Weight Reduction

[JimFFH]

You guys do any weight reduction to the car to get even better mileage? Obvious ones would be floor mats. Could pull the spare and jack and replace with can of fix-a-flat. I think Corvette's do something like that. I wouldn't want to change a tire on the highway anyway. Other ideas? Maybe keep gas tank at most half full. Just got mine Sunday.

[akirby]

You guys do any weight reduction to the car to get even better mileage? Obvious ones would be floor mats. Could pull the spare and jack and replace with can of fix-a-flat. I think Corvette's do something like that. I wouldn't want to change a tire on the highway anyway. Other ideas? Maybe keep gas tank at most half full. Just got mine Sunday.

 

 

Keep unnecessary weight out of the vehicle but you won't save enough taking drastic measures to make a noticeable difference. No need to remove the spare or floor mats or anything like that. And don't worry about a full tank of fuel. You'll waste more stopping to refill than it would save.

[dogo88]

You guys do any weight reduction to the car to get even better mileage? Obvious ones would be floor mats. Could pull the spare and jack and replace with can of fix-a-flat. I think Corvette's do something like that. I wouldn't want to change a tire on the highway anyway. Other ideas? Maybe keep gas tank at most half full. Just got mine Sunday.

 

Fix-a-flat will ruin the TPMS in your tires.

 

Dan

[JimFFH]

Fix-a-flat will ruin the TPMS in your tires.

 

Dan

 

I guess that would suck. But getting hit by someone while trying to change a tire on the highway would suck more. Might take my chances, I've never had a blowout with any of my cars. Wonder what the tire and jack weigh though. Floormats don't appear to weigh much. Just thinking back to my days scouring the drag racing forums and what people do to reduce weight. And regarding stopping for gas more with a half tank, I seem to be at 7-11 a lot anyway picking up something. Little things add up, thats all.

 

What tire pressure you all run? The recommended 32 or whatever it is?

[rfruth]

I like the idea of reducing weight (there is 20 lbs on ME that could go ...) the corvette uses run flat tires so it needs no spare - even if you don't mount the spare your self lots of motor clubs (AAA etc) require one so I'm sticking with mine - I run 36 (or so) PSI in my tires (need to check the spare, it feels hard...)

[Myron Graessle]

I had a tire (on my last car) shred itself on the freeway. No fix-a-flat would have fixed it as the sidewall disintegrated. My mini spare worked just fine to get me to the tire store!

[lolder]

I guess that would suck. But getting hit by someone while trying to change a tire on the highway would suck more. Might take my chances, I've never had a blowout with any of my cars. Wonder what the tire and jack weigh though. Floormats don't appear to weigh much. Just thinking back to my days scouring the drag racing forums and what people do to reduce weight. And regarding stopping for gas more with a half tank, I seem to be at 7-11 a lot anyway picking up something. Little things add up, thats all.

 

What tire pressure you all run? The recommended 32 or whatever it is?

The Owners Guide (OG) says 300 lbs. costs 1 mpg. Half a tank of gas (-9 gals) is 54 lbs. You should have free roadside assistance from Ford for 5 years or 60,000 miles. The drivers door sill sticker calls for 33 psi. Many are running more up to the Michelin tire limit of 44 psi. There is no harm or handling problems doing this but the ride gets harsher over road seams. 35-40 psi. is a good range. You should read your Hybrid Quick Reference Guide and OG completely through several times to get the most from this vehicle.

[JimFFH]

The Owners Guide (OG) says 300 lbs. costs 1 mpg. Half a tank of gas (-9 gals) is 54 lbs. You should have free roadside assistance from Ford for 5 years or 60,000 miles. The drivers door sill sticker calls for 33 psi. Many are running more up to the Michelin tire limit of 44 psi. There is no harm or handling problems doing this but the ride gets harsher over road seams. 35-40 psi. is a good range. You should read your Hybrid Quick Reference Guide and OG completely through several times to get the most from this vehicle.

 

Thanks, I'll have to read through the guide again. Had it less than a week, 300+ miles in and I'm at 42.7mpg, driving with a passenger mostly, no AC. Looks like I'll add a few more pounds to the tires. I saw another post where someone refuted the 300lbs=1.0 mpg via his carpooling/not carpooling mileage, said it was more like ~100lbs=1 mpg. 300 lbs. is a lot of weight to only add another 1.0 mpg. I don't believe that number either.

[rpoffen]

I guess that would suck. But getting hit by someone while trying to change a tire on the highway would suck more. Might take my chances, I've never had a blowout with any of my cars. Wonder what the tire and jack weigh though. Floormats don't appear to weigh much. Just thinking back to my days scouring the drag racing forums and what people do to reduce weight. And regarding stopping for gas more with a half tank, I seem to be at 7-11 a lot anyway picking up something. Little things add up, thats all.

 

What tire pressure you all run? The recommended 32 or whatever it is?

 

Prior to my FFH, I had a 2007 V6 Fusion. Got a flat one day while driving on the freeway. Put on the spare and took the flat to a tire store to fix, and they pulled a 6" screwdriver shank out of the inside of the tire!!

[JimFFH]

Just went to Auto Zone, Fix a flat cans now say they are 'Sensor Safe.' I think I'm going to remove my spare right now....

[ralteredstates]

Just went to Auto Zone, Fix a flat cans now say they are 'Sensor Safe.' I think I'm going to remove my spare right now....

 

Wow, I would not put that junk in any tire that has TPMS. And as far as saving gas by removing the spare...sounds silly to me. To save what? $10 over the time you use this car? You just spent that on the Fix a Flat can!

Edited September 27, 2010 by ralteredstates

[JimFFH]

All a matter of perspective. You'll never see me jacking my car alongside the rode anyway, nor waiting in/near my vehicle for a tow truck, so I don't need a spare.. I'd rather not get killed by the crazies doing 70+ down these roads. No thanks, I got kids. I'll remove that risk. Fix a flat will get me on my way safely/quickly in most circumstances. Can is only $5 by the way.

 

Jack and spare removal will save you about 37 pounds in case anyone is wondering.

[akirby]

All a matter of perspective. You'll never see me jacking my car alongside the rode anyway, nor waiting in/near my vehicle for a tow truck, so I don't need a spare.. I'd rather not get killed by the crazies doing 70+ down these roads. No thanks, I got kids. I'll remove that risk. Fix a flat will get me on my way safely/quickly in most circumstances. Can is only $5 by the way.

 

Jack and spare removal will save you about 37 pounds in case anyone is wondering.

 

Good luck finding a tire shop willing to fix the tire after using that junk. It's not worth the miniscule savings.

[JimFFH]

Stock floor mats weigh in at about 6 pounds.

Edited September 27, 2010 by JimFFH

[JimFFH]

I can plug my own tires...now back to the topic...weight reduction. Any other ideas? Not willing to tear out speakers, but I bet they'd produce a good weight savings.

 

Any mechanics in here that work on these that have ideas?

Edited September 27, 2010 by JimFFH

[ralteredstates]

All a matter of perspective. You'll never see me jacking my car alongside the rode anyway, nor waiting in/near my vehicle for a tow truck, so I don't need a spare.. I'd rather not get killed by the crazies doing 70+ down these roads. No thanks, I got kids. I'll remove that risk. Fix a flat will get me on my way safely/quickly in most circumstances. Can is only $5 by the way.

 

Jack and spare removal will save you about 37 pounds in case anyone is wondering.

So you're going to attach the Fix a Flat to the flat tire without getting out of the car? Makes sense to me

[ralteredstates]

I can plug my own tires...now back to the topic...weight reduction. Any other ideas? Not willing to tear out speakers, but I bet they'd produce a good weight savings.

 

Any mechanics in here that work on these that have ideas?

This is not April but this must be your idea of an April fools joke

[JimFFH]

So you're going to attach the Fix a Flat to the flat tire without getting out of the car? Makes sense to me

 

????? No, I said the fix a flat will get me on my way quickly. The only magic happening is whats under this cars hood....

[JimFFH]

This is not April but this must be your idea of an April fools joke

 

No, not a joke. Just want a thorough discussion on weight reduction. What can be removed and how much does it weigh. Obviously there is usually a comfort tradeoff in these scenarios. I'm guessing you never hung out at a drag strip at all? You wouldn't believe the means some go to remove weight to get down the track quicker, and with cars only a couple years old. Rear seats come out, maybe passenger seat, ac compressors get taken off, lighter weight battery, remove heavy sound deadening materials, etc. I'm not at that level, not willing to sacrifice a good sound system, but would love to know what others have done/plan to do. There has to be a few people out there really pushing the envelope on this thing to get ridiculous gas mileage. Just need to find them. Ford did a nice job with this car, but there is always the pursuit of more.

 

Another example, I'm guessing the front seats weigh a good bit and could be replaced with lightweight racing type. Again, I wouldn't do that, but there may be some trying to get every ounce out of this car they can.

 

I think an interesting thing for Ford to do would be to sponsor some sort of 'hybrid race' where teams can enter, run at a NASCAR type track, and see who can make the most laps with their Fusion Hybrid on 1 tank of gas. That would be interesting and inspire people. People have great minds and would invent some cool stuff to get more out of the vehicle.

[randylb]

I think the Ford engineers went through as much weight and drag reductions as reasonable in designing the Fusion, after all they wanted to put out a car with the highest mileage possible... if they could have done something to make the rated mileage 42 instead of 41 and still put out a great car they would have done it.... you start taking little things away like floor mats and you aren't going to make any difference except ruining your carpet.... want to reduce weight, well, as a pilot we often carry only as much fuel as necessary, plus a good reserve of course, because fuel is heavy at about 6 pounds per gallon (6.8 for Jet-A)... so don't fill up your tank and you'll reduce your weight more than if you bugger up your car.... but i think that is even silly in a car.... or go on a diet.... or maybe buy a Prius instead as it gets better mileage... actually, you will affect your mileage more by the way you're driving than anything else.... leave the car alone and enjoy it.... just my 2 cents....

Edited September 29, 2010 by randylb

[JimFFH]

I think the Ford engineers went through as much weight and drag reductions as reasonable in designing the Fusion, after all they wanted to put out a car with the highest mileage possible... if they could have done something to make the rated mileage 42 instead of 41 and still put out a great car they would have done it.... you start taking little things away like floor mats and you aren't going to make any difference except ruining your carpet.... want to reduce weight, well, as a pilot we often carry only as much fuel as necessary, plus a good reserve of course, because fuel is heavy at about 6 pounds per gallon (6.8 for Jet-A)... so don't fill up your tank and you'll reduce your weight more than if you bugger up your car.... but i think that is even silly in a car.... or go on a diet.... or maybe buy a Prius instead as it gets better mileage... actually, you will affect your mileage more by the way you're driving than anything else.... leave the car alone and enjoy it.... just my 2 cents....

 

Sorry, I'm the opposite, I usually can't leave anything alone. I love tinkering and making things better. I will probably never own a Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc. so no way was I getting a Prius, and just really love the FFH.

 

I'm thinking of dirtying/ruining the carpets, then putting in the nice factory mats in when the carpets get dirty. Also, no chance of floor mat issues!!! Already removed my spare and jack, going to go with the ~1/2 to 2/3 tank of gas idea next. I'm hovering around 45mpg on this tank, but think I would do better if I didn't have as much highway miles and lost my carpool passenger :shift: . Going to switch to Full Synethetic 5w-20 at some point after car is broken in good, most likely Mobil 1.

Edited September 29, 2010 by JimFFH

[rfruth]

You might drop a pound by drilling some holes in the floor pan & frame

[akirby]

Go on a diet.

[JimFFH]

You might drop a pound by drilling some holes in the floor pan & frame

:hysterical2:

 

I used to do that to my remote control car to reduce weight for racing! Still have that old RC10 from over 20 years ago! It doesn't weigh much probably, but the plastic 'Hybrid" cover on top the ICE looks useless. Wonder if they make light weight lug nuts.....maybe titanium or something....

[rfruth]

For a mere $ 200. you can have some nice light rims (23 lbs each, not sure what the stock rims weigh) Lightening up the wheel/tire combo would make a big difference ((but if you drive more in order to show off your new rims ya might not see much in the way of savings))

I like these

Edited October 1, 2010 by rfruth