Claim: "While we make no scientific claims about their use, several of us have tried this on various vehicles with varying degrees of 'success.'"
In use: Attach to fuel line going into the fuel rail and forget about it.
Observed gains: K&J was great on the phone and obviously knows its magnets. We got some additional rubber-coated neodymium magnets with our order, as well. While its magnets are really strong, reasonably priced, and have got an awesome selection, the Fuel Mag returned no gains on Red.
Price: $15
Claim: "The Fitch Fuel Catalyst transforms gasoline and diesel into a superior quality of fuel, allowing a combustion engine to extract the maximum amount of energy with minimal emissions." The company makes no solid numerical claims, stating simply that the catalyst will "improve fuel economy."
In use: The Fitch inline kit included hoses to tie into Red's fuel rails, the Fitch inline canister with catalyst, mounting brackets, and even the tool to remove the fuel line from the fuel rail.
Observed gains: We noticed an approximate 2-mpg increase over stock with the Fitch system.
Price: $177.45
Claim: "The system operates by injecting platinum, in vapor form, into the gas/air mixture to burn (the fuel) more completely in the engine." While they do claim an average 22 percent increase, the company also notes that in fleet testing, some vehicles actually saw a decrease in mileage. Your mileage might vary.
In use: After mounting the solution tank and using the included T-fitting to the brake booster vacuum line, we added a small vial of platinum solution, which needs to be added every 5,000 miles.
Observed gains: We saw approximately a 2-mpg increase.
Price: $69.95 for approximately 30,000 miles of solution.
What you might not realize is that from the time this is written to the time you read it can be anywhere from two to three months. We're going to combine some of the things we tested to see just how much economy we can get out of Red. Check out the up-to-the-minute chart on www.jpmagazine.com if you want to see the actual numbers we used for our calculations, as well as the final results of the product stacking.
We stacked the Fitch Fuel Catalyst with the Platinum Fuel Saver, both sets of magnets, and the all-terrain tires, and even though we didn't notice a statistically significant gain from the magnets, we didn't notice a decrease, either, so we also left them on; however, we removed the Tornado. Despite not noticing a significant mileage increase or decrease, the downshifting was enough for us to exclude it from the stacking. We are hoping for 20 mpg but aren't holding our breath.