What rear tire choice staying with the OE 225/50R-15?

[Papa103]

Sorry guys for another tire post, But. I want to stay with the original size 225/50R-15. The only options I can find are Original from the dealer $175 plus $100 to mount & balance, the Kumho Ecsta and the Kendals Kanine both in the $80 range. Can someone with experience with these tires tell me how do these wear and are these the only 2 options? thanks.

2019 RTL
Sway bar upgrade
vibration damper
paddle shift automatic
RLS exhaust

[Lew L]

Hi Papa,
There are numerous tires that fit but have slightly different sizes ( yes they still fit just fine) I use a General Altimax , it even brings the speedo to within about 1/2 mph of perfect. Others will answer soon with their rear tire that for your RT.

You might want to add more info about your RT, like year, trans, major mods. You can add this in the signature section.

Lew L

[trikermutha]

The Kanines are still being evaluated. More news about them when people get more miles on them.. I for one have a rear on my Spyder but only have a few hundred miles on them so far..

[Mazo EMS2]

Is there a particular reason you want to stay with the stock size? Many, if not most, move away to varying sizes for various reasons, that all work just fine. I too use the General Altimax 215/60/15 and as mentioned it brings the speedo to near perfect.

[trong]

I purchased a Kumho AST 225/50r15 car tire on Amazon for $85, took the rear wheel off - quite a bit of work- then took the wheel to Discount Tire to have them mount it. The problem is the wheel bearing diameter is too small and they could not balance the tire. The guy told me that the wheel is too light and most Kumho tires don't need any weight to balance. I took it home, installed it and it seems to be fine. I talked to service guy at a Can-Am dealer and they seem like not wanting to deal with car tires on a Spyder. Besides, they want to charge $130 for labor to mount and balance two front tires with Federal tires. I went the cheaper route.
To make story short, a month ago, I purchased a 2013 Spyder RT-L with 45 miles - the vehicle is in pristine condition except that all three tires have flat spots for sitting flat over the years. So I had to replace them all at 85 miles. Seriously, I could not tell the differences between the stock tires and these aftermarket tires, those stoke tires, like I said, were bad when I got the Spyder.
Cheers and Happy Ryding.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I purchased a Kumho AST 225/50r15 car tire on Amazon for $85, took the rear wheel off - quite a bit of work- then took the wheel to Discount Tire to have them mount it. The problem is the wheel bearing diameter is too small and they could not balance the tire. The guy told me that the wheel is too light and most Kumho tires don't need any weight to balance. I took it home, installed it and it seems to be fine. I talked to service guy at a Can-Am dealer and they seem like not wanting to deal with car tires on a Spyder. Besides, they want to charge $130 for labor to mount and balance two front tires with Federal tires. I went the cheaper route.
To make story short, a month ago, I purchased a 2013 Spyder RT-L with 45 miles - the vehicle is in pristine condition except that all three tires have flat spots for sitting flat over the years. So I had to replace them all at 85 miles. Seriously, I could not tell the differences between the stock tires and these aftermarket tires, those stoke tires, like I said, were bad when I got the Spyder.
Cheers and Happy Ryding.

Don't be concerned about " not balancing the rear tire " .... 99.9% of the time it won't need it ..... I stopped doing it about 7 tires ago and have not regretted it ...... Mike

[Wahrsuul]

My used 2014 came with the Kumho on it. it's pretty well worn, but after a year of riding on it I don't have any complaints. based on recommendations here, I just ordered a full set of the Veredestein Quatrac 5s from Vulcan tire. Slighter different sizes: 175/55-15 front and 205/60-15 rear. Looking forward to getting them on and see how it goes. Might not balance the rear, but I've had good results using balance beads in my two-wheelers so I may put some of those in later if needed.

[PMK]

FWIW, there is a bit of inaccuracy in labeled tire size vs measured tire size. Depending on the tires design, and where the width is measured creates this variation. I installed a smaller tire size that measured dimensionally the same as oem. So did I go a tire size smaller, even though the tires measured the same?

[RapidSpyder]

I have had the Kumho on for over a thousand miles now and it works great. I had an Altimax on for about 200, but it liked gripping the grooves in the road here too well. One thing everyone advises is not to run at the same pressure that you do on a car when your running a car tire.

[Steve W.]

Like Wahrsuul (and many others) I have just mounted Vredesteins. Went with 175/55 on the front and 205/65 on the rear. Handling difference is night and day. Only have a few hundred miles on them right now, but we are leaving in a few hours to put on about a thousand over the weekend.

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[RapidSpyder]

Like Wahrsuul (and many others) I have just mounted Vredesteins. Went with 175/55 on the front and 205/65 on the rear. Handling difference is night and day. Only have a few hundred miles on them right now, but we are leaving in a few hours to put on about a thousand over the weekend.

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That should be a pretty good evaluation of them when your done. Have a great ride!

[Papa103]

Thanks for all the reply's. I am going to order the kanines and see how many miles I get from them.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Thanks for all the reply's. I am going to order the kanines and see how many miles I get from them.

Mileage is only one performance factor to be concerned about. Based on members' experience with Kenda's OEM tires don't be shocked if you get one that is out of round, badly balanced, or wants to pull to one side or the other. Maybe Kenda finally figured out how to build a decent tire with the Kanines. Let us know after a few thousand miles!

But again, why are you insistent on staying with the OEM size? OCD nature? Based on all of our experiences there is nothing to be gained by doing so.

[spyderdavee]

I put the Kenda Kanine tire on May 7th. July 11th I have 5700 miles on it. About 4/32nd tread left. Had hoped to get 9300 out of it so could change same time as oil change. I'm positive that's not going to happen. Great traction and cornering tire. And best Kenda I've had for staying round. Unfortunately it still wears the center faster than the sides. I up on RT. 26psi cold that raises to 29.5 to 30psi after an hour of riding. So not over inflated just nature of the beast apparently. Ordering a 215/60r15 General to have on hand when this one comes off in another month or two.

[AeroPilot]

Thanks for the detailed report on the Kanine rear tire - I had hopes that the wear longevity would be better, but sounds like while rolling well, it still has a somewhat softer compound. Hopefully others will post the total mileage when they need to change out.

We have run many Kumhos on the rear with the mileage around 22,000-25,000 miles. The last several changes on our 15 RT and 16F3T have been with the General Altimax 215/60R15 I believe, and have got better than 20,000 miles. Running 27 psi on the RT for now, and 24 cold on the F3T - the wife is a little lighter I'm afraid

[MikeT]

I purchased a Kumho AST 225/50r15 car tire on Amazon for $85, took the rear wheel off - quite a bit of work- then took the wheel to Discount Tire to have them mount it. The problem is the wheel bearing diameter is too small and they could not balance the tire. The guy told me that the wheel is too light and most Kumho tires don't need any weight to balance. Cheers and Happy Ryding.

I replaced my OEM Kenda @16,000 miles on my '15 RTL today with the same tire and had it mounted @DT. I have the same response regarding the 6 hour project, even with 2 people(1 experienced and I rookie). My 2 complaints with the DT job are: 1. Didn't remove the old wheel weights, 2. put on a short valve stem, and 3. they arbtrailly inflated Kuhmo to 35 PSI. Based on the concensus of the tire science professors, I'm not worried about balancing the tire.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Based on the concensus of the tire science professors, I'm not worried about balancing the tire.

My local tire dealer used the same liquid tire balance for my rear tire that he uses in truck tires. Higher quality stuff than the consumer variety you get from Wally World.

[Charon]

I replaced the OEM Kenda at just under 10K because it was worn out in the center. I got a Kumho Exsta from Sam's Club. I took it to the local high school shop class and got it swapped. I could not find anyone to balance it because of the small hole in the hub. As it happened it was time to change the water in my hot tub, so I floated the wheel and tire assembly in the water (bearing side up) and used a circular bubble level to check it. Best I could tell it was perfect with the weights already on the wheel.

[sandman53]

If your looking a good all round tire, look at A Pirelli P-4 Four season. 215/60/15 I have almost 40,000 miles on them no complains.