Welcome to our Hot Catalyst Blog Tips for the Week

There are many things that we can ALL do to get better mileage from our vehicles. The purpose of this article is to share a few tips that we all can benefit from and if you'll practice them and share them with others... as you see them working for you, we'll all start consuming less of this "Non-renewable" energy source (oil) that we're rapidly burning up. Just think, last week we were all scared that the results of Hurricane Katrina would send gas prices through the roof and maybe have it in such short supply that we'd have to go back to the old "even" and "odd" day deal of the 1970's to get our gas at the pump. Luckily that did not happen... but it could have! Don't ever forget that.

Here are FIVE hot tips to help you save gas in the coming week... and for a lifetime if you choose to take advantage of them.

1. Increase the air pressure in your tires by about 10 pounds above where you normally run them. If your normal pressure is 28, then increase it to 38. This will decrease the "rolling resistance" of the tire and all things staying equal, you'll use a little less gas to go the same distance. Check your pressures regularly and keep them proper... for YOUR safety and mileage!

2. When you are buying new tires, consider buying Low Rolling Resistance tires. Yes, there is such a thing. You do have to ask and your salesman may look at you funny... but it is YOUR money that you're wasting with those "High Rolling Resistance" tires that are on your car now!

3. Slow Down! Driving really fast wastes gas! Here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, it would seem that everyone believes they're somehow related to or better than those race car drivers you see on the television each weekend. If you drive the speed limit, you are in danger of being run over. So, in self defense, as much as anything... most everyone speeds. If we all left just five or ten minutes earlier, we could all drive slower and save gas. If you stay within five to ten miles per hour of the speed limit you do several good things. (1) you waste less gas (2) you have less chance of getting a ticket (3) you're less likely to have a fatal accident.

4. When the light turns GREEN, take your foot off the gas and let your car start to rollahead, on it's own, if it's an automatic. If it's a manual transmission, let the clutch out gently and then GENTLY depress the gas pedal. "Jack-Rabbit" starts as they're called WASTE GAS! So much so that you can literally see liquid gasoline coming out the exhaust. So much is shot into the engine when you STOMP on the gas pedal that there is NO way that the engine can burn it all... So, ease away and save gas.

5. When coming up to a RED light... why not take your foot off the gas and just coast up to the light? Constantly I observe drivers "racing" up to a RED light. They're wasting gas and then they have to wear out their brakes (added expense) getting stopped. So, there is an added benefit to letting off the gas when you see that the light ahead is RED. You save gas, you don't wear out your brakes as quickly and... if you can possibly slow down enough that the light turns GREEN before you get there, you save in a huge way. How? The single most energy consuming moment in driving is when you have to go from a STOP to Forward Motion. If you just slow down and then pick up speed again, that takes almost nothing in the energy measure, compared to having to begin rolling from a complete stop. So, the next time you come to a RED light, THINK of all the money you can save by just slowing down some and easing through when it turns GREEN.

More tips coming next week. If you have any great mileage tips, please feel free to post them.
Dave