Can someone try and fathom out why my Fabia has gone from doing around 400 miles before the "buzzer" goes off (when I had normal wheels) to going off when I've only done 350 miles (with 17" wheels and 205/40 tyres). I've noticed I do have to apply more throttle to keep the car at pace, and if I need to get quick from 70 to 90 say, flooring the throttle does not produce the same grunt (as if the torque or BHP is lacking) By coincidence I've just had a new turbo fitted under warranty because the old one had a fault which caused it to cut out. The new turbo felt OK until I got the new wheels. Is it possible that having 4 205/40 tyres is causing more "drag" than having 4 185/60's? I can't really afford to lose 50 miles a tank, and even considering putting my regular wheels back on for my weekday 60 mile commute to work... If I can avoid that I'd be very grateful. heeeeeeeeeelp

It is probably as a result of the wheels generating much more friction. It's pretty

common for people who fit big wheels onto a car to find their acceleration is

knackered and there top end performance is limited - they can, however, corner

like a train, so it all swings in roundabouts!

No idea why I get such poor fuel economy from my car (filled it up 3 full tanks last

week). Probably my driving style though...

Rob.

I must admit that cornering is bloody excellent now, but my dealer warned me that if the extra stress on the wheel bearings causes any faults, they won't be covered on the warranty. fair enough I suppose, but they're not likely to become faulty, are they? I'm a bit gutted about the mpg thing anyway, as all my commuting is along the A30 dual carriageway, i.e at 80-90 mph (except for speed camera, ) I'll have to make a decision based on the thickness of my wallet I guess...

I shouldn't imagine the wheel bearings would be under excessive stress, it

sounds just like the dealer is covering themselves. However, I'm not an

expert on the subject, so I might be wrong!

You could try easing off the right foot for the commute - you'd be surprised

how much of an increase in fuel economy you gain from sticking between

60-70!

Rob.

Have you checked to see if your new wheel/tyre combination could have changed the gearing? It may be that you've increased the effective diameter which would impact your performance because the gearing is "taller" and in turn your speedo' will not be accurate (therefore your oddometer and mpg calculations too). There are tables available which allow you to check and compare the effective size of different wheel/tyre combinations. I'm sure I've seen similar discussions before here at Briskoda, perhaps you could try searching the site.

Just an idea....

Paul

..cos we're helpful

tyre size calculator

As far as I'm aware the difference in my two tyre sizes is less than half a percent or something like that. I'll have to find that chart and take a peek. Cheers :smile-I:

And I can't even get the smilies to work properly.... :smile-|:

I took a quick look at the caculator (the one that Tavia 4X4 indicated) and plugged in your sizes, (I used 14 inch for the original wheel size) the calculator indicates that the new wheel/tyre combination were 3.2% oversized, so you have made the gearing 'taller'. That said I would suggest that 'in theory' you will loose out on acceleration and the speedo/mileometer will read slow. Now just how much you would be able to 'feel' these differences I wouldn't like to say.

:cheers:

Paul

3.2?? I didn't realise it was that large... I tried the tyre bible as well but these bloody PC computers use Netscape, so it didn't work

I gotta admit that the first time I drove on the motorway, I thought the car was under-revving for the speed of the car. You know how you get used to certain RPMS, like I was used to the car doing 2750 RPM at 80mph, but it appeared to be revving at a lower level, like 2650. I guess this means that although my fuel buzzer is going off at 350 miles done, it could actually be about 360/370 miles? I assume this also means my very expensive 40,000 mile service will be put off for a bit longer too, or at least 3.2% longer, eh? I guess the other 30/40 mile drop in fuel tank must be down to the tyres then, c'est la vie. :pupeyes:

Well, now, speaking of the fuel buzzer and the trip computer "fuel countdown"...

The fuel gauge is obviously connected to the fuel tank sensor.

Is the fuel countdown and buzzer also connected to the sensor, or

rather to the fuel gauge?

Mine's weird - from the red, it takes a tenner to fill it up to the halfway point.

It then takes about another 30 quid to fill up the other "half"!

Maybe it was something they messed up when they put the old brake light

clusters in...

Rob.

I have noticed in the past, that the fuel indicator would remain on the full until at least 100 miles had been done, and then it would register half after about 250/270 miles, and then zoom on down to empty as I approached 400 miles. I got used to it, and to a point ignored it and used the computer figure to go by, as it was normally damn accurate as to how far I could go on the current amount of diesel. If anything I suppose my apparent mpg turndown has made the fuel gauge itself more accurate. PS, currently in Exeter and at 350 miles, but the buzzer has yet to go off, but the needle is in the red. maybe this is another anomoly that the buzzer will go off later than before? Its quite amazing how many strange things have happened from just changing my wheels...:rainbowaf:

Those Fabia's can run for miles on an apparently empty tank though - or

maybe it's a special modification they make to courtesy cars

Rob.

hehe, I'm not brave enough to try, once the orange light came on I chucked

I'll sometimes risk it. If the comp says 100 miles until you run-out, I'll risk going home and back which is 60 miles, and fill-up next day in Exeter (which is 3p a litre cheaper as it happens). The real sod is when the computer says 100 miles in Exeter, and I travel the 30 miles home, and its reading 50 miles to go until you run out, when I pull into the drive at home. That's a real "****!" moment :evil: and I end up running on what I see as vapours to get to work. What we'll do to save money on fuel, eh?

In my own car I'm paranoid and fill up when it's about to go onto the red, rather than

waiting for the buzzer. I just couldn't face the humiliation of explaining to someone

I'd run out of fuel...

Rob.

Yesterday I returned from a 2 week visit to Dallas, Texas, USA. The

I used to carry around a gallon tank of diesel in the boot for that very reason, but then I figured that the car runs on fumes for so long, that I was basically lugging around a gallon tank of diesel for no reason. Plus apparently there can be some nasty side-effects of carrying a gallon of slightly less flammable liquid than petrol, if I should have a nasty accident. BOOOOM!! :flame: I haven't carried that can for well over a year now.

I reckon fuel in the US will get expensive when they start to run out of the stuff and have to price it up to stop those people with their big V8's and V12's from consuming so much of it. I thought that was why Bush went into Iraq anyway, as Saddam was sitting on 25% of the Earth's oil reserves?? :rant: he he

Hmm...I thought the conflict wasn't so much about the oil as the being able to

control the price of the oil? But let's not get political...

I think having expensive fuel isn't necessarily a bad thing - it does have detrimental

effects on the environment, etc. and as such a cost should be associated to this,

if for no other reason than to encourage the adoption of more efficient cars.

The thing that really bugs me is that car drivers in this country are constantly

berated for being polluting monsters, while our emissions are possibly among

the lowest in the world. And the countries that are real offenders have the

cheapest fuel there is...

Rob.

Good point! I wonder how long it'll be before we see those massive jeeps/chevvies etc in the US being powered by LPG? Somehow I think not in the near future. Anyway I wonder how much oil Syria has, because thats next on the hotlist... Anyway I think an end-topic is required! Or at least about the bloody war anyway! :offtopic:

There is no way in the world that the American's will ever use price to control demand for petrol (gas, as they call it) for environmental reasons. They regard car ownership and free useage as a right. No American president will ever allow the tax on gas to rise like it has been allowed to here, it would be political suicide. Believe it or not there is a requirement for passenger cars in the USA to run to certain levels of fuel efficiency, however this does not extend to pick-up trucks and SUV's which represent a huge percentage of their cars. Recently a move to require pick-ups and SUV's to meet the same efficiency standards as cars was defeated in congress. This defeat was entirely the result of 'lobbying' brought about by representatives of the motor industry. Money talks, and the motor industry has plenty to talk with.

On my return flight from the USA the British Airways captain had to fill in some time because our arrival gate was occupied. Our plane, a Boeing 777 had consumed 62000 litres of fuel, which sounds very high, however accounting for the passenger load the plane had achieved 70 mpg per passenger, with an average ground speed of 595 mph, now that's what I call fuel efficiency !

:cheers:

Paul

You have also forgotten the negative effect the winter has on your fuel consumption.

How about borrowing a GPS or something to to a distance travelled check to confirm or deny the accuracy of your odometer?

Cheers

Bloomin 'eck. We've only just discovered colour television down where I live. (I be in rural Devon you know ooh-arr!) Wouldn't know where to start looking for someone who has a GPS? Perhaps a dawn raid on my local branch of Milletts is called for... I did know that my office to work used to be just over 26 miles, but then its probably still just over 26 miles... so that wouldn't do me any good. I think that judging by the under-revving of the engine and the need for harder throttle is some situations has put my mind at rest and I ain't gonna worry about it any more (too much) PS: I saw my first tricked out RS today - It blew me off at a roundabout on my way to work, and took off into the distant dual carriageway rather hurriedly (and with a lovely exhaust note too) - Needless to say I was impressed with its turn of speed...

Hmmm. perhaps I should re-phrase that "blew me off" phrase? what the hell...