from your normal operating temp much like -15 deviates from the usual 5-10 degree MN weather.

What I'm saying is, perhaps those MPG figures are normal for those temperatures. Sure, shoes may have something to do with it, but I doubt they'd make thaaat much difference.