MAXRAY

what gives in the tire/rim sizes and speeedo error???

GXE 215/55/16, 25.3" in diameter
GLE 215/55/17, 26.3" in diameter
SE 225/50/17, 25.9" in diameter

difference between GXE and SE: 0.6" , 2.2% speedo error
difference between GXE and GLE: 1" , 4% speedo error
difference between GLE and SE: 0.4" , 1.7% speedo error

now, the question is...has nissan made adjustments on the speedo depending on the model? i was wondering why some GLE's and GXE's seemed to fill the wheel gap more than an SE...now i know. it wasn't the springs...it was the tire size! i think??? am i missing something here??? what gives?

jjames

I would think that they have adjusted for this. But, not ALL GLEs are 17" stock, and there are a lot of 16" SEs out there too. I would think they would have adjusted for this.

MAXRAY

the figures i used were for 2k2 models...

2k2Merlot

I remember reading somewhere that auto manufacturer's were allowed a 10% margin of error in speedometer/odometers from the factory. So they are allowed to be up to 10% either slow or fast, without it being a "problem". I would imagine that the speedometer settings for all of the mentioned cars is precisely the same; and the one with the smaller diameter will read fast, and the one with the large one will read more exact or even slow. It has also been my past experience that auto manufacturers seem to lean towards their speedos being fast, especially Nissan.

Rgamfn1

iTrader: (1)

Most cars come from the factory with the speedometer and the engine off by a few percentage points. A group of brand new Maximas can range by about 10 degrees in horsepower from each other, directly from the factory. The only to fix these is to have your speedometer calibrated, or for horsepower have your engine balanced and blueprinted.

95MaxSE

Manufacturers are asked to calibrate the speedometer in such a way that the indicated speed is ALWAYS higher or the same as the actual speed, for safety reason. Most if not all manufacturers take the conservative approach and calibrate the speedometer to around 5% more that the actual speed.

There is an in-depth article on this subject a few months back in Car&Driver.