MY EXPERIENCE PUTTING A NEW REAR TIRE ON MY 2014 RT

[Dennis elliott]

I put on a new car tire 215 60 15 that part went smooth. when I went to put the caliper back on it wouldn't go, so I ended up taking the brake pads out and rotating the plunger back in.. of course this was after all the other things I tried.
I had the abs sensor. it had 3 shims under it and I was careful to keep them with it. By then it was getting late I dropped the jack fired up the bike. It went immediately in to limp mode. I turned it off then back on. then I had brake failure, parking brake light that wouldn't go out and an abs light. I just thru up my hand and went to bed.
The next morning after a night of horrid dreams of what the dealer was going to charge for all my screw ups. I got my nerve up and went to the shop dropped the jack fired it up thought ill move it out and see if I can get to the dealer. Well I rolled about 2 feet and all the lights cleared and it was good to go.

[Roadster Renovations]

Whenever I back off the caliper piston I will manually pump the pedal by hand to take the slack back up before starting the byke. This fools the nanny into thinking nothing was done. So far, it has worked every time. Sounds like you did good otherwise!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I put on a new car tire 215 60 15 that part went smooth. when I went to put the caliper back on it wouldn't go, so I ended up taking the brake pads out and rotating the plunger back in.. of course this was after all the other things I tried.
I had the abs sensor. it had 3 shims under it and I was careful to keep them with it. By then it was getting late I dropped the jack fired up the bike. It went immediately in to limp mode. I turned it off then back on. then I had brake failure, parking brake light that wouldn't go out and an abs light. I just thru up my hand and went to bed.
The next morning after a night of horrid dreams of what the dealer was going to charge for all my screw ups. I got my nerve up and went to the shop dropped the jack fired it up thought ill move it out and see if I can get to the dealer. Well I rolled about 2 feet and all the lights cleared and it was good to go.

What occurred was not un-common, the NANNY is UBER fussy and it doesn't take much to pi** her off ......and for that CAR tire ( whatever brand ) 21 psi is all you need. At this pressure the " sipes " will work better, especially when it's wet ....... plus the ride will improve ................. Mike

[Chupaca]

Many of the modern sensor systems need to reset after they have been messed with. Once you rolled out it sensed the brakes were fine and the abs was where it should be etc. If mechanics don'the drive your car after a battery change you will see a lot of lights and warnings but once you roll away they all go out...sorry for the sleepless night...

[Dennis elliott]

What occurred was not un-common, the NANNY is UBER fussy and it doesn't take much to pi** her off ......and for that CAR tire ( whatever brand ) 21 psi is all you need. At this pressure the " sipes " will work better, especially when it's wet ....... plus the ride will improve ................. Mike

Thanks BlueKnight i had 30 psi ill lower it down today

[Bob Denman]

Glad to hear that it has all worked out the way that you had hoped!
My guess... (That's all it is...), is that when you manually retract the calipers: it messes with Nanny's sense of well-being. Perhaps the change in the brake fluid levels is what does it...
Once things get cycled back around to where they were: it all clears up!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Thanks BlueKnight i had 30 psi ill lower it down today

Your welcome ..................Only the KENDA ( rear ) needs a high psi because of it's WEAK construction. The car tires we are using are made much stronger and don't need high PSI to support the weight ...... Mike

[Windagetray]

Knight, would you still recommend 21 PSI if I generally ride 2 up and near the max weight limit.....and occasionally pulling a 622 trailer? Running the Khumo tire on the back.

Your welcome ..................Only the KENDA ( rear ) needs a high psi because of it's WEAK construction. The car tires we are using are made much stronger and don't need high PSI to support the weight ...... Mike

[fjray]

I am two up and pulling a trailer almost always and am at 23 lbs. seems to work well wet or dry.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Knight, would you still recommend 21 PSI if I generally ride 2 up and near the max weight limit.....and occasionally pulling a 622 trailer? Running the Khumo tire on the back.

Peter Aawen actually has a formula for this, But I have run car tires much lower and they were fine. I use 21 as a balance ..... folks here are basing the REAR tire pressure on the OEM Kenda @ 28, if I said they should go down to 18 no one would do it........ On our Spyders the Car tires will work better at 21psi because of the weight difference they were designed for - heavy veh vs. Spyder - you have to compensate for this ..... and lowering the psi does this...... Remember your Kumho is designed for a 3600 lb car, even a fully loaded RT with a trl on the tongue is only going to weigh 1540 lbs and only 635 is on the rear tire. Nothing BAD will happen at 21 psi even fully loaded. Ask Peter ...... Mike

[Windagetray]

....I found one miscalculation..... a car tire would have to handle 1/4 of the 3600# car with the pressure indicated somewhere on the car (gas filler lid/drivers door). ...just being picky but I respect your analysis. You've put more miles on Spyders I'm sure than I ever will! Again, thanks for making us think about the differences in the tire designs/purposes. Thanks again.

Peter Aawen actually has a formula for this, But I have run car tires much lower and they were fine. I use 21 as a balance ..... folks here are basing the REAR tire pressure on the OEM Kenda @ 28, if I said they should go down to 18 no one would do it........ On our Spyders the Car tires will work better at 21psi because of the weight difference they were designed for - heavy veh vs. Spyder - you have to compensate for this ..... and lowering the psi does this...... Remember your Kumho is designed for a 3600 lb car, even a fully loaded RT with a trl on the tongue is only going to weigh 1540 lbs and only 635 is on the rear tire. Nothing BAD will happen at 21 psi even fully loaded. Ask Peter ...... Mike

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

....I found one miscalculation..... a car tire would have to handle 1/4 of the 3600# car with the pressure indicated somewhere on the car (gas filler lid/drivers door). ...just being picky but I respect your analysis. You've put more miles on Spyders I'm sure than I ever will! Again, thanks for making us think about the differences in the tire designs/purposes. Thanks again.

When I stated the weight for the Spyder it was fully loaded w/ trl. ....... The 3600 lb was for the car ONLY.. it was empty - no fluids , no people in vehicle , no luggage etc...... Read my post above to Sarge 707 ..... Spyders are operated at the drivers RISK .... I'm just trying to minimize them........ Mike

[Bob Denman]

About the only time that a car tire actually handles 1/4 of the total weight: if the front to rear, and left to right balance is exactly 50/50...
Since a lot of front-wheel drive cars carry closer to 60% of their weight over the front axles: it's putting even MORE of a load on those tires.
A car tire on a Spyder isn't even breaking a sweat...

[Peter Aawen]

.... A car tire on a Spyder isn't even breaking a sweat...

You can check this for yourself - just take your (fully loaded) Spyder in to your nearest Garden Center or Weigh Station, anywhere with a Weigh bridge, & ask if you can weigh each end of your Spyder!! It might cost you a couple of bucks, but generally the operator will be laughing too hard to charge you anything! Find out what the front weighs, then divide that by 2 (cos the load is shared by 2 tires up front) & then what the rear weighs (only one tire there!) - then you'll know pretty closely what weight each of your tires is REALLY carrying....

Then look at the sidewall on your tires, somewhere on there will be printed the Maximum load @ Maximum pressure info for that specific brand/type/size of tire (nb, the 'Maximum' bit means the 'Never to be Exceeded in operation' Load &/or Pressure) & compare that to the actual load you now know that you are placing on them!! It's gonna be somewhat different to the Max Load, particularly since most car tires are somewhat over-engineered for the average CAR they expect to carry, let alone something like our Spyders that might be lucky to weigh 1/3rd as much as the average car running that size tire!! But luckily, as Mike has mentioned, there is a fairly simple formula (altho it's definitely not mine, it comes from the tire manufacturers; I've just learnt that it's smart to use it!) which you can use to work out what pressures to run in your (capable of carrying much heavier loads) car tires when they are only carrying your (relatively lightweight) Spyder!!

Just divide the weight your Spyder actually puts on each tire by the Max Load that tire can carry (taken off the printed info) - that will (almost certainly) give you a fraction, ie 0.294 or something similar, reflecting what percentage or fraction your Spyder's actual load is of the Max Load the tire is capable of carrying; so you can then multiply the Max Pressure by the same decimal/fraction to get the Static Load Pressure necessary for your tire to carry the load the Spyder imposes on it while it's standing still; then just add (up to) 4psi to cater for the added loads that driving, cornering, moving, & speed, etc will impose on the tire during use. Written out 'properly':

(Max stated Pressure x (Actual Spyder Tire load/Max stated Tire Load)) + <4psi = the Pressure needed in that tire to carry the actual load your Spyder puts on it while you are riding...

There are 'fine tuning' methods available to check & adjust or confirm how correct/close to the optimal for that tire under your Spyder with your loads etc you've got, but I'm not going to go into that here/now (look up 'The 4psi Rule' if you wish - Cooper tires, Michelin, Goodyear, & others publish it every now & then) Besides, you are going to be a lot closer to the correct pressure for THAT tire under YOUR Spyder loaded the way YOU load it & how YOU ride it than you will by choosing pressures by almost any other means short of getting the tire manufacturer to do the calcs for you - especially if the only alternative is for you to go by the 'compromise' one-size-fits-all-potential-users pressure that's stated on the tire placard - a pressure which in the case of our Spyders is meant to enable a poor quality lightly constructed rubbish tire to work somewhere near marginally well anyway!

Sorry for the epic post (again ) but some people did specifically ask! Enjoy!

[vinsanity666]

I was just told I need a new rear tire. Almost 400 bucks. This about right for tire and labor?


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[ARtraveler]

I was just told I need a new rear tire. Almost 400 bucks. This about right for tire and labor?


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The OEM tire is about $150. They charge for labor by the hour. My dealer gets $130 per hour as of last summer. The price quoted is ballpark.

[vinsanity666]

Thanks....wish now I had put on car tire.....tech told me the stock Kenda was designed for the spyder....me thinkith he full o ****.


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[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Thanks....wish now I had put on car tire.....tech told me the stock Kenda was designed for the spyder....me thinkith he full o ****.


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Well it depends on how you use the term ..... Since the Spyder has wheel BEAD the same as an AUTO..... and the KENDA is just a very very low quality Auto tire .... I guess you could say He was correct .............But Yes you could have gotten a much better tire for a lot less money .......Mike

[Bob Denman]

My tire guy: (Netzley Tire), charges less than $90 for a Kumho, and about $50 to slap it on the wheel...

[mrpeeps240]

I was just told I need a new rear tire. Almost 400 bucks. This about right for tire and labor?


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just bought a new rear tire from tire rack for my 2014 rtl 90.00 includes shipping

[Dib52]

Oil change, inspection and new rear tire all for $500...can't complain. Will mention that my nanny got sensitive on the way home from the dealer and flashed the orange screen of death at me and limp mode until I pulled into the driveway. Pulled the key, walked away and let the electrical gremlins do their thing and all has been reset!

[davehirst]

What the heck is limp mode?

[Bob Denman]

Limp Mode is what happens when the V.S.S. (Nanny...) senses that something is amiss. She'll light up the Display Panel like nothing you've ever seen, and will restrict the available power.
What causes it?
It could be a computer problem, a component problem, or just a simple problem with a sensor.

But we all Learn:

Not With Nanny.jpg