My car is awesome

[Erock]

I drive a 2003 Corolla LE (auto) and yesterday I put on 360 miles and burned only 9 gallons of fuel. My average speed for the 9 gallons was 60mph. So today I gave it a nice detailed coat of wax and rotated her tires. I probably could have done better if I had a new air filter in it (the current one has been in there for at least 8 months. (Yeah i know.)) Question about rotating the tires...I did the penny test on it and both my fronts were right below the date on the penny and my rears were right above the date. So was that a good decision to rotate em myself? Is it possible that they may need to be balanced/realigned?

Thanks

PS. So glad summertime fuel blend is back in MN. And yes, I am a nerd and do talk to my car, criticize if you must.

 

[Zenmervolt]

The air filter is about a 30,000 mile item under normal use. You drive 30,000 miles in 8 months?

ZV

 

[Erock]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
The air filter is about a 30,000 mile item under normal use. You drive 30,000 miles in 8 months?

ZV

Heck no, I've put on 7k in 8 months

 

[Aimster]

360 miles .. that's 16 gallons for me on the highway.
Blah

 

[aleckz]

Not bad! How much did you get your corolla for?

 

[Erock]

I paid 9,000 and it had 60,000 miles on it when I picked it up.

 

[Arkaign]

Air Filter life depends dramatically upon where you live. I've seen filters still clean 2-3 years after being installed, and with 40k miles or so on them cleaner than some with 3 months on them in crappy environments. I stayed out in Arizona during a windy summer/fall, and a brand-new fram air filter was dirty as hell when I left town.

 

[wasssup]

Cool. My now stolen '99 Civic used to be able to do that...

My TSX sucks balls when it comes to fuel efficiency though, with 70% hwy / 30% city I'm getting 25-27 mpg with the 6-speed. I miss having an economy car...

 

[dud]

I congratulate you on your fuel efficiency. At this price-point I still go for style then function. My small pickup gets great mileage but just gets me there. My Lexus gets only 18 MPG ... but makes my heart beat faster.

To each his own ...

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: wasssup
Cool. My now stolen '99 Civic used to be able to do that...

My TSX sucks balls when it comes to fuel efficiency though, with 70% hwy / 30% city I'm getting 25-27 mpg with the 6-speed. I miss having an economy car...

25-27 is still good gas mileage. im lucky if i get 18

 

[jagec]

Wow, nice mileage.

Really you should have rotated the tires earlier, before you noticed uneven wear between the front and rear, but you shouldn't need to rebalance them or realign the car. The air filter should be fine for quite a while longer too.

 

[redgtxdi]

I will also throw in that having a bias from front/rear tire wear is not always bad. Especially when you don't know the history of tire purchases.

You can replace the tires in pairs if it suits you. (Though lately everybody seems to be giving discounts on sets of 4). And sometimes, $200 worth of tires vs. $400 makes a huge difference in monthly strokes for some folks.

Only tire wear you wanna concern yourself with is uneven *within* the tread itself. (inner/outer/gatorback/lumps/bumps, etc.) If tire wear is even & relatively consistent between the 4 tires, be happy!

 

[Erock]

Originally posted by: jagec
Wow, nice mileage.

Really you should have rotated the tires earlier, before you noticed uneven wear between the front and rear, but you shouldn't need to rebalance them or realign the car. The air filter should be fine for quite a while longer too.

Ah someone finally answered my question. So far so good on the tires, goes down the highway just as smooth as it did before and I did give my tires a good look before reinstalling them. I think the tread will be just about even on all 4 once again and by that time they should be due for replacing.

 

[RedArmy]

The air filter in my car just got replaced, only took 22 years :-x

 

[ravana]

I talk to my Car as well. :thumbsup: