For example, if I were to get a carbon fiber hood, would I notice an increase in gas mileage?

 

You might increase your mpg but it will be barely noticable.

 

take out back seats. passender seat get a carbon fiber hood , bumper, trunk and carbon doors , make windows plastic. that might increase your gas..

 

come on now... a fiber hood... i dont wanna be an a$$ but u think 15 lbs is gonna make a difference? ;you would have to get rid of like 500lbs to see a difference

 

lose weight yourself

 

you would have to shave hundreds of pounds off the vehicle to notice a miles per gallon change

 

Well, I would expect you need at least 100lb to gain 1mpg in city driving. Assuming that, a cf hood, which I'll assume costs $500 and saves 20lb (the price is purposely low and the weight savings are purposely hight), would save .2mpg.

Lets say gas is 2.75/gal, and you get 20mpg. That's 13.75cents/mile, and .2mpg would save you 1/100th of that, so that's .1375cents/mile saving by the hood. That means you'd need drive 363,000 miles to pay for the hood in fuel savings. And that's using some numbers that were cautiously conservative.

Other, cheaper ways to save much more fuel for much less:
1) Fill your tires up to 35psi and check them religiously (free)
2) Drive slower, and go easier when accelerating.
3) Sell the Maxima and buy a 4-banger.
4) Save weight in other ways: empty your trunk, drive with less gas in the tank, don't be so fat, remove aftermarket stereos.
5) Do maintenance on the Maxima to improve its fuel economy.

The only reason I wrote all this is to feel what it would be like to have stupid teenage son. He would hate me

 

im gonna get rid of the 80lb dual 12 sub box in my trunk soon. any takers?

 

Put some skinny-as'sed tires on it.

 

haha, no no, my gas mileage is good. it was just something that occured to me when my sister saw a mustang with hood pins and wondered what it was for

thanks for the answers!

 

Well I'm glad that had anything to do with the original question.

 

Lightweight wheels would help alot more just my .02

 

or you can just drive like a realy granny n don't go over 2k rpms..-= )