Taping hood/grill/headlight gaps...

[theholycow]

As I posted above, weight just isn't that important.

Was it a round trip, or did you leave one town full and fill up in a different town? Someone suggested elevation difference...weight could actually help with that.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by Nerds laugh at me

Now the part that doesn't make sense : I had not 200 lbs ...but 318 lbs of iron weights in the back floor board.*

Any explainations ??

I would suggest that the weight may have changed the rake of your vehicle, altering its relative angle to the wind and possibly reducing drag.

Not sure where in your vehicle the weight was placed, though.

I'm finding that I get better mpg when I drive from NY to MD, rather than MD to NY. Could be the elevation change as I drive into the Chesapeake watershed, but I'm not sure. I'm thinking I need to check some elevation charts and see.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by dosco

I would suggest that the weight may have changed the rake of your vehicle, altering its relative angle to the wind and possibly reducing drag.

Not sure where in your vehicle the weight was placed, though.

I'm finding that I get better mpg when I drive from NY to MD, rather than MD to NY. Could be the elevation change as I drive into the Chesapeake watershed, but I'm not sure. I'm thinking I need to check some elevation charts and see.

Do you have a GPS? If so, usually a little digging in the menus for detailed location info will tell you your current elevation.

If you do resort to elevation maps, Google Maps "terrain" view has elevation lines on it.

[dosco]

Originally Posted by thornburg

Do you have a GPS? If so, usually a little digging in the menus for detailed location info will tell you your current elevation.

No GPS. I guess that makes me a luddite.

If you do resort to elevation maps, Google Maps "terrain" view has elevation lines on it.

Thanks for the pointer. Will check it out.

EDIT: looked at google maps, clicked terrain. No elevation lines. How do I enable that?

EDIT 2: Figured it out. Damn, gotta zoom way in.

EDIT 3: Googled elevation maps, found this: http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html

[theholycow]

You can just google for the city name and elevation. For example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=baltimore+elevation

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by theholycow

You can just google for the city name and elevation. For example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=baltimore+elevation

Sure, that will tell you in general, but if your starting point or destination is on a hillside or in a valley, there could be a substantial difference between the average elevation of a given city and the particular elevation of where you left from. Unless you are driving down from the Rockies to some low-lying flats, a few hundred feet of elevation could represent a statistically significant difference.

[justpassntime]

Originally Posted by Nerds laugh at me

Strange as it may seem, I got my best mileage to date (54 MPG ) with an extra 200+ lbs in the car.
Everyone knows that the weight did more harm than good....

I nearly lost it, after I read this I was thinking "yeah, I can never leave my wife at home" LMAO

You would understand if you saw my wife....

Honestly though maybe the extra weight lowered the car just enough to make that difference in airflow.

[s1120]

Originally Posted by justpassntime

Honestly though maybe the extra weight lowered the car just enough to make that difference in airflow.

Thats my guess also. Now the test would be to see where the weight lowerd it. Now take the weight out, and lower it the same ammont, in the same place.