Vredestein 165/60R15 tires rubbing :(

[troop]

Went to swap out my OEM wheels/Kenda tires with my PPA black widow wheels/Vredestein 165/60R15 tires today. Was about to install the second wheel when I gave the first installed one a spin. It spun 95% freely with a slight rubber squeak. After a close look, I determined the Vredestein was making slight contact with the very top of my RT S2S fender. Waaaaaa Soooo close to fitting. I had no clearance issues on my F3S. Dang. 165/55R15 car tires are getting hard to find. Might be a winter thing.

[BajaRon]

It may be that the offset on the PPA wheels is different than OEM. The 165/60R15 tires should not be rubbing the fender. If it is an offset issue. You may be able to offset the fenders to match.

[K80Shooter]

I agree with Ron, I have the Vredestein 165/60R15 on my 2020 with no issue at all. Where exactly is the rub? Top, inside or outside?

[troop]

I agree with Ron, I have the Vredestein 165/60R15 on my 2020 with no issue at all. Where exactly is the rub? Top, inside or outside?

On the top. And they made contact on both sides.

[K80Shooter]

Thats odd that they rub on both the top and both sides. The sides might be because the wheels are wider?
The top I would look at the wire covers to make sure that they are installed correctly.
With the wheel removed take a light and look around up there real good, maybe you'll see something amiss.

I guess that they could have changed things since 2020 I would have thought that Ron would have ran into this issue if so. Good Luck.

[K80Shooter]

Another thing that I just thought of, I didn't install my new tire's until after I had installed Ron's sway bar.
That might have made the difference for me.
Maybe Ron might know if that will give you just a bit more clearance.

[BertRemington]

Looking like K80 will be negotiating shipping costs with troop soon.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

It may be that the offset on the PPA wheels is different than OEM. The 165/60R15 tires should not be rubbing the fender. If it is an offset issue. You may be able to offset the fenders to match.

with Ron & what K80 said about rubbing " on BOTH sides ???? , if it's the OFF-SET on the wheels ( likely ) it would only effect one side, not both .... the tire would have to be physically a lot " taller " for this to occur. On my 14 RT with basic fenders ... I mounted a 185/55-15 tire, I had to adjust the angle of the fender brackets and add two washers, before putting them back on .... and because I'm lazy I RADIUSED both fenders so I take the tires off / on without having to loosen the fender brackets .... lots of folks here are using that size and BRAND of tires on similar Spyders ..... Contact PPA wheels and see if they altered the BACK-SPACING from the OEM BRP wheels .... Mike

[troop]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. They rub on the top of the tires only, on both left and right side fenders. They do not make contact with outer edges of the fenders. And, again, they had no fitment issues on my 2019 F3S.

[K80Shooter]

There are two plates on the inside top of the fenders that cover the wires. Did you check them to see if they were flat against the fender?

[redrazor]

Went to swap out my OEM wheels/Kenda tires with my PPA black widow wheels/Vredestein 165/60R15 tires today. Was about to install the second wheel when I gave the first installed one a spin. It spun 95% freely with a slight rubber squeak. After a close look, I determined the Vredestein was making slight contact with the very top of my RT S2S fender. Waaaaaa Soooo close to fitting. I had no clearance issues on my F3S. Dang. 165/55R15 car tires are getting hard to find. Might be a winter thing.

Could it also be too high air pressure raising up the center of the tire?!?

[BajaRon]

Another thing that I just thought of, I didn't install my new tire's until after I had installed Ron's sway bar.
That might have made the difference for me.
Maybe Ron might know if that will give you just a bit more clearance.

The tire to fender relationship is fixed. The sway bar will not affect this. We've installed several 165/60R15 Vredestein tires on 2020+ Spyders with no issues. I know it's a long-shot. But are you sure it's a 165/60R15 tire? Stranger thangs have happened.

BRP hasn't changed anything since 2020 that would cause the tire to rub. You need to find out exactly where the tire is hitting the fender.

[troop]

Vredestein Quatrac 5 with 17# psi in the tires. I never did look under the fender of the S2S when I took the wheels/tires off. Why ?? I will do that tomorrow.

[Peter Aawen]

Vredestein Quatrac 5 with 17# psi in the tires. I never did look under the fender of the S2S when I took the wheels/tires off. Why ?? I will do that tomorrow.

If it's not due to a different width or offset spec rim, then it's gotta be something to do with YOUR fenders or the tires themselves, as there's quite a few 2020+ Spyders out there successfully running those same size/make tires. So hopefully you can confirm the rim spec detail with PPA & resolve any issues/concerns there.

When it comes to the rest, then as has been suggested already, it could be that the fenders haven't been mounted quite the same way/properly; or maybe it's the wrong tire/too high in the pressure department?? Regardless, it really shouldn't take too much in the way of investigation to find out what it is. Did you check the fenders & fender brackets to ensure they're all mounted properly &/or that it's not just the protrusion of 'raised hex heads' on the fender fitting screws that's doing the touching?? Many have found the fender fitting screws with her head that protrudes into that 'wheel well' area, sometimes by as much as 10-15 mm juuust touch the tire tread &/or inner sidewall on rotation.... so replacing those OEM screws with pan-head screws of the same type/length will usually resolve that particular issue. And what about checking to make sure that the tires you got actually are /60 profile tires, & not 65/'s?? As BR mentioned, "Stranger thangs have happened!" OR, you say the tire pressure in the Vredesteins is 17 psi; did you confirm that yourself with your tire pressure gauge? Unless you did it yourself, many tire fitters will use 40+ psi to seat the beads, only to then 'forget' to lower the pressure to the correct/specified by user pressure, and what you're describing is only ONE of the potential adverse results that can bring about!

I'd suggest there's a tad more investigation required before you start panicking &/or scrambling to buy another set of tires - or rims.... not so sure about the rims tho, as any investigation there might juuust reveal that the new rims aren't really 'identical' to the OEM Rims when it comes to 'Fit'... But I'd sincerely hope that a little more investigation will reveal some fairly simple reason you this being an issue on your Spyder Troop, as many others have fitted the same tires without this problem. Here's hoping you can sort it without too much trouble! Good Luck!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

If it's not due to a different width or offset spec rim, then it's gotta be something to do with YOUR fenders or the tires themselves, as there's quite a few 2020+ Spyders out there successfully running those same size/make tires. So hopefully you can confirm the rim spec detail with PPA & resolve any issues/concerns there.

When it comes to the rest, then as has been suggested already, it could be that the fenders haven't been mounted quite the same way/properly; or maybe it's the wrong tire/too high in the pressure department?? Regardless, it really shouldn't take too much in the way of investigation to find out what it is. Did you check the fenders & fender brackets to ensure they're all mounted properly &/or that it's not just the protrusion of 'raised hex heads' on the fender fitting screws that's doing the touching?? Many have found the fender fitting screws with her head that protrudes into that 'wheel well' area, sometimes by as much as 10-15 mm juuust touch the tire tread &/or inner sidewall on rotation.... so replacing those OEM screws with pan-head screws of the same type/length will usually resolve that particular issue. And what about checking to make sure that the tires you got actually are /60 profile tires, & not 65/'s?? As BR mentioned, "Stranger thangs have happened!" OR, you say the tire pressure in the Vredesteins is 17 psi; did you confirm that yourself with your tire pressure gauge? Unless you did it yourself, many tire fitters will use 40+ psi to seat the beads, only to then 'forget' to lower the pressure to the correct/specified by user pressure, and what you're describing is only ONE of the potential adverse results that can bring about!

I'd suggest there's a tad more investigation required before you start panicking &/or scrambling to buy another set of tires - or rims.... not so sure about the rims tho, as any investigation there might juuust reveal that the new rims aren't really 'identical' to the OEM Rims when it comes to 'Fit'... But I'd sincerely hope that a little more investigation will reveal some fairly simple reason you this being an issue on your Spyder Troop, as many others have fitted the same tires without this problem. Here's hoping you can sort it without too much trouble! Good Luck!

When I drag raced my RT ( at a track ) I had the front tires ( auto tires ) at 45 PSI and they didn't touch anything .... Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I won .. .... with those who said it's the fenders .... good luck ... Mike

[BajaRon]

I agree with BLUEKNIGHT911. Overpressuring the front tires isn't going to make much difference i overall height. Too narrow a tread width. The rear? Yes, especially with a Kenda.

[YPILOT]

Went to swap out my OEM wheels/Kenda tires with my PPA black widow wheels/Vredestein 165/60R15 tires today. Was about to install the second wheel when I gave the first installed one a spin. It spun 95% freely with a slight rubber squeak. After a close look, I determined the Vredestein was making slight contact with the very top of my RT S2S fender. Waaaaaa Soooo close to fitting. I had no clearance issues on my F3S. Dang. 165/55R15 car tires are getting hard to find. Might be a winter thing.

The tire and wheel combination that you have has worked many times. It was working on your F3S and it should work on your S2S. Maybe if you loosen the 6 bolts holding the fender brackets to the hub and lift the fender, taking the slack out of the holes and retighten. That might be just enough to clear the tire. If that doesn’t provide enough clearance you may be able to enlarge those 6 holes in the brackets to let them move a little more. I’ve also read that some people have replaced the hex head screw holding the wire covers with button heads. Good luck finding a solution.

[CloverHillCrawler]

I had the same issue with my quatracs rubbing when I first got them on mine. as others have said check that tab on top to make sure it is in place.
I found that the dealer left mine hanging down a little bit when they spliced into the light wires to connect the show chrome led signals.

I removed the fenders and then re-attached them without doing anything special and that seemed to remedy the problem.

Don't know what I did by removing them other than basically "reseating" them on the fender brackets. But it worked.

[K80Shooter]

Any update's?

[troop]

Nope. Heading on a long weekend ride. Next week.