[anthoj]

Hello all...

I've just recently bought a CPO '07 328xi coupe. I've been looking at the many DIY postings on this site and I think this is a great community with enthusiasts who are willing to share their expertise in different areas of the E9x series.

Anyway, after driving a few times through one of those speed guns with display, I notice that my speedometer always reports a higher speed than the speed gun. I have iDrive, but sometimes I turn on my portable GPS just for fun and the speed reported there is also about 4 mph lower than the reported speed on the speedometer. I even turned on cruise control so I would get a digital reading of the speed. Then just yesterday, I noticed that when the car is stationary, the needle is pointing slightly higher than 0. It looks like it's pointing to 1 mph instead of 0. Does this mean there's something wrong with my speedometer, and therefore it would be affecting my actual mileage too?

The other thing is, I live in Seattle area, and so it rains a lot here...Whenever I'm at an intersection stepping on the brake pedal, I can feel my brake pedal vibrate as the wipers swing across the windshield. Is that normal?

Any input would be really appreciated. Thanks

[jopa489]

Both are "normal" and I put that in quotes for a reason. The speedometers of BMW's (and almost all other German cars) are purposely offset by ~5%. Seems stupid (and in many ways, it is) but it's due to extremely strict EU regulations regarding how production cars can never, under any circumstances, show an indicated speed slower than what the car is actually traveling. This regulation is so strict that manufacturers are forced to program an offset into the speedometer.

Many, many people have reported being able to feel the wipers in the pedals. I don't think there's a fix for it, nor is it doing any harm. It's certainly a common enough topic here though and not specific to your car.

Oh, and congrats on the new car and welcome to Bimmerpost!

[anthoj]

Originally Posted by jopa489

Both are "normal" and I put that in quotes for a reason. The speedometers of BMW's (and almost all other German cars) are purposely offset by ~5%. Seems stupid (and in many ways, it is) but it's due to extremely strict EU regulations regarding how production cars can never, under any circumstances, show an indicated speed slower than what the car is actually traveling. This regulation is so strict that manufacturers are forced to program an offset into the speedometer.

Many, many people have reported being able to feel the wipers in the pedals. I don't think there's a fix for it, nor is it doing any harm. It's certainly a common enough topic here though and not specific to your car.

Oh, and congrats on the new car and welcome to Bimmerpost!

Thanks for replying so quickly. So, by the time I hit the end of the original warranty (50,000), the mileage could be off by 2500 miles? Or is the mileage measured more accurately elsewhere?

Glad to know that the wiper isn't an issue

[airshane]

Mileage is accurate. I checked that with a few mile markers. My VW was the same, maybe even a little more over-estimated than the 328.

Get an Escort 9500ix and use that as your speedometer. I've been doing that for a while now.

But yes - Annoying.

[jopa489]

Yep, odometer and mileage are 100% perfect. The offset is just in the gauge itself.

It's beyond me why they can't take the offset out of US-spec cars.

[airshane]

Originally Posted by jopa489

Yep, odometer and mileage are 100% perfect. The offset is just in the gauge itself.

It's beyond me why they can't take the offset out of US-spec cars.

It's done in the computer so you'd think with a little hacking around you could fix it.

Pilots have magnetic compass heading correction cheat sheets for aircraft and I think I should make one for my car. 41 MPH=38 MPH, 69MPH=73MPH, etc.

[doggiedog]

My car is about 3MPH slower than what the speedometer indicates. This is according to my GPS and all of the speed indicating signs in my neighborhood.

[Patsfan123]

Glad I found this.. I notice mine was off last night as I went past one of those radar displays and it said I was going 35 and my speedometer said 40. I did some testing with my phone GPS and noticed this: 80 reported 75.2 actual; 40rpt/37.2 act; 25rpt/22.5 act.. I guess I wont worry about tire size so much if the speedometer is inaccurate anyway..

[GMWNashville]

i think you can change the correction factors in the cluster...i just forget how...

[Patsfan123]

That would be quite useful.. Now I know why I often get tailgated..

[Tibrin]

Originally Posted by jopa489

Both are "normal" and I put that in quotes for a reason. The speedometers of BMW's (and almost all other German cars) are purposely offset by ~5%. Seems stupid (and in many ways, it is) but it's due to extremely strict EU regulations regarding how production cars can never, under any circumstances, show an indicated speed slower than what the car is actually traveling. This regulation is so strict that manufacturers are forced to program an offset into the speedometer.

Many, many people have reported being able to feel the wipers in the pedals. I don't think there's a fix for it, nor is it doing any harm. It's certainly a common enough topic here though and not specific to your car.

Oh, and congrats on the new car and welcome to Bimmerpost!

Hi. I read your answer about the fact some people can feel the wipers in the pedal. I have this problem and it bothers me so much. Have you heard about a way to fix it since yout posting?

[jopa489]

Haven't heard about anything that absolutely fixes the issue. Some have reported new blades fix the problem, others have wiped the entire windshield down with rubbing alcohol. You might want to at least try wiping off your wiper blades and/or using some RainX on the windshield. I assume you get the pedal vibration when they "clunk" at the top/bottom of the wipe?

[Tibrin]

Yeah, that's right. I can feel a pulsation on the pedal each time the wipers make a cycle. I'll try your trick and hopefully, it will at least reduce the "problem". I reported the problem to my BMW retailer. They were not open at all to look at this issue! Thanks for your answer.

[David1]

Originally Posted by Tibrin

Hi. I read your answer about the fact some people can feel the wipers in the pedal. I have this problem and it bothers me so much. Have you heard about a way to fix it since yout posting?

Clean the windshield and the blades and this will go away for a while. Rain-X sucks and will make it worse.

[David1]

Originally Posted by volkswackin

i think you can change the correction factors in the cluster...i just forget how...

You can not.

[jt335i]

My spedometer is off by about -2 MPH so I always make sure the spedo reading is 2 MPH faster to compensate.
If I'm on the highway, for example, I'll set my cruise at 72 instead of 70.

Originally Posted by David1

Clean the windshield and the blades and this will go away for a while. Rain-X sucks and will make it worse.

True that. I use a car window squeegee and keep the windshield and wiper blades clean and clear from all the bug kill, sand, dirt, etc, etc, etc., all the time. I've driven in the pouring rain several times here in Florida and I've never felt any kind of pulsation from the wipers.

Buy a car window squeegee for a couple of bucks at your local autoparts store, keep your windshield clean, and your minor problem is solved.

[Wires]

Wet brake pads/rotors have really poor braking capabilities. So the car will apply the brakes a bit to warm up the rotors/pads to dry them off.

You'll notice that driving in the rain, the brakes are really crisp. Drive through an automatic car wash, and the car will feel "heavy" when braking like the brakes aren't working at full capacity.

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by volkswackin

i think you can change the correction factors in the cluster...i just forget how...

Nope. If you mess with those, the ODOMETER will then be off. BMW doesn't give you a way to correct the speedo, on purpose.

[David1]

Originally Posted by Wires

Wet brake pads/rotors have really poor braking capabilities. So the car will apply the brakes a bit to warm up the rotors/pads to dry them off.

You'll notice that driving in the rain, the brakes are really crisp. Drive through an automatic car wash, and the car will feel "heavy" when braking like the brakes aren't working at full capacity.

This has nothing to do with the noise.

[F32Fleet]

GPS is not the end all itself.

[NaNo_F1]

Great post Ive always wondered as well!

[Marcus-SanDiego]

The maximum variance, per a BMW service bulletin, is 10% + 2.4 mph. The speedo, yes, reads higher than your actual speed.

And the odometer reads accurately -- despite the speedo being off.