Answers to your car questions

QUESTION

Thank you Dennis for all your excellent answers. My 2003 PT Cruiser has alloy wheels, for which I cannot find an equivalent steel rim to avoid removing the tires seasonally. As I age and drive less, locally and perhaps once up north, would driving on winter tires all year be practical? As the seal to alloy rims is critical and a recent expensive removal and proper cleaning experience has me wondering. Your thoughts/comments would be appreciated.

Godfrey from Burlington.

ANSWER

There are a couple of reasons that one should not leave the snow tires on during the summertime. The rubber makeup of winter tires is much softer than summer tires and as a result, they will wear out much faster during the hot weather. It is also believed that the tread pattern on the winter tires is not as effective as the tread pattern on the summer tires for dispersing water, which can lead to hydroplaning. Hydroplaning means that in heavy rain or on flooded roads, the tires will actually stop gripping the road when going through the water, which can lead to losing control of the vehicle. The softer material of the winter tires can also give the feeling of roll out on cornering, such as you would get with underinflated tires. Winter tires perform best when the temperature is around 0 to five degrees Celsius, whereas summer tires and/or all-season tires are designed to give better control while operating in the warmer weather. I cannot recommend a website, but Kijiji has lots of used steel rims for a PT cruiser.

QUESTION

Dear Mr. O’Sullivan:

While reading your weekly articles in the Hamilton Spectator (I subscribe to it), I was invariably impressed with the depth of your knowledge and an ability to explain complicated things understandably. You are an excellent teacher. Imagine a vehicle, which does not require premium gasoline. Will an engine of the vehicle be badly affected if premium gasoline in general and Shell V-Power NiTRO+ in particular, is used? The question sounds frivolous, because it is difficult to imagine a person willingly filling a car with a more expensive gas, which is not prescribed by technical specifications of the engine. However, the question becomes less bizarre if it is realized that it is more reasonable to measure what one pays using the $ per 100 kilometres scale, rather than $ per litre scale. Arguably, an engine consumes less high-quality gas in comparison with regular gas. Also, products of premium gasoline combustion (exhaust) are less environmentally adverse. Alcohol is typically not added to premium gasoline, which is good for the engine. The usage of high-quality gas results in less deposits inside the engine.

From this angle, if one wants to “waste” money, then so be it. Is there a possibility that an engine, that is not designed to operate on regular gas, will actually suffer? As we know, a road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I asked this question at Honda, Subaru, Ford and Mazda dealerships but I was never given a convincing answer. The most frequent concern, expressed by my interlocutors, was that an engine would become too hot but this is doubtful, because the octane number does not correlate with the enthalpy of combustion. Of course, you can recommend me to use Internet recourses but how can I be sure that information posted over there is trustworthy? After many years of reading your column, I do trust you.

I shall be grateful if you share your viewpoint with me.

Respectfully, Dmitri from Hamilton

ANSWER

This question has come up a few times over the years but not as articulate as you have asked. Every time that you get a definite answer, you always look for the source of that answer and you will generally find that someone who has an invested interest in his or her answer, writes the article. You will get ultimate performance in high combustion vehicles with the higher-octane gas but unless you are a race car driver, I defy any normal driver to tell me the difference in performance between regular gas and high-test gas.

Will you get better gas mileage with the high-test gas? The difference in mileage can only be determined by the driver and how heavy his or her foot is on the gas pedal but on average, the difference in mileage is negligible. As far as your vehicle’s engine determining which gas you are using, the computerization of most cars today would allow the engine to run smoothly on almost any type of gas from the gas pumps, excluding leaded fuel, which is today difficult to find and which I definitely do not recommend.

Will you void your warranty if you use the lower octane gas? The short answer is no, you will not void your warranty, but some manufacturers have suggested that poor quality fuels may result in drivability problems, but they are very careful to avoid claiming that the lower grade fuel would be in the category of poor quality fuels. You would not get poor quality fuel at the fuel pumps but fuel, sitting for a year in a gas tank or gas container, would qualify as poor quality fuel.

I know that I will be flooded with emails from the hot rod drivers stating that they only use the high-grade gas because of their misguided belief that they can go from zero to sixty kilometres in five seconds rather than zero to sixty kilometres in six seconds. I do not want to change their minds so keep filling up with your high test fuel which you believe to be the better fuel for your vehicle but I will be filling up my vehicle beside you using the regular fuel and still have twenty to thirty dollars left in my pocket at the end of the day.