Comments on: Top 5 Ways You’re Needlessly Adding Weight to Your Car

By: william bennett

william bennett — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:36:26 +0000

Just wondering what is the weight of a steel spare wheel for a city car?
How much weight can be saved converting from steel to alloy wheels?

By: samantha

samantha — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:37:50 +0000

good

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:04:28 +0000

@ Andy
some manufacturers are indeed listing it as an option to replace the spare tire with an inflator/sealer kit. the ford focus is one i know of right off hand. tire sealers (aka fix-a-flat) won’t work in every situation, for instance if something punctures the side of the tire. personally, i’ll keep my spare. your tires go through more extreme changes of operating condition than anything else on your car. next time you drive anywhere, try to keep track of how many different surface types you drive on, and what condition they’re in.

another place to look for “empty” weight is in your glovebox or center console.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:25:40 +0000

@Brandon
Actually, depends in if you’re using US gallons or Imperial gallons.

US gallon of water weighes 8.345kg
Imp. gallon of water weighes 10.022kg

So don’t split hairs over figures for no good reason other than to pick holes in someone’s good, and valid suggestion. Just my two cents.

By: Brandon Fredriksen

Brandon Fredriksen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:37:58 +0000

Actually, gas only weighs about 6.2-6.3 pounds per gallon. It is not the same weight as a gallon of water (8.34 lbs) so that information is false. Also, filling your tank halfway, means you have to spend more time at the pump re-fueling as well as possibly causing faster deterioration of your fuel pump and fuel filter as you have the potential to drive around me on almost empty tank by filling up only halfway each time vs. all the way. Just my $0.02.

By: Tips to maximize your mileage | EcoPerks

Tips to maximize your mileage | EcoPerks — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:10:38 +0000

[...] Drop the Load. I am guilty of this one. Sometimes, I’ll carry around a bunch of things I want to ignore for a while in the back of my SUV and thus weigh it down. The engine has to work harder to go the same distance and burns more fuel in the process. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk can reduce a typical car’s fuel economy by up to two percent. [...]

By: Organizing Your Vehicle Will Decrease Gas Costs - Stacks and Stacks Clutter Control Freak Blog

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:55:31 +0000

[...] you're not in violation of carrying excess baggage? Check out this blog post called Top 5 Ways You’re Needlessly Adding Weight to Your Car. What you find may suprise [...]

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:30:28 +0000

The gas in your tank weighs over eight pounds per gallon. Consider filling your tank only half way.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:29:27 +0000

whatabout exchanging your spare tire and jack etc for a can of that tire fixer stuff that inflates and fixes your tire? would that work?

By: Leroy Brown

Leroy Brown — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:51:37 +0000

The spare tire is an interesting idea. I’ve never had a flat ( crosses fingers ) but I know it’d be a PITA to get one and not have a spare handy…. so I’m not sure that I’d be willing to take the risk. Perhaps I’ll just look for runflat tires on my next car?