Save Gas and Money With Your Tires

The wrong pressure in your tires could be costing you as much as $800 a year in wasted gas. For great drives and fuel efficiency, adjust your tires properly.

There are some 250 million vehicles on the road in the United States. How much money and gas do you think we could save if everybody's tires were inflated properly?

$23 billion and 3.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be saved -- not to mention millions of gallons of high-priced gas -- if all our tires were properly inflated.

So forgive the really bad pun -- but -- the only good inflation is proper tire inflation.

Tire pressure changes one pound for every 10 degree change in outside temperature, so warmer spring temperatures mean it is an ideal time to check tire pressure.

Always check pressure when the tires are cold, since driving even a couple of miles to the gas station can provide a false reading.

• Under-inflation generally provides a smoother ride, but it also causes tires to wear out at the sides, and it wastes gas because tires need more power to push the vehicle.


• Higher pressure generally results in improved steering response and fuel economy, but a stiffer ride, and it wears out the tread in the center.

Even the experts get it wrong. Top automotive website Edmunds.com tested vehicles driven by 212 of their employees and found a bunch substiantially under-inflated and wasting gas.

Edmunds.com (full disclosure here -- I write for them occasionally) discovered they would save nearly 6,000 gallons of gas a year and about $20,000 of their boss' money, by keeping tires properly inflated.

So go check your tires. It could make your great drive more fuel efficient.

Discount Gas for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge Buyers

Buy a new Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge and you get a gas discount card that guarantees you pay just $2.99 a gallon for gas for three years.

A great drives deal? Not so fast.

Downside -- You have to buy your new vehicle by June 2, 2008.

Downside -- To get the $2.99 gas card, you have to give up other dealer incentives, like cash rebates.

Downside -- You have to register for the discount gas program, it takes 4-6 weeks to get the discount gas card, and you can fuel up only at eligible gas stations, and there's an annual limit to how much $2.99 gas you can buy.

What is the fill-up limit? Where are these participating stations? Chrysler isn't saying.

But before you drop everything and fall for the $2.99 deal, sit down and calculate how much money this could save you, and whether you'd be better off negotiating for other new car incentives.

Chrysler is calling its program "Let's Refuel America". These Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models are eligible for the discount gas program:

Small/Compact Car -- Dodge Caliber, Chrysler PT Cruiser

Mid-size Car -- Dodge Avenger, Chrysler Sebring, Chrysler Sebring Convertible

Large Car -- Dodge Charger, Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum

Crossover --Dodge Journey

Minivan -- Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country

Compact and Mid-Size SUV -- Jeep Patriot, Jeep Compass, Dodge Nitro, Jeep Liberty

Large SUV -- Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander, Dodge Durango, Chrysler Aspen

Pickup Truck -- Dodge Dakota, Dodge Ram, Dodge Ram HD.

These models are not eligible for the Let's Refuel America program:

All SRT models, Dodge Viper, Dodge Challenger (pictured), Dodge Ram Chassis Cab, Chrysler Crossfire, Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Sprinter.

Who ever thought $2.99 gas would look like a great drives bargain.

Buy a 1950s Classic Car for Pennies

If you've ever wanted to own a classic 1950s Detroit Dream car, but couldn't afford one, and, besides, there's no room in the garage, you can thank the U.S. Postal Service for helping your great drives dream come true.

This fall, some 50 million Detroit classics will be arriving in the nation's 37,000 Post Office locations. Think of it -- an entire collection of Detroit classics, fins and chrome and memories, for just 42 cents each!

It's a stylish and nostalgic way to pay your bills, perhaps reconnect with friends from those days, when life was simpler and so were cars.

The Detroit classics were all great drives. The collection includes --

• '57 Chrysler 300C
• '57 Lincoln Premiere
• '57 Pontiac Safari,
• '57 Studebaker Golden Hawk
• '59 Cadillac Eldorado

The stamps feature paintings of the Dream Cars by automobile artist Art. M. Fitzpatrick. modeled after cars still on the road today.

It's the second group of America on the Move stamps. The first was issued in 2005 with Sporty Cars of the 50s, including a '52 Nash Healey, '53 Chevrolet Corvette, '53 Studebaker Starliner, '54 Kaiser Darrin and a '55 Ford Thunderbird.

The 1950s was the heyday of American automobile design. Fins, chrome, power, and the freedom of the open road. And gas cost maybe 20 cents a gallon.