About a week ago I purchased Smooth Spyder Belt Tensiiner for my 2013 RT SE5 as per the Spyder Lovers add page. While at my dealer for a oil change, I asked if I could get it put on next week. They informed me that it would Void the warenty from Can Am. Sent a E Mail to the vendor and asked why he dose not tell us that it Voids our warrenty in his add ? Glad I sent it back with confermed delivery, as he said had not got it. Sent him USPS delivery confermation and them he found it in his mail box. Did any one else know this ?
About a week ago I purchased Smooth Spyder Belt Tensiiner for my 2013 RT SE5 as per the Spyder Lovers add page. While at my dealer for a oil change, I asked if I could get it put on next week. They informed me that it would Void the warenty from Can Am. Sent a E Mail to the vendor and asked why he dose not tell us that it Voids our warrenty in his add ? Glad I sent it back with confermed delivery, as he said had not got it. Sent him USPS delivery confermation and them he found it in his mail box. Did any one else know this ?
That is absolutely ridiculous if it voids your warranty. I installed that product this past winter and have absolutely no regrets. It stopped the vibrations that usually occurred around 55 MPH. Did your dealer explain why it would void the warranty?
with advice like that, you need to find a new dealer for your service
My dealer fitted mine without question and I have supplied them to several Can Am dealers here in Australia.
Not sure about the laws in the US but here in Australia they cannot legally make a blanket statement like "it voids your warranty" - that's BS. If the warranty claim is for a component that is not associated with the belt tensioner (for example, engine, gearbox , suspension etc) then it is still covered by law. I would be surprised if it is not the same in the US.
it's time to check with higher ups at your dealer and if you get the same responce move on. At best it would hamper a claim to anything related to the belt. But with your tension set correctly the smoothspyder will not affect anything other that vibration. Considering we have the longest belts in the industry it amazes me brp doesn't put a tensioner on at the factory...
2012 RS sm5 , 998cc V-Twin 106hp DIY brake and park brake Classic Black
I wouldn't be surprised if you said your dealer is also a Harley dealer. Sounds like something they would say. The belt tensioner would have to be the cause of the problem.
2017 F3T-SM6 Squared Away Mirror Wedgies & Alignment
2014 RTS-SM6 123,600 miles Sold 11/2017
2014 RTL-SE6 8,600 miles
2011 RTS-SM5 5,000 miles
2013 RTS-SM5 burned up with 13,200 miles in 13 weeks
2010 RTS-SM5 59,148 miles
2010 RT- 622
About a week ago I purchased Smooth Spyder Belt Tensiiner for my 2013 RT SE5 as per the Spyder Lovers add page. While at my dealer for a oil change, I asked if I could get it put on next week. They informed me that it would Void the warenty from Can Am. Sent a E Mail to the vendor and asked why he dose not tell us that it Voids our warrenty in his add ? Glad I sent it back with confermed delivery, as he said had not got it. Sent him USPS delivery confermation and them he found it in his mail box. Did any one else know this ?
Didn't you post this on the other spyder forum? What is your point? What response are you looking for?
Your dealer is ridiculous. Your entire warranty cannot be voided because you add a tensioner to a drive belt.[emoji57]
Didn't you post this on the other spyder forum? What is your point? What response are you looking for?
Your dealer is ridiculous. Your entire warranty cannot be voided because you add a tensioner to a drive belt.[emoji57]
You really need to find a different dealer....
I can tell you what's he's looking for.
He emailed me really nastily saying It would void his warranty and I should put that in the instructions because I'm ripping everyone off, as now he would have to pay the shipping twice, on and on.
He hassled me everyday threatening me to call Paypal if I didn't return his money right then.
I told him from the beginning I understood his concerns completely, just return it and I will return his full purchase price plus the shipping to his Paypal Acct.
His last email ended with "Since you can't be honest up front in your listing, as Ronald Reagan said, "if you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat!
I don't say much on here unless I have something to contribute to help someone, but this guy....
[QUOTE=capt.jim;87648ign]I can tell you what's he's looking for.
He emailed me really nastily saying It would void his warranty and I should put that in the instructions because I'm ripping everyone off, as now he would have to pay the shipping twice, on and on.
He hassled me everyday threatening me to call Paypal if I didn't return his money right then.
I told him from the beginning I understood his concerns completely, just return it and I will return his full purchase price plus the shipping to his Paypal Acct.
His last email ended with "Since you can't be honest up front in your listing, as Ronald Reagan said, "if you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat!
I don't say much on
When you're in business , sooner or later you will run into a customer you can't please no matter how hard you try. Sounds like this was your first. It likely won't be your last. Sorry!
When you're in business , sooner or later you will run into a customer you can't please no matter how hard you try. Sounds like this was your first. It likely won't be your last. Sorry!
I can tell you what's he's looking for.
He emailed me really nastily saying It would void his warranty and I should put that in the instructions because I'm ripping everyone off, as now he would have to pay the shipping twice, on and on.
He hassled me everyday threatening me to call Paypal if I didn't return his money right then.
I told him from the beginning I understood his concerns completely, just return it and I will return his full purchase price plus the shipping to his Paypal Acct.
His last email ended with "Since you can't be honest up front in your listing, as Ronald Reagan said, "if you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat!
I don't say much on here unless I have something to contribute to help someone, but this guy....
There is always two sides to the story and thank you for giving the second side.
Most people who mod their toys usually know about the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act and it should be pretty clear when purchasing aftermarket items.
If not, this is a good read that helps put things into easier perspective in helping people make easier buying decisions. Keeping Your Mod's Warranty Intact
I know I will be making the Smooth Spyder Belt Tensioner one of my "must haves" investments in the future.
I can tell you what's he's looking for.
He emailed me really nastily saying It would void his warranty and I should put that in the instructions because I'm ripping everyone off, as now he would have to pay the shipping twice, on and on.
He hassled me everyday threatening me to call Paypal if I didn't return his money right then.
I told him from the beginning I understood his concerns completely, just return it and I will return his full purchase price plus the shipping to his Paypal Acct.
His last email ended with "Since you can't be honest up front in your listing, as Ronald Reagan said, "if you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat!
I don't say much on here unless I have something to contribute to help someone, but this guy....
Jim, I'm larryd and I talked to you earlier this week about using your product on my 2014 RTS due to belt vibrations around 72 mph....In light of one persons bad experience with his dealer, I WILL STILL BE PURCHASING and installing your product...Thank You for making a product that makes our Spyder's even more of a pleasure to ride...larryd
I can tell you what's he's looking for.
He emailed me really nastily saying It would void his warranty and I should put that in the instructions because I'm ripping everyone off, as now he would have to pay the shipping twice, on and on.
He hassled me everyday threatening me to call Paypal if I didn't return his money right then.
I told him from the beginning I understood his concerns completely, just return it and I will return his full purchase price plus the shipping to his Paypal Acct.
His last email ended with "Since you can't be honest up front in your listing, as Ronald Reagan said, "if you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat!
I don't say much on here unless I have something to contribute to help someone, but this guy....
I'm new to spyders, I just bought two RT Limited and have been reading about your product. While I was at Louis Powersports in Greenville Tx yesterday I mentioned your product to the service manager and he informed me it would void the warranty and that they put too much tension on the belt which leads to tranny failures. Like I said I'm a newb to spyders so enlighten me if you can?
I am on my 3rd Spyder since 2008. I have installed the tensioner on my '08 RS, '12 RTS and my "14 RTS. A total of 48,000 trouble-free miles. My Spyders have been serviced by our local dealer, with tensioners installed. Two of the three were installed by the dealer. The newest one by me. Easy to do. Never a question about warranty. Best of all, the product is phenomenal. I am surprised BRP doesn't produce them. Great job Jim.
The original poster should take their Spyder to the Dealer and ask them to correct the vibration , to their satisfaction, since an aftermarket solution to a defect on the Spyder will supposedly void the warranty .
After the dealer makes several unsuccessful repair attempts , email BRP and demand they step up and fix this vibration .
Simple , right? Exactly.
Why come on here and bash a vendor who supplies a product used by many many many Spyder owners , that greatly helps eliminate a situation that virtually all Spyders have ? Why not get your butt over to the dealer , demand they fix it and then in your words , make them feel the heat when they don't fix it.
Capt. Jim supplies a great product that made my Spyder a dream to drive , if you want to accept your Spyder with its vibrations the way it is, so be it. Otherwise you have two choices , demand it be fixed by your dealer (please report your results here) or put this simple straight forward part on and go spend your time enjoying your Spyder instead of spending it on hear crabbing......
Back amongst the living May 2021
2022 RT Limited Hyper Silver
Out to Pasture:
2013 ST Limited , Black Currant
2022 F3L , Dark Edition
2021 RTL , Chalk Chrome
2013 RT Limited , Circuit Yellow Metallic
2008 GS SM5 , Millenium Yellow
2020 RT Limited Petrol Dark
2014 RT Limited Champagne Black
2012 RT Limited White
2010 Timeless Black RTS SM5
2010 Orbital Blue RTS SM5
2008 GS SM5 PE 1941
2008 GS SM5 PE2011
Jim, you know how I feel about your product and I WAS A SCEPTICAL person with good mechanical knowledge.
All this is BS in my opinion....
I have said in my post that your instructions are clear about belt tension and top end of the spec. I read it and it was clear to me. Made sense too....
I have shot video showing what this unit does and NO FREAKIN WAY if your belt is even above mid spec, is it going to cause failures! That is my opinion of course. Bottom line it got rid of my belt vibrations that caused me to avoid certain speeds on the highway.
I AM pretty damn mechanically inclined and get the principles. This is not rocket science NOR is the belt tension adjustment which people put a lot of "voodoo" around..... Sheesh... makes me want to
So simple really.......
Thumbs up Jim and all this "speculation" is really not warranted.... I personally thank you for a well tested, researched, and solid product!
AND I am not saying this to blow smoke up anyone arse...... I am saying this because I too was not sure but after doing a sh*t load of testing myself, it's solid and does what it claims PERIOD....
The original poster should take their Spyder to the Dealer and ask them to correct the vibration , to their satisfaction, since an aftermarket solution to a defect on the Spyder will supposedly void the warranty .
After the dealer makes several unsuccessful repair attempts , email BRP and demand they step up and fix this vibration .
Simple , right? Exactly.
Why come on here and bash a vendor who supplies a product used by many many many Spyder owners , that greatly helps eliminate a situation that virtually all Spyders have ? Why not get your butt over to the dealer , demand they fix it and then in your words , make them feel the heat when they don't fix it.
Capt. Jim supplies a great product that made my Spyder a dream to drive , if you want to accept your Spyder with its vibrations the way it is, so be it. Otherwise you have two choices , demand it be fixed by your dealer (please report your results here) or put this simple straight forward part on and go spend your time enjoying your Spyder instead of spending it on hear crabbing......
Excellent advise, I hope they raise it to 1195N.
I think it is time to put this thread to bed, at least about the warranty.
The question of the tensioner voiding the warranty is a reasonable and valid question that I do get occasionally. Thanks for all of your reasonable responses.
We all welcome intelligent dialogue and different points view and learning what to do or not to do by others experience. That's what forums are about and this is the best by far.
Trying to cause consternation through idiosyncratic thinking has no place here.
Obviously he has issues with everyone's advice and take on the subject, or nothing better to do. Let it go.
Now he is contacting me with a question through Ebay, which I recognize through his member name and spelling. "Dose your product void the factory warrenty? Retiredarmyman.
Because if its installed and everything adjusted accordingly and as may/may not be needed, it does not put any additional pressure on the belt tension outside of the factory specifications.
Jim actually describes it pretty good in his response?
In my mind I always thought BRP was kind of happy I was around to clean up some of their loose ends as far as customers complaining about the vibration, at least there was a solution available and not on their dime. In addition it would give them an easy out to deny the warranty if there was a failure.
BRP has over 5000 dealerships in 80 countries, of which I have sold to dealers and customers alike in 35 countries. Not once has anyone contacted me with any issues of a problem related to the tensioners.
I would be surprised that BRP would suddenly send out a bulletin to all their dealers when there have been no reports of any failures, I am sure we would have heard of something along the way on Spyderlovers and I think I would be the first to hear about.
I think dealers would be calling me right and left wanting to know what is going on and how to return their inventory. If they have then I will eat my words.
Almost every modern car engine is equipped with a toothless single flat serpentine belt system powered from the crankshaft and running the alternator, AC, water pump, pollution control, etc. They all use a very heavy duty belt tensioner exerting extreme pressure with all kinds of backbends on the belt. You typically need to use a 1/2" breaker bar to relieve the pressure enough to change a belt, none of these bearings are failing. Usually the first thing to go is the tensioner bearing itself and they typically go over 100,000 miles before getting noisy.
Does the Rotax engine design have such weak output shaft bearings that 12 Lbs of spring loaded tension is going to destroy them, that seems ridiculous to me. These are rugged engines with slick shifting, trouble free gearboxes. Seals do fail occasionally on anything, but generally there is no reason for a seal to fail or start leaking unless there is damage or side to side movement of the shaft due to sloppy or worn bearings.
The main purpose of a tensioner on anything is to stop slippage or vibration without having to require extreme pressure on the other components.
This is not rocket science here, tensioners have been around forever and are on everything. Google it and read up.
A tensioner will increase belt life also. Not that the Gates belt manufactured for BRP has any problems, they are quite stout and last a long time. When a belt is vibrating to where you can barely see it, common sense should tell one this can't be good for anything.
If you can feel the vibration through the whole bike, imagine what your front sprocket , output shaft and rear bearing assembly are feeling, that is what's taking the brunt of the vibration first, how can this be good?
My 13 ST arrived with 770N, under-tensioned by BRP Spec’s of 900-1200N. It had the same vibration as most at 72-78 MPH. The tensioner at 12 Lbs. alleviated this without having to raise the fixed static tension. I I also noticed some vibration that would start about 50 down to 38MPH while slowly decelerating. Remembering a video that BRP sent to the dealers showing top belt vibration a few years ago, I also added a top tensioner, as the bottom of the belt would now be tight while decelerating and the loose side would be on the top. With only 5 Lbs of tension on the top it is now smoother than I ever would have imagined. Would I rather have 2 tensioners and a much lower static tension than 1100N fixed tension to achieve the same effect?, absolutely. To each his own and I will be the first to tell you if something bad happens, I just don’t see it.
And to you, Joe Pilon, “cedar meadow”, while you are trying to deride my product and business practices and make me “feel the heat” as you put it and cause general inflammation, I thank you for the chance to bring to light the effects and uses of a tensioner to machinery in general. Do some reading, educate yourself, nothing to be scared of. Good day sir!
About a week ago I purchased Smooth Spyder Belt Tensiiner for my 2013 RT SE5 as per the Spyder Lovers add page. While at my dealer for a oil change, I asked if I could get it put on next week. They informed me that it would Void the warenty from Can Am. Sent a E Mail to the vendor and asked why he dose not tell us that it Voids our warrenty in his add ? Glad I sent it back with confermed delivery, as he said had not got it. Sent him USPS delivery confermation and them he found it in his mail box. Did any one else know this ?
Has taken all annoying belt vibrations out of my 2014 RT, Great, high quality product. I am very satisfied. Thank you capt jim.
I had a smoothspyder tensioner on my RT 2012 14K I got me RT 2014 put the tensioner on it 25k, the tenisoner off my MY 2014 is on my RTS 2017 WITH 3K NO PROBLEMS END OF STORY.
About a week ago I purchased Smooth Spyder Belt Tensiiner for my 2013 RT SE5 as per the Spyder Lovers add page. While at my dealer for a oil change, I asked if I could get it put on next week. They informed me that it would Void the warenty from Can Am. Sent a E Mail to the vendor and asked why he dose not tell us that it Voids our warrenty in his add ? Glad I sent it back with confermed delivery, as he said had not got it. Sent him USPS delivery confermation and them he found it in his mail box. Did any one else know this ?
Dealer is incorrect. BRP now sells one for the F3 (BRP part # 219800412), and there's an aftermarket adapter available for the RT. The other brands, including Doc Humphries complete RT kit, etc, do NOT void the warranty or even the drive warranty. A non-BRP part is not covered, naturally. Or if the part fails and causes damage it would not be covered. Naturally. I called BRP and verified this.
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2012 RT-S SE5, Pure Magnesium Metallic (traded in) 2015 RT LTD SE6, Red Pearl, Ultra Comfort Seat
MODS: shorty antenna, BajaRon sway bar, Air Hawk cushion, custom LED US flag, custom Sue Hopper painted SPECOPS hood logo, custom Combat Craft Crewman windshield engraving, cup holder, Doc Humphry's 2017 complete RT kit belt tensioner