How soon will it be before they "down-size" a Gallon of Gasoline?

It was a more or less rhetorical question, answered shortly thereafter in my post.

That being said, we are in violent agreement on the topic.
:wink:

I should have been more clear. I was agreeing with you.

Do you notice pumps still have the 9/10 of a cent at the end? I know the pumps are still made that way so it’d be hard to change but that doesn’t make sense anymore.

When I was a teen and gas was still 45.9 cents a gallon it made some sense because the station would make “a little” more and it added up over the day. But with prices at $3 and up it makes no sense they should still do that. Rant over.

I get that. But I happen to own a couple of gauges from Longacre with very fine resolution between the values on them, and dampened pointer movement.

I can overinflate each tire by 2-3 psi, then, using the Longacare’s bleed down function, nail 32psi exactly at each corner on my Honda.

My 2010 Accord specifies 32psi cold at all four tires. Dividing the load capacity of my tires at 32psi by half the front and rear gross axle weight ratings, I determined that the:

Front tires at 32psi each support 111 percent of gross load.

Rear tires at 32psi each support 129 percent of gross load.

Generally, a car mfg will specify cold pressures that support 110-140% of gross weight capacity. The low end of that range being for handling, and the higher end, for fuel economy.

They might specify 31-33 psi because their target (hot) driving pressure is around 35psi.

It’s all engineering.

I know they still show the $0.009 for on the reader board/sign and on the receipt, I’ll try to remember next fill up to look at the price at the pump… And also show the 0.00X for the amount of gas bought…

Same Shell station, different fill ups…

For my OEM tire size on my truck, it calls for 32 psi, last summer they were up to 36psi (38-39 hot) until I finally adjusted them, now the dang things are at 28-29 psi, I have yet to see a TPMS light on, so it is still within the manufactures specs, yes I am going to bump them up to about 34-35 psi for when it really gets cold… lol

So far, air pressure has not had an adverse affect on the handling of the truck and I about once a month push it through a few sharp curves, I have also not seen it affect my mpg any…

The only real difference I have felt is with the fun car, it hooks much better with the rears at about 26 psi, but normal (haha) driving I’ll bump them to 35 psi, just to help it make the tighter turns better… I also use a double whip hose to make sure that both rear tires have equal psi in them, kinda important when running a spool out back…

Don’t get me wrong, I recommend running the correct tire pressures for your vehicle, it is just not as important as some would make it out to be…

Gasp, I am not gonna add the extra 0.2 quarts on my oil change as long as it is not using any, it calls for 6.2 quarts, 6 is just fine, it is 97% (96.77) full… or 198.4 oz vs 192 oz, so short 6.4 oz, that isn’t much on the dipstick… lol

Anything, such as air pressure, that directly affects how the vehicle interfaces with the road, is pretty kreldan important as far as I’m concerned.

You get some folks who spend tens of thousands of dollars on esoteric struts, shocks, springs, etc, but they got 27psi in one tire, 37 in the opposite corner, 31 in another tire, and 34 in the other!

If I had just some money I wanted to get rid of, that badly, I could easily flush it down the tollet, for a lot less effort than putting in a ton of hardware on a car with a tire pressure spread of 10psi between four tires.

Not really. First that ethanol has energy content. Not quite a 100% but pretty close. Actually about the same equivalent as that paint can.

Second where I live in the north that ethanol has eliminated gas line freezes. Before that in the winter we were adding heet (ethanol) from little bottles all the time in winter. I’ll take the ethanol in the gas.

And also Indy uses 100% ethanol and NASCAR uses 15%.

I’m sorry to sound casual about it but I’m to the point where close enough is close enough. I was doing final prep on my snow blower and put air in the tires for the first time in about five years. Yeah it needed a little air. So while I was at it I did the cars. Pontiac is 30 all around. Acura is 35 front and 33 rear. So I set them accordingly. But then when I drive the tpms always is a pound or two different. I just chalk it up to tire temp and cheap pressure gauge. I’m more concerned about whether I’m loosing pressure and really have found no handling Issue regardless.

2 Likes

I get it.

To most people, those four black round rubber things beneath the car are no more than that.

Well I do feel a difference if they’re more than a psi uneven.

And I always trust a dedicated tire gauge over a dash readout.

And I like CRT TVs, Standard Time, daring to drive at or just below posted speed limit, and other things that everyone else loathes.

We do most of our shopping at a Kroger-family store. We accumulate the points too and they do add up and their gas station is always busy. My wife gets gas there regularly. I might fill up there once in a while but I prefer to use Top Tier fuel in my cars. I would like my wife to use Top Tier as well, but it’s her car. My cheapskate son will drive 5 miles out of his way to save 10 cents a gallon on gas.

I’m more likely to stop at one of the Indian tribal-owned gas stations in the area. The tribe has a deal with the state where they only pay 25% of the state gas tax. According to one of the gas price apps, the Chevron around the corner is 4.74, the grocery store down the street is 4.29, and the Indian station is 3.83. And they are 76 branded, which is Top Tier fuel.

Do you think that all tires behave identically? Sure, there are load ranges and pressure specs, but do you think that a Falken, Douglas, Michelin, and Primewell tire all offer exactly the same handling characteristics at 33psi. Is it possible that the Douglas might perform better at 35psi and the Michelin at 32?

1 Like

10 psi swing on a vehicle that normal standard all tires on the ground are all the same is talking extreme cases… I am talking all 4 only being a couple psi difference, and all 4 being high or low, doesn’t matter as much as you think, heck you can have a 3 or 4 psi cold total swing just from the temp change in a day alone, sometimes more…

And as a tech, when I see that much difference between 4 tires on a vehicle, I start looking for the reason why, and that normally turns into a flat repair or a replacement tire, cause one of them tires has a leak…

I also don’t know of anyone that puts high performance suspension parts on their vehicle that is not matriculas about their psi’s, heck a drag racer running slicks checks the psi normally at least twice before ever run, once in the pits and the last being right before the burnout in the staging lanes and are adjusted as needed, and they doing 1/2 psi settings… lol

Not saying psi is not important, just saying you also don’t need to go over board about it and check them 3 times a week, unless you have a leak… Once a month is recommended, mine get checked when the season temp changes (sooner or late)…

I can assure you, I saw and delt with my share of tires working for a tire manufacture, on average about 30-60 a day for 17 years alone, and I tried to at least peak at everyone of them, most my hands were on them one way or another…

I understand temperature swings through out the day.

I don’t understand the attitude that it’s ok, on my 32psi Accord, for one tire to be 30, another, 35, another, 28, and onther, 31.

For me, that’s just sloppy and lazy.

I understand that even if I set them all to precisely 32.000000000psi first thing in the morning, they might read 35, 36, 34, and 35 by noon and a lot of driving. Perfectly normal.

But why be so against bi-weekly or monthly checks, and resetting them all to door placard values?

The effect of intense sunlight on just one side of the car can easily cause a 1-2 psi increase.

1 Like

That’s the way I feel about the warehouse club people on this site recommend. Except for me 15 miles. Plus nothing inside the store for me.

In my area, the closest gas station (3 miles) is massively overpriced, and doesn’t sell a Top-Tier brand of gas. If I drive 4 miles further, to Costco, I can save 20-25 cents per gallon, and get Top-Tier gas. Obviously, this is not necessarily the case for other people.

On a mower it’s important to have the same pressure or the cut will be uneven. Back the same, front the same. Usually only check at season start unless a leak.

Who said anything about being against it?? I just said I don’t do it… If it helps you sleep at night, then more power to ya, I just don’t feel like doing it and with todays vehicles having dash read outs, you can check it anytime you are driving… I check my dash readings quite often, my problem is I procrastinate on doing anything about it…

I have an EXTREMELY hard time believing that

I believe you PRIDE yourself on doing the exact oppositive of what everybody else does

You are somebody who deliberately does whatever it takes to generate strife

I advised you awhile back to “read the room”:thinking:

1 Like

Like I said I’m a fan of tpms. They may be a few pounds off or not but they will give you an early warning that something is wrong. Sure enough a small screw in the tire close to the edge. Ruined. Four new ones.

2 Likes