ptjones

At 206k miles I'm finally doing a repair which I have to pay for, can't complain but FORD wants $600 to replace right hand half shaft axle which I can't afford with having to replace my tires in a month or two for $800. Fortunately I have a Son in Law that's good with working on cars if I need help. :) As it turns out I needed help separating ball joint from wheel knuckle and the extra pair of hands made the difference. My inner boot was leaking grease. Have pics of ball joint and wheel knuckle and old & new right hand half shaft. The rest of the steps were pretty easy, I'm getting new half shaft from AutoZone this afternoon for $145 vs $245 from FORD. will Post when I get the car back together. I have it most of the way back together, same problem area getting it back together. Definitely a 2 man job. :) Paul

4% would be about 2 mpg or about what the wheel covers improve my mpg. :) Paul

I don't think this is a HVB problem, but it would be nice if you had a OBDII gauge of some type to get actual values for SOC, charging and discharging rate. Just to clear up some confusion most of the time my HVB SOC is about 50% or less on the Smart Gauge. Your goal shouldn't be to charge up the HVB, only do it if you have extra energy like going down hill or coming to a stop. So don't run the ICE to just charge up the HVB, It's only about 80% efficient. :) Paul

You Tube views are up to 9,300 now. :) Hope it's helping to improve members driving technique for better MPG's. Paul

SOC is for HVB(Hybrid vehicle battery) here is my video that explains Empower. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6568-how-to-drive-a-cmax-hybridffh-to-get-great-gas-mileage/page-1 Paul

Which Pirelli's model did you have on your car? What tire pressure are you using in your Michelin tires? I find the Michelin's work better at 50 psi. and I have 76k on mine now, see pic. There is about 1/32 difference between inside with the least and outside with the most. The center is in between and the handling is better than 38 psi. and tires don't squeal going around sharp corners. My experience is the inside wears faster because of factory alignment settings. :) Paul

I wonder if anyone has tried them on a Hybrid to see how much of a drop in MPG's they got. :headscratch: It would be nice if someone would do a current updated test of LRR tires. Paul

I think that is true, but we are unaware of any ever being replace. You only use 33% so I would think it will last the lifetime of the car. I have 206k miles on mine. :) Paul

It does if the OEM tires last longer, I'm at 76K mi now and expect to get 80k mi. They are warrantied for 55K mi. Tire Rack has these reviews for Pirelli P4 : https://www.tirerack.com/survey/SurveyComments.jsp?&category=tire&additionalComments=y&commentStatus=P&tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=P4+Four+Seasons+Plus&fromTireDetail=true&tirePageLocQty= I don't know how much you are going to loss in MPG's, but Michelins are the best for MPG's. :) Paul

If you change oil yourself it only takes 4.5 quarts, save the half quart for next time you will only need 4 quarts. :) Paul

No, I said a couple of miles. :) If you keep it below 35 mph with full charge you could get 3 - 4miles. There is nothing wrong with your HVB. You need a OBD II gauge like ScanGuageII to monitor the SOC of the HVB, under normal driving it is hard to get above about 53% SOC. The HVB will start supplying power to the electric motors to assist the ICE to improve MPG's. Smart Gauge full scale is only about 33% of the capacity of the HVB. With the ScanGaugeII you can see the whole capacity of the HVB. To get above 53% charge you need to force the ICE to stay on or use Regen Braking to charge the HVB to 65%, top of HVB gauge. Most of the time I run EV between 50% to 38% SOC which equals about .5 miles at 65 mph in EV. :) Paul

Typically the ICE doesn't start until you are moving and keeping below 35mph isn't putting much stress on the trans or they would program it to start sooner. :headscratch: Paul

If you had FORD do your oil changes, they should have checked it and should have noticed the fluid on the cover. Paul

Greg this isn't True, the CVT is covered by the Hybrid Warranty and many of us have had our trans replaced for Free. I had 98k miles when replaced. :) Paul

I think I have gone 3 - 4 miles when I first start out in the morning when I've seen 70-80% SOC and I keep my speed below 35 mph. :) The faster you go the less range you will have. If you are going 45 mph and can get your SOC up to 60%, you might be able to go a couple of miles. Obviously if you are going down hill you can go much farther. :) Paul

That's a shame, what about getting a used one? Save some money. :) Paul

Yes some use two people with the A/C on, in my case it was just me and my bike and tools in the back and I'm going to go with that. I'm sure with better conditions in low 70's instead of 80's I could be in the 7 sec range. Bottom line again we are comparing CMAX to KIA NIRO EX and the CMAX easily out accelerates the NIRO, I could feel it in the seat of my pants. :) Telerisk also agrees. Paul

Checked levels all appear the same and they didn't note adding any fluids. :) Paul

I looked it up for 2013 CMAX Hybrid 0-60 mph times. Motor Tread 8.2 sec Car and Driver 7.6 sec Edmunds 8.3sec Autotk.com 8.1sec PTjones 205k mi. 2013 SEL 8 sec I haven't heard or seen anything about FORD changing the Hybrid System so times should be the same for all 2013 to 2018 CMAX Hybrids. :) Paul

I have a 2013 SEL and I found the CMAX had a noticeably higher quality interior than all of the NIRO models I tested and the Car Reviewers agreed like wise. I don't know what model of CMAX you have but I'm guessing SE. One thing you need to be aware of the FE/EX have poor cornering capability in sharp/avoidance/ emergency turns the car will slide out of control with the narrower tires it comes with where the CMAX won't. I had this happen to me during test Drive of EX, I came back on the same route with my CMAX with no sliding. The narrow tires is why the FE/EX get better MPG's than the Touring/LX, but poorer handling. The Touring/LX have the wider tires so will do better in avoidance/Emergency situations. Bottom line the CMAX is just a better handling car which is a good safety feature . Here is a test for you, charge up the HVB of both of your cars and then go from 0 mph to as fast as you can go in EV and see how fast you can go. What I saw the NIRO If I drove slowly got to 35 mph before ICE would turn on and the CMAX much quicker can get to 50+ mph. :) It would be curious to see you drive both of your cars to see the differences in you driving technique. Are you figuring actual MPG using gallons used at the pump divided into miles driven? You should join Fuelly.com and log your fill ups. BTW I'm getting Fuelly.com 52 -58.5 mpg with mostly HWY miles for my last ten fill ups and have several tanks 64 to 68.3 mpg to give you an idea of what can be done with a CMAX. :) Paul

Here is a Link to My testing of 5 KIA NIRO's in which I got better MPG's than all of them in MADMAX. To get the best MPG's in a CMAX you don't drive it like a NIRO. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6492-2017-ford-cmax-kia-niro-and-toyota-prius-v-mpg-test-drives/?hl=niro I found the NIRO to lack EV power off the start and overall it lacked power, surprised you don't notice this when driving NIRO. :) You might look at "How to drive a CMAX to get Great Gasmileage videos. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6568-how-to-drive-a-cmax-hybridffh-to-get-great-gas-mileage/page-1 You didn't say what MPG's you were getting in CMAX, do you have the OEM Michelin's on the car? :headscratch: Paul

I don't think I have ever added fluid to either in 205k miles, I have been having FORD do my oil changes about every 30K miles lately so it is possible they may be doing something, but probably not. On my way to FORD to pickup my car from having oil change done and will check levels. :) Paul

"SnowStorm" LOL and it only gets worse, I expect to be at 50.2 mpg by the end of the year, maybe higher. :) This is so much FUN. :) I noticed on my trip to Maine and back I averaged 53mpg using A/C about half of the time. :) Paul

Don't Know :headscratch: Went to Maine and back and my Life Time Score went up to 50 mpg. :) Paul

Well I made it to 50 mpg Life Time Score with 205k miles and I hope this encourages others to keep on trying. :yahoo: Paul