Stop partying CMayna, you suffer from double speak.
On my stock gauge my 54 never gets close to the hot range. I did bring up my idle a little though. More for the fact that when I get off the freeway my oil pressure is a bit low at idle. The extra RPM should help the cooling a bit too.
With your temperature problems I would at least do the home flushing job with a bottle of stuff from Napa. Do a good rinse afterward and then fill with the proper ratio of fresh antifreeze. Even a 10 degree difference would take you out of the danger zone and the whole job takes an hour.
