As many have pointed out, the MINI's speedo is off. Well I have made things worse by getting 205/50/15 tires. This makes the speedo appear 5.7% faster than it reality. Is there a way to adjust the read out so my odo and speedo are alittle more accurate?

 

I thought I'd bump this thread. I would like the answer to this question too!

 

I would THINK that with something like 2 million functions already handled by the ECU that it might be capable of having an error compensation input for different tire sizes? maybe? perhaps the ? could be posed to MINI USA? (they USED to monitor this site................. )I'd like an answer to this as well as my speedo is off 3 mph with 16's on an S.

 

I adjust mine with my throttle foot. Down for faster & up for slower. Sorry I couldn't help myself.

I know of no way to make that adjustment. In the old days you could take your car to the speedo shop & they'd adjust it.
Speedo shops have gone the way of the dinosaur though.

At least your speedo reads high. Easier to live with that one that reads slow.

According to my Nuvi my speedo reads 3mph high. That's with 205-50-16's.

 

exactly my findings too with the same size wheels. I have set my cruise on approach to a couple of those trailers that the police set up that tell you what your speed is as opposed to what the speed limit is (you know, the ones that make your radar detector melt off your windscreen ), and I'm exactly 3 mph high too.

 

I think some of those trailers read inaccurately, since our Odyssey Mini Support Vehicle also reads a little high relative to the "trailer-indicated" speed. FWIW, my Mini speedo also reads 3-4MPH high at highway speeds, which is fine with me (only when I go to sell it, the odo will indicate 3% higher mileage than was actually covered). I'm thinking a change to larger tires in the future (215/45/17) will bring it more in line.

 

I have a set of 205/45- 17 track tires, and run 215/45-17 street tires on S lites. My speedo is consistantly 2 mph higher on either set of tires, according to my Nuvi.........PITA, but it does keep my out of trouble on the hiway, till I start watching the NUVI speedo instead of the MINI's...........

It would be nice to get this set up to indicate accurately, like every other modern car I own..................

 

You can crack the speedo open. If you want instructions on how to, let me know...it's for the faint of heart, but once you've done it once, it is a peace of cake.

 

I also found my speedometer to read about three miles faster than what I have read on a number of those side-of-the-road radar detector info boards notifying me about my speed (one where the speed limit was 25, the other 45mph). I don't know how smart this is... but I reset the needle on my speedometer so that at "0" it's actually about a half inch below the zero mark. I am still testing it but it seems to prove more accurate.

 

I went from 205X45/17 to 215X40/17 and my speedometer is 2 mph faster than my Nuvi.....Which to me, seems about right.

 

The speedo is elctrically driven, NOT mechanical. :. there is a sender somewhere (transmission?) which must output a voltage that is read by a voltmeter (labelled in mph). It is even likely that there is a scaling circuit in there as well. Hence is should not be too difficult adjust the scale factor, either through an adjustment pot already there or an easily rigged couple of $ worth of componants.

I have heard that this IS easy to do. Even that the dealer will do it. I am yet get a call through ny of the local dealers!

The documentation on MC's electrics/electronic leaves much to be desired--and more to the imagination! Add to that the fact that an EE's notion of design: why use 2 components when you can use 40!