Alright so I'm one of the few people on here who has chosen form>function so I'm running a 205/40-17. Because of this my speedo is about 5 mph off at 75. I know on my buddies mk6 gti his car automatically adjust to tire diameter. Is there any such thing that I don't know about for the mini?

 

No such thing on a MINI.

 

Magic speedo!!
I love the concept!!
Nope...not an option on the MINI..
UNLESS you got the VERY RARE special Harry Potter edition!!
was sold in Very limited numbers....but man...that car (only sold in BLACK) was cool!! You could actually make you passanger turn into a toadstool with a push of a button!!

 

Umm,

I own a MK6 Golf... The speedo does not self adjust. However... It is "tweakable" via OEM / VAG software.

Just like the Mini. Using NCSExpert ... Or at least you can code out the stock over speed function (speedometer reads too fast). .. That might be all you need.

 

This is why I hate community forums at times. But thank you all for the info.

 

I don't think he meant any harm in the comment, hence the smiley.

 

Yeah, unless you use NCS expert to "fix" the error it will be there. I doubt that the golf is self-adjusting. Is there a portion of the car's menu where you put int he tire size and it compensates? I know I did this with a programmer when I had a F-150 with 35s on it. You put in the diameter or revs/mile and it recalibrates the speedo readout.

But self adjusting? There is no such thing on any car, as it can't measure the tires.

Why go smaller than stock? I would imagine the speedo would be more than 5 off. with 215/45-17 I am still 2-3 mph off at highway speeds.

 

Sometimes , you just can't be too serious when you drive a mini! It is a car that is made to make you, or at the very least folks who see you driving it smile!
Sometimes some answers have a bit of inside history here......
The magic speedo theory has been proposed a few times.....
Interestingly enough the correct answer is the same as for your VW....nope...gotta hack the cars computer a bit.....

 

I don't know specifics of my buddies mk6. But when I told him I was running a smaller size tire and my speedo would be off he told me his is self adjusting. I know he has his own vag com cable so maybe he resets it that way. Idk. And I'm running a smaller diameter tire so I can get the ride height I want and not chew my fenders up. And I've checked with my phone's gps, my garmin, and another buddy of mine following me. When I set my cruise at 77 I'm going 72. And that's usually my highway speed.

 

Yea, that old Ford setup was sweet.. rumor was they did away with it because it led customers to believe it was "ok" to put odd sized tires on the truck.. (which then led to lawsuits as trucks rolled over, crashed, etc..).. I used to program them all the time for customers..

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

I find that site helpful when playing with tire sizes.

 

I could be wrong, but I thought I saw that someone around here had tweaked their speedometer reading using the "secret menu" on the car? (Search for that term and you should come up with a how-to thread on accessing it.)

 

No such menu for the speedo

 

If you can get someone into the NCS ECU programming then you can fix it.

 

Car makers could put a gps enabled spedo in a car and no matter what size tire you used it would tell you your correct speed. That is until it lost the signal.

 

Actually, this is what the aftermarket gauge (vdo, autometer..) companies do now. No more tire size calculations or cables. It's very slick. Boats, cars, trucks, hot rods.. Think about it,, makes total sense.

 

The only problem I could see is the loss of signal in the cayons or woods. But how about one that uses radar or some kind of laser attached under the car. the police use it to track your speed

 

My speedo is self adjusting. When you press on the gas, the indicated speed goes up, and
when you put on the brakes, it goes down, ... all by itself.

 

 

I just keep my GPS enabled radar detector In view....
I just set it to display my current speed on the display (could do voltage, a dot, etc).
When in blanks out in a tunnel, no issues....you have been seeing the car and the GPS speed, so you know the difference....
I would love a speedo where you can input either tire size of tire revolutions per mile....but I bet liability lawyers have ended this practice in all but speciality vehicles and commercial heavy duty trucks....

 

Yes, but sadly BMW don't understand much about real Mini heritage. In classic Minis (but not Coopers), the big speedo needle pointed to numbers until you went really, really fast - when it pointed at 'Main Beam' (US: Hi Beam?). Now that meant fast.

On Coopers, the speedo went to a much higher reading (120 mph?), which meant that just before the needle reached 'Main Beam', the con rods made a pretty pattern on the bonnet (hood).

 

Reminds me of my old '82 Rabbit. There was a pin at 85 mph where the markings ended
that kept the speedo needle from going any further.
I took out the pin and put additional markings on the speedo face up to 105,
which was about its top speed (this was before the GTI came out in the US in '83).

 

My wife claims that her 1982 911SC can't go faster than 85 MPH, because the speedometer only goes up that far. (Never mind that the GPS has clocked her at speeds above that. )

 

Everybody knows that my 1987 Westy Vanagon can go 100. The speedo says so!