I have a 2002 Maxima SE and my Speedometer reads incorrectly by about 4-5%( When I am REALLY going 57 MPH, my Speedometer reads 60, or when I am REALLY going 66 MPH it reads 70)

I know it is wrong because of police speed stations that show you how fast you are going. Also when I reset my trip computer and set cruise control to 60MPH on my speedometer, It registers at 57MPH average on my trip computer.

Anyone have any thoughts as to fix this? It has been doing it ever since I got the car. It is not a BIG problem, but I would like it to read correctly.

Nissan said they charge $75 minimum to hook it up to their computer and still cannot guarantee that they will be able to fix it.

Thanks

 

Congrats on your 15 posts since yesterday.

 

Uh, eat the 75.00 or dont get it fixed? My advice, dont let it bother you, get a radar detector.

 

The tach is even worse off.

 

do you, by any chance, have aftermarket tires? that reading is so close to the actual that having a diference in circumference of something like 1-2 cm will make it that far off. lemme guess...235/40 R18?

 

235-40 = ~ 2% off.

 

check tire pressure.

 

even if your speedo is off that much you won't get pulled over for doing 4 over the limit

 

Its not that it showing me going slower than I am, its that It shows me going faster than I am. It makes me drive like an old lady in the fast lane.

 

Sell your Maxima..

 

Maybe have the cops adjust their radar! They may have it all wrong! I was crusing by one of those radar stands doing 20mph and it read 65mph, I was like wtf?

 

you never said the size of your tires...thats the difference here. if you cant deal with a 4% difference i dont think you deserve a max, get a honda. i know guys with trucks that have speedos at 20% off, 4% is nothing. if you cant ignore it, just remember that if youre speedo says 104, youre really going 100.....complaining about 4% off

 

You're running 18" first of all. Also depending on the actual tire size, your speedo will be off.
I run 17" 235/45 and my speedo reads about 3-4% faster than actual speed.

If it must be exact, you may can get a correcting gear placed in rour speedo. I've never looked into it because it's not that important to me - I know the variance and drive accordingly. You can check accurate speed with a GPS.

Here is a good calculator that you put in the original (225/50-17) and your changed tire specs and it will show variance.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

If after checking the calculator, it still doesn't make sense, hit the stealership.

Shaydz

 

Neither of them is very accurate. I've driven past those police speedboards and they've been much farther off than that. I drove past one a few weeks ago at about 60mph and it showed me doing 38mph or something like that. Just ignore them and keep driving.

 

That is really not bad at all, how can you complain about it? I think most speedos read a small percentage high anyway. Bikes are even worse...my speedo says 185 but I am only going about 160. There is a thing you can get for bikes called a speedo healer....basically corrects speedo readings if you change sprocket sizes....maybe they have one for cars too?

http://www.speedohealer.com/eng/intro.htm

 

Road Rash FTW.