Comments on: Myrtle Beach by way of Augusta /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/ Taking our lives on the road Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:06:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 By: Mike /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/#comment-13549 Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:06:48 +0000 /?p=864#comment-13549 In reply to Lea Coville.

Before the 5-star tune, we were averaging 6.3 MPG. After, we’ve averaged 6.6 MPG, so around a 5% improvement. Dropping from 65 MPH average to 55 MPH seems to bring our MPG from 6.6 up to around 7.0 or 7.1. One time we filled up at a Costco in Montana that only sold ethanol-free gas, and we got 7.8 MPG on that tank (and it wasn’t a measurement error)!

]]> By: Lea Coville /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/#comment-13548 Sun, 26 Jun 2016 17:01:29 +0000 /?p=864#comment-13548 How did the 5star-tuning impact your MPG?

]]> By: Rod Reichardt /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/#comment-1849 Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:19:12 +0000 /?p=864#comment-1849 In reply to Mike.

Thanks Mike! Just having it downshift to 4th rather than 3rd every time would be an improvement.

I didn’t drive it much before installing the suspension aids. The tire pressures were very high from the dealer and I installed the hardware and adjusted the tire pressures at the same time so I was not able to do an “apples to apples” comparison. It drives pretty well now. The steering stabilizer has a large spring that centers the coach. On smooth roads I can take my hands off of the wheel and it just tracks straight. I do think think that there was a bit of tail wag next to big trucks when I made the two hour drive home from the dealer. That is gone completely.

Neither the track bar or stabilizer was easy to install. Our motorhomes use very large bolts. I had to buy an electric impact wrench to do it. If you are happy with it now I wouldn’t worry about it. The stock front track bar is huge as are the sway bars.

]]> By: Mike /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/#comment-1644 Tue, 23 Sep 2014 00:27:46 +0000 /?p=864#comment-1644 In reply to Rod Reichardt.

Rod, we’ve only done one drive so far, around 250 miles, but there was definitely an improvement, including with cruise control. On moderate inclines (regular overpasses) the cruise control did fine, either holding 5th gear or dropping to 4th which was still pretty quiet. On steeper hills it still had to downshift to 3rd which was pretty loud—in those cases it really doesn’t make sense to try to hold 60 MPH going uphill, so it’s best to cancel cruise (via the “resume” button) and keep a more reasonable speed uphill. Apart from the cruise improvements, we did feel more power at lower RPMs, and the drive in general seemed quieter.

We haven’t done any other changes like the track bar or stabilizer. So far we’ve been pretty happy with the stability and steering.

-Mike

]]> By: Rod Reichardt /myrtle-beach-by-way-of-augusta/#comment-1636 Mon, 22 Sep 2014 23:51:07 +0000 /?p=864#comment-1636 I am interested to hear how the 5 Star tune works for you. We have almost 9,000 miles on our 2014 36LA. The constant downshifting makes cruise control almost unusable IMO. I keep forgetting the tune. I put on a rear track bar and steering stabilizer before our first trip. I planned to do the tune at the same time but kept putting it off. Then I drive the coach and it all comes back to me.

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