Fuel, it’s not just driving your vehicle but is also playing a key role in driving the world’s economy. You may not have control over its growing prices but what you can do is maintain a reasonable fuel average by using the right parts and driving your vehicle with a bit of a caution. Speaking of the car parts, your tyres account for one third of your total fuel consumption. Before we explain how you can save big on your fuel by keeping your car tyres in check, you need to understand the correlation between the tyres and the fuel consumption.

When we drive a car the contact between road and the tyres produces a force called rolling resistance. Naturally, to counter resistance you need force which consumes energy. Hence, the more resistance there is the more force you would require to move forward. If you could somehow bring rolling resistance down to its minimum, you would be saving a significant amount of fuel. Decreasing your tires’ thirst for fuel can be tricky but by understanding the science behind it, you can do it easily.

Opting for fuel efficient tyres sure can help but they would have a little impact on fuel economy as compared to the other critical factors such as;

• Wheel Alignment
• Improper Inflation

How Improper Alignment Can Affect Your Pocket;

If your vehicle is going sideways even if your steering wheel is perfectly straight, you may want to get your alignment checked right away. The most critical alignment is toe setting along the steering axle. Toe-in is an expression used when your wheels are bent inwards from the front while toe-out is a term that’s used when your tyres are bent outwards from the front. Too much toe would cause scrubbing against the road, therefore increasing the rolling resistance. Make sure you have zero toe between your front wheels. 

Every one degree of misalignment will yank your vehicle several meters sideways. So, a driver’s natural reaction would be to steer it back in the right direction. Getting it back on track each time the vehicle drifts sideways would not just consume more fuel but it would also cause other serious issues such as uneven wear on the tyres, unnecessary stress on a vehicle’s suspension. Most importantly, an improper alignment leaves the vehicle vulnerable to deadly accidents at high speeds due to poor handling. You can buy the best car tires by the best tyre brand that is out there but as long as your wheels are not aligned, you cannot get their full performance.

Your Car Tyres Need a Balanced Diet;

When your tyres role under the vehicle, they flex bend and restore to their original shape. With low air pressure, there would be a greater room for the tyres to stretch and bend. Each time they flex they require energy to restore back to their original shape so, they would draw that energy from the fuel tank. It’s up to you whether you feed your tyres with the expensive fossil fuel or keep them on a more economical and ecofriendly diet i.e. air pressure. The right air pressure would not only increase your tires’ life, it can also help you avoid a whole lot of other problems including high fuel consumption. 

It’s like riding a bicycle, you would have to exert more energy on the paddles to move a bicycle that has underinflated tyres as compared to when it has properly inflated ones. 

While the complaining is not going to reduce the growing fuel prices, what you can do is identify the most fuel consuming parts of your vehicle and optimize your vehicle for a better fuel economy like a responsible driver. Continental tires invests extensively in fuel economical, high performance tyres to play its part in creating an ecofriendly environment for our future generations.