I've got a 95 Del sol S 1.5 manual. It has had 215/45/ZR17 wheels and tires on it since I got it well tonight I got a set of Michelin 175/70/13 and put them on it. The speedometer has always been spot on to a T with the 17's on it but it drove like hammered **** and only got 36 mpg. I test drive it tonight with the 13's on it (same size that's in the glove box) I have to run around 62-63 for my actual road speed to be 55mph. How do I undo whatever the previous owners done to make my speedometer correct again with the proper tires and wheels on it? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

It came from the factory with a jacked speedo. Just mentally compensate for it. Our speedos tend to run 7-8mph higher than actual road speed.

 

So I'll have to put those retarded *** 215/45/ZR17 wheels/tire back on it to fix my speedometer? So if this has been like this from the factory does the car really have 243,3xx miles on it? They were on it when I got it and I've put 10,000 miles on it since I've owned it and no telling how long they've been on it they look just as rough as the rest of the car.

 

I believe your speedometer is like my 96, it's an electric motor driven by the vehicle speed sensor. Someone can prove me otherwise, I don't mind. But if it's like mine then the only way to calibrate it is by physically modifying the speedometer, which you can send it away to shops that do that sort of thing.

I had the original speedometer in my instrument cluster and as it went bad the accuracy was all over the place. While using GPS, the car indicated 45mph while gps said 40mph. At 75 mph the gps indicated 82mph. The speedo finally died reading only zero, I replaced it with a new one and had no more issues. It is now reading exactly what GPS is saying.

You will have to either get a new speedo from Honda, or get yours repaired, as mine is working perfectly now that I've replaced it/fixed it. To say that 8mph off is normal, is not correct.

 

I have a del Sol s, I ran a 185/70/13 and 175/70 IMO that's the closet your gonna get to having the speedo accurate, and it's still 5mph off compared to what speed traps say. Which I would chalk up to stock speedo being usually about 5% off no matter what like jonsey mentioned.

But trust me those 17s aren't doing anything good besides robbing you of acceleration and fuel economy. I'd sell them and never look back.

Even a 195/55/15 makes my car noticeably slower specifically if you wind it out in 1st then shift into 2nd carrying the revs, it drops farther and accelerates slower because of the rpm drop.

For instance Im in 1st and redline the motor to 6500 on my 185/70/13s a much fatter tire to note, it drops to 3800-4000. Now with the 195/55/15 shifting from 6500 it drops all the way to 2800-2200, no fun.

I wouldn't go bigger unless a stronger motor is introduced and even then with smaller wheels you'll have some advantages.