Save Petrol - Buy Tyres!

EnglishBrainIrishHeart

I am new to this game and suspect this has already been covered but what the hey! 2 Months ago I plumped for a set of continentals on my Vectra instead of the usual budget jobs and what do you know my fuel fell went from 43 to 54 miles per gallon!

As I do some motorway miles, I decided to keep the speed limit to 60-65 instead of the normal 75-80 and what do know fuel consumption went from 54 to 63 miles per gallon overall approx 50% mpg increase!! By my reckoning within 6 months the tyres will have paid for themselves and the careful driving will at least allow me to make a little money on the paltry 11ppm I recieve for business miles from work!!

Total saved in the last 2 weeks - £50 and counting!! Bargain!! Anyone else with similar experiences or even any tips to improve Fuel Consumption even further on my motorway driving?

steveo3002

chances are quality tyres will last longer too

sillysi

what continental tyres are they . im after some new tyres for my vectra soon .

crnflke

Continental Eco contacts are pretty good. They seem to last a long time on the cars I've had.

EnglishBrainIrishHeart

They Are Conti Premium Contacts, you can usually get them for less than £75 each inc fitting - I paid £265 for the whole ish from National - Online Discount and Forces Discount (always pays to ask - Student, Gov, Nurses etc). I believe that Conti Eco's are even better but when I was buying they came out a little too expensive - well above £75 per tyre (after Discount)which is my nominal max

Little_John

the drop in speed will be partialy result in lower consumption but Vauxhalls have been putting the low energy tyres on cars for a while my dads Astra came with Michelin Engergy tyres, my sisters corsa came with continental eco conti unfortunatly we have never put anything else on the cars so cant compair. I now have a vectra with an oddball tyre size I got a quote for a replacement of the same size and it was £150 per tyre. I have heard I can fit a differnet more standard size that are cheaper.

The michelin and conti tyres have lasted for ages usually 40000 miles. on my dads my sister hasnt replaced any for wear yet and has done about 30000 miles.

saintjanet

56 miles per hour is supposed to be the most economical speed to improve your mpg,trouble is it takes ages to get there!!

While i think the tyres will have helped ,the slower speed will make the main difference to the mpg.

vansboy

If anyone remembers J R Ewing & Dallas tv series, Dunlop had him as the 'face' for their Elite range of tyres, way back then, these were 'fuel' savers too.

The advertising was boasting about an in crease of mpg & tag line was 'The oil companies aint gonna like it' for which he was paid a generous amount, no doubt.

All the makers now have these lower rolling resistence models,within their ranges. You'll have a firmer ride & possibly shorter tyre life, less grip, due partly,to the harder compounds in the construction of the tyre.

VB

EnglishBrainIrishHeart

SaintJanet & Albertross
As Said in the First Thread, Changing Tyres increased by roughly 11mpg and Slowing down by the same amount, meaning percentage wise changing the tyres produced the best results. Interesting theory mind

Whilst I am cutting the speed down as much as possble, it is only feasable if you do not have a deadline time to reach somewhere. At other times the careful speeds have to go out of the window!! Although being an early riser, late to bed does help me overcome the time deadline factor - at least for my first appointments of the day - which as a rule I ty to ensure that they are the furthest distance from Home or the office - maybe lowering to 56 mph is the way forward but then I will suffer the ignomy of being overtaken by Lorries and my maile pride simply cannot allow that!!!!

Little_John

Driving at increased speeds on motorways doesnt actually reduce the journey time by much anyway, it is better to travel at a constant speed than speeding up and slowing down all the time to be more economice with fuel.

I have tested this out since I got sat nave a few years ago, I drive to newcastle the journey time is usually about 2 and a half hours, If I put my foot down say 80-85 I can get the time down to about 2:15-2:20 but I have used more fuel and will have been more active looking out for speed traps. drive at 70 the journey isnt as stressfull as I can just sit back and relax more not worrying about getting 3 or more points.

Altering the diameter of the tyres can also alter fuel ecomomy bigger normally reduces it smaller ones increase it.

Madiba_2

saintjanet wrote:

56 miles per hour is supposed to be the most economical speed to improve your mpg,trouble is it takes ages to get there!!

While i think the tyres will have helped ,the slower speed will make the main difference to the mpg.

Get a faster car then!