Seeking less rolling resistance to save fuel.
Do some tires produce less road noise inside the vehicle?
Best tire for the money?
Where is best place to buy?
This vehicle is driven by volunteers transporting blood to hospitals.
Thank you.
They do make special “low rolling resistance tires” They usually cost more than standard tires, wear our quicker and not handle as well…All things considered, the SLIGHT improvement in mileage is probably not worth the negative factors…
I just put a set of Cooper CS-4 Touring “T” speed rated tires on my Crown Vic. They have a UTQG rating of 700-A-A . Big O Tires had the best price on them in Denver and they have a $50 /set mail-in rebate from Cooper…Made in U.S.A. The Vic (a P71 model) loves them. Quiet, smooth-riding, crisp steering response with no hunting or wander. I’m happy with them…
I wouldn’t specifically seek out this type of tire. Go to Tirerack.com and search on tires that will fit your car, then look at the reviews for the tires that will fit. You don’t necessarily have to buy them there if you don’t want (though Tirerack has good prices), but it will give you an idea of what works best for your car.
@ Robert Gift, question: given that it is a hybrid (assuming petro/elec) what is the daily usage for electric power, what is the full charge miles capacity, are there options for extra capacity (larger battery, better quality battery) , can you add on and maintain all warranties?
There is a commercial pick-up truck maker that created a really powerful electric truck that could actually power power equipment on site or if your home experiences a power failure, I think they had really good batteries .
I"m guessing, since the purpose of the vehicle is to transport blood that the average human occupancy 1.25, leaving you with lots of trunk and interior space for blood and perhaps more batteries.
Other related fuel savers, legal limit window tint, and plexi-divider like cop or NYC cabs that would allow blood to be in front seat and kept cool with driver without having to cool the whole interior of the car.
Thank you, all.
The blood center is now having the typical 2009 Camry Hybrid do mostly long-distance bloodeliveries.
Most of its miles are on interstates highways and state highways. Friday it did a 354-mile round trip and again Saturday.
The blood products are in very well insulated boxes which certifies the contents at the proper temperatures for up to 24 hours.
Usually one or two boxes. (Wish that I still had my Kawasaki 650 for such deliveries. One box in my back pack, the other tied behind me.)
The Camry can hold up to 11 boxes; 3 in trunk, 6 to 8 stacked in back seat, 2 stacked in front passenger seat.
To save fuel and pollution, I do not use the air conditioner. (Sweating is good for one!)
@Robert Gift: Unless you keep the windows rolled up while leaving the A/C off, you’re likely not saving any fuel. Mythbusters tested this one, and my own experiences concur.
^ Thank you. I keep the windows up tight for least aerodynamic drag. (I claimed that years before Mythbusters.)
Also, too noisy with the windows lowered.
I do use the power vent fan.
On the return the vehicle becomes a dry sauna so I need not waste time using the sauna at the health club.
It is unlikely that you will find tires with better rolling resistance than the OE tires. This is because the car manufacturers put specs on tires - and one of them is RR.
There is a technology triangle involving treadwear, traction (especially wet traction), and RR. Notice that noise is NOT one of the 3. Noise is independent of RR.
In order to sell tires, tire manufacturers place an emphasis on treadwear - and by definition that means RR is sacrificed to get this. This is NOT to say you won’t find tires advertised as LRR (Low RR), but what it means is “lower than other tires with the same and traction characterisitics” and not “low” in the absolute sense.
If you are satisfied with the original tires, then use those. They are likely to deliver the best fuel economy.
Thank you.
I would expect LRR to be a stiffer composition and have higher treadwear.
Will look into the original tires but hope advancements have been made since 2008.
70,000 on the OE tires.
Robert Gift, 300+ miles in a day, wow, thanks you for your service.
Why is it that blood is that scarce.
You need to do a Public Service Announcement to make the public aware of how much must be done at times in order to get blood from point A to point B. I give blood often, but I take it for granted that blood of all types is available everywhere with relative ease.
guess it cost more to have a blood drive than to ship the blood some times?
I’m still kinda numb at the 300 mile trek for blood …
Thank you, Armis, for donating blood. Have we transported yours?
We are reimbursed for fuel.
Hospital blood banks keep a certain amount in stock for emergencies.
But we regularly transport blood or platelets to a mountain hospital for a cancer patient.
Saturday’s hospital is 167 miles from Denver’s Bonfils Blood Center. 354 is the total miles from home to Bonfils to hospital back to home.
They test the blood of someone scheduled for surgery and order the most compatible blood in for them before. That is why some special trips are needed.
They try to efficiently get product by commercial couriers who deliver to hospitals on a circuit.
are the science and safety facts definitively in on nitrogen and helium filled tires?Hydrogen or helium would be great but the molecules being so small it would probably migrate through the tire composition and out. (The reason that helium balloons shrink.) Since tires leak air, how soon would pure Nitrogen be diluted when one adds air every few weeks to bring the tires back up to pressure?
I’m assuming they’ve already bought winter tires for the car(s).
No benefit to nitrogen in tires. Yes, the science is in. Nobody using helium that I know of.
As for tires, I’d go to tirerack.com and see how the different LRR tires compare.
@ Texases, here’s the helium industry’s position:
http://www.helium.com/items/100625-nitrogen-inflated-tires-pros-and-cons
“On average, tires compressed air will lose 2.7 pounds of pressure monthly, compared to nitrogen tire loosing 0.7 pounds. …”
“Scientifically, nitrogen molecules are bigger than air molecules, thus nitrogen escapes a tire more slowly. According to Ingersol-Rand Company, makes nitrogen inflation systems, nitrogen leaks out of tires about 30 to 40 percent slower, compared to air filled tires.”
“Nitrogen improves fuel economy, promotes longer tire life and is friendlier to the environment than compressed air,” said Mike Packer, vice president of Worldwide Sales for Club Car. “It helps our customers operate more efficiently and responsibly.” The benefits of nitrogen will be extended to other vehicles in the Club Car line in future model years, Packer added…"
If you’ve gotten 70,000 miles on the original tires, I’d be inclined to buy another set.
@LetsPlayAmis - neither talk about helium, just nitrogen. As for nitrogen, you can dismiss both articles. The first says “Scientifically, nitrogen molecules are bigger than air molecules”. Nonsense, air is 78 percent nitrogen, no such thing as an ‘air molecule’. I could go on and on about how these articles (written by folks apparently linked to the nitrogen industry) are wrong, but it’s well summarized here:
http://www.barrystiretech.com/nitrogeninflation.html
And the reason the aircraft and racers use nitrogen is 1) fire safety and 2) precision to a fraction of a psi, nothing we need to worry about.
Regardless of what is “certified”, as the recipient of blood supplies, I would not be happy the air onditioning is off. In my experience, you always prepared for the unexpected. When transporting people, supplies or gear, you transported them the way intended. I would leave the air on. An unexpected delay may not prove to be a difference maker but the minute savings in fuel just isn’t worth it.
Driver safety and comfort has proven to be dependent. Some people have some strange ideas. Three hundred plus miles with the air off in a car that is meant to be driven with it on most of the time, including winter for dehumidifying purposes makes you wonder…why?
Besides, in the large scheme of things, an outfit that uses a Camry in the summer but a Expedition in the winter, couldn’t be that interested in in saving a perceived few pints of gas.
For 20 years we paid everything ourselves, so we save every cent that we can. Such saving has allowed us to purchase aggressive snow tires mounted on their own rims for the Expedition. The Expedition is used for emergent transports and also when mountain roads and interstate highways are closed due to blizzards.
My comfort is not important.
Rare fogging. If so, I open the window for fresh Colorado dry air. When necessary, the defogger is used just enough to clear the windows.
"my comfort is not important"
Robert, it may not be when sitting at home and deciding to turn the air off or driving your own personal vehicle short distances. But, study after study has shown that driver comfort is important when driving cars over long distances. You and other so called hyper millers fail to realize that cars today are designed to be used with air. Using them without makes them in many cases, less comfortable and warmer then cars of old. I would hope your car has climate control. Let it decide when to use the air. It seems to be make better decisions. Don’t ask me. Ask those in administration you serve which they woukd rather have you do.
You actually think the savings in doing this amount to enough to actually be worth it. You need to do a little test and drive the same distance with and without the air on. Gets some statistics before you try to rationalize poor driving habits. A hybrid uses electrically driven air which makes any savings, especially at highway speeds much less then you think.