How to Drive Uphill Faster
By Marc Howe on May 21, 2010 with Comments 0
It is very common to encounter steep hills while driving. While it looks easy, it can be pretty hard especially for the starters. Proper techniques and safety considerations should be known if you want to drive a car uphill at a faster speed. Here’s a simple and quick guide to help.
Two main techniques can be followed when driving faster uphill, the power train and engine of the car can be adjusted or the driving method can be changed.
- Upgrading the car engine will increase its horsepower. Make your financial position help you doing this.
- Improve the engine’s performance by tuning it. The air filter, plug wires and spark plugs would need to be changed. The car’s service history and mileage has to be considered. If your vehicle is old then the engine spark timing, carburetor and the valves also might need adjustment.
- The tire’s inflation has to be considered. Properly inflated tires slightly leaning towards the maximum inflation pressure provides low rolling resistance. This helps to enable them for transferring more engine power to propel the car besides giving better gas mileage.
- A lower ratio differential or rear end can be applied. The 411 gear ratio gives more torque to the pulling wheels as compared to a 243 gear ratio. Remember to check the effects on the gas mileage because the 411 gear ratio increases the engine revolution for every tire revolution. For other conditions, this means that the engine needs to turn more RPMs for maintaining the normal driving speeds.
- Remove excess weight from the car. Check under and behind the seats, other places where heavy cargo might be stashed away like the trunk should be checked. Some car manufacturers make use of light weight material to increase auto fuel efficiency.
- Turn off the air conditioning because it consumes a major amount of engine power for operating the compressor.
- When driving the car, drive it at top horsepower and torque. Downshift the gear will be needed when it starts to pull or lose power. The engine RPM should be kept as close to the maximum as possible for having a maximum speed. Listen to the engine to have a good idea of how it’s performing. Accelerate your vehicle when approaching short steep hills.
- Other drastic ways are also available to increase speed like buying the smallest possible cranking battery, lowering the gasoline amount in the tank to the minimum level when making a trip, remove non-essential car accessories and leave tire changing tools at home.
It can be a real challenge to driving a car uphill as long as one knows to do it properly. Remember the tips and to stay safe while doing this.
Filed Under: Guides/DIY