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Does my speedometer know I have short ratio gears?
I put in some short ratio gears this summer. When my speedometer said 60, my smartphone gps said 55. When my car said 70, my gps said 63.
My old bmw reports higher speeds than reality with a shorter ratio diff... I am suspecting the same for my 911. Just wanted to confirm as someone told me that the car would not be fooled. I am very skeptical. I plan to jot some numbers down and find the real speeds using gear ratio calculators... Assuming someone does not have a quick answer. I dontparticularily want a falsly high odometer reading in a few years. I know in the old bmw world you could get new gears for the odometer.
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1997 BMW M3 (race car) with S54 engine swap "The Rocket" 1984 Porsche 911 3.4 Carrera 1973 BMW 2002Tii 2016 Ford Focus RS |
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Tire size ?
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Stock
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1997 BMW M3 (race car) with S54 engine swap "The Rocket" 1984 Porsche 911 3.4 Carrera 1973 BMW 2002Tii 2016 Ford Focus RS |
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gearhead
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Loverland, CO
Posts: 23,555
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You didn't change your diff ratio, did you?
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1974 914 Bumble Bee 2009 Outback XT 2008 Cayman S shop test Mule 1996 WRX V-limited 450/1000 |
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Changed it from 7:31 back to 8:31
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1997 BMW M3 (race car) with S54 engine swap "The Rocket" 1984 Porsche 911 3.4 Carrera 1973 BMW 2002Tii 2016 Ford Focus RS |
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 90
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I believe the speedo reads off the differential carrier bearing. Since it is essentially reading the RPM of the driveshaft, the only driver is tire diameter. Regearing the transmission or final drive should not affect the speedometer reading. So yes, it cannot be fooled by gearing changes.
Last edited by MDamen; 09-18-2015 at 05:49 PM.. |
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Thanks... Mine just likes to exaggerate then.
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1997 BMW M3 (race car) with S54 engine swap "The Rocket" 1984 Porsche 911 3.4 Carrera 1973 BMW 2002Tii 2016 Ford Focus RS |
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Registered
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 3,347
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Most speedos do exaggerate. Or, is your GPS off
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1970 914-6 Past: 2000 Boxster 2.7, 1987 944, 1987 924S 1978 911SC, 1976 914 2.0, 1970 914 w/2056 |
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'73 911 T Targa
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I've found that speeds on my cell phone GPS seem unreliable. I speculate that it's because they are determining location from a variety of sources, but I don't know for sure. If you have a regular automotive GPS, it might be a better baseline.
A friend of mine says that German speedos are always 3mph hot due to some German law that holds the manufacturer responsible for speeding tickets if the speedo reads low. I don't know if that's true, but I will say that the speedos in all of my German cars (and my friend's German cars) read 3mph hot. |
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My tire pressures were low. Smaller effective rolling diameter
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1997 BMW M3 (race car) with S54 engine swap "The Rocket" 1984 Porsche 911 3.4 Carrera 1973 BMW 2002Tii 2016 Ford Focus RS |
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