Want to get new front tires, not sure what to get? 2021 RTL

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

~~~~can’t say I blame you, for being pissed about your tire issues. For what these machines cost new, the least your dealer and BRP can do is provide a set of tires that offer nothing but pure bliss, & for the record, the front Kendas on my 21’ RTL have absolutely no issues. I can run 90 down the interstate, set the cruise, and nary a flutter of any sort, she’s as stable as can be. 5500 miles on the ODO. Yeah, I need to ride more, no doubt


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
Even a blind squirrel ��️ finds a nut �� every once in awhile

Jake - consider yourself .. LUCKY ... more than a few members here weren't .... Kenda's have the Worst Quality record of any tire I have ever heard ..... JMHO ... Mike

[bikerbillone]

Sadly, BRP 'probably' has signed a life time contract with Kenda so those involved in the selling are getting a giant piece of the pie if you get my drift. Not criticizing, that's just business, and my opinion. It's just very unfortunate that the customer has no say as the end user.

[fredgal]

new inventory..165/60/15's.. i think today , tire rack.. gonna order some this weekend so they come when wife isnt home.. lol.. and swap them on a monday when i dont work,, and she is at work she will never know...............

3rd yr. with my F3L, only 2500 miles, but noticed on cruise control last friday, with no hands and got 1/4 or more shake in handle bars,, tracks straight as can be, so new tires.. local shop said he will swap them and , can also balance them..

[K80Shooter]

new inventory..165/60/15's.. i think today , tire rack.. gonna order some this weekend so they come when wife isnt home.. lol.. and swap them on a monday when i dont work,, and she is at work she will never know...............

3rd yr. with my F3L, only 2500 miles, but noticed on cruise control last friday, with no hands and got 1/4 or more shake in handle bars,, tracks straight as can be, so new tires.. local shop said he will swap them and , can also balance them..

Thats the same way that I purchase shotguns. Once they are in the safe, I'm free and clear.

[fredgal]

Thats the same way that I purchase shotguns. Once they are in the safe, I'm free and clear.

my tires will be here monday, ordered them this am. from tire rack..

[helton61]

https://www.prioritytire.com/shop/?sizeAll=165%2F65R15 I bought these haven't installed yet.

I put these on didn't take much to balance, real smooth, the handling is so much better it feels like a different ride, how long they will last only time will tell.

[Deanna777]

I just put new Continentals on the front of my F3S, I had Michelins on my other Spyder GS
however I think the Conti's handle and ride better... Don't need rear yet so I am looking

HI Motorcycle Dave,

I am running the Continentals on my 2014RTS-SE6 on the front. I haven't had problems with them. I changed the OEM's in 2016????
They push the water away from the tires, so I get a direct tire contact to the road.

Deanna

[shakin_jake]

Jake - consider yourself .. LUCKY ... more than a few members here weren't .... Kenda's have the Worst Quality record of any tire I have ever heard ..... JMHO ... Mike

~~~not that you asked Mike but when the front tires on my 21’ RTL have had enough, I’m going dark side. My only point in replying to the OP was exactly what I said which was, BRP & the selling dealer should have (in so many words) installed new replacement Kenda tires. Speaking strictly for myself, I’ve never purchased a new vehicle (2, 4 or 3 wheels) that offered the poor handling the OP experienced. I wouldn’t put up with it but that’s me. That said an uncaring dealer & or BRP might trot out some fine print which states what the OP experienced is well within acceptable standards.

My only experience with Kenda tires has been with the two Can Am’s listed on my sig line, & at the risk of repeating myself (here and in other threads), all the tires on both machines have been flawless.


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood

[bikerbillone]

I'm just not seeing much, if anything, about Kenda Knines. Any improvement there, or just a glimmer of 'hope'.

[fredgal]

installed 165/60's quadtracs last week, got bike out yesterday, and WOW what a differance in handling, cant say enough about how much better the bike feels and handles, worth every penny. if i were to buy another spyder someday, id have a set of these waiting to be put on when i brought the new bike home.. i felt the differance as soon as i left my house, new sway bar made a differance last yr. but these tires are awesome.. getting her out again today, another 70 degree day here in northeast Pa..

[Mikey]

I just put a Altramax on the back of mine last week, got to take her out for a ride last night. I can't wait for the front tires to wear out now, the crappy part is I guess from what I've been told I will have to shim my fenders a little when I do!

[bigbadbrucie]

I just put a Altramax on the back of mine last week, got to take her out for a ride last night. I can't wait for the front tires to wear out now, the crappy part is I guess from what I've been told I will have to shim my fenders a little when I do!

Mikey, when I put Vredesteins on the front of my ‘14 RTS, they were a direct fit.....no fender shimming.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I just put a Altramax on the back of mine last week, got to take her out for a ride last night. I can't wait for the front tires to wear out now, the crappy part is I guess from what I've been told I will have to shim my fenders a little when I do!

If you are sticking with Vredestein's you can go as large as 175/55-15's , however they will NOT provide any more LATERAL traction () ie. " G 's ) than the 165/60-15's. and they are more expensive ./.... if that matters .... JMHO .... Mike

[fredgal]

went for another ride yesterday , these tires are awesome.. really amazed at the differance these tires made..... worth every penny and then some..

[Mikey]

If you are sticking with Vredestein's you can go as large as 175/55-15's , however they will NOT provide any more LATERAL traction () ie. " G 's ) than the 165/60-15's. and they are more expensive ./.... if that matters .... JMHO .... Mike

And I won't have to mess with my fenders on the 2012? I think they're a 14" tire.

[Peter Aawen]

And I won't have to mess with my fenders on the 2012? I think they're a 14" tire.

You won't be fitting 175/55R15's tho, will you Mikey??

If you do, then you probably will need to do something to the fenders.

But that's not so likely if you fit something like 175/55R14's instead of the OEM 165/65R14's

[vito1943]

I've still got the stock Kendas on my 2021 RT with almost 9,000 miles. No problems, no wandering, no excessive vibration and almost no sign of wear on any of the tires. When I do need to replace any of the tires I would not have a concern about getting the same Kendas that I have right now.

[bigbadbrucie]

I've still got the stock Kendas on my 2021 RT with almost 9,000 miles. No problems, no wandering, no excessive vibration and almost no sign of wear on any of the tires. When I do need to replace any of the tires I would not have a concern about getting the same Kendas that I have right now.

That is much the way I first felt. The OEM Kendas (all three) were great. Then when I replaced them with the same.....oops. They were terrible. Now have Vredesteins on front and General Altimax on the rear. Great, smooth ride!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

And I won't have to mess with my fenders on the 2012? I think they're a 14" tire.

I apologize for the wrong info .... ( NEVER ASSUME ) but I did, follow Peter's advice .... Vredestein also has a good selection of ...14 inch size .... one of the few who do ..... Mike

[fredgal]

That is much the way I first felt. The OEM Kendas (all three) were great. Then when I replaced them with the same.....oops. They were terrible. Now have Vredesteins on front and General Altimax on the rear. Great, smooth ride!

You got that right, people that still have the Kenda's don't know what they're missing... out on mine again yesterday. Smooth as silk. ****-eaten-grin. Love this thing.

[fredgal]

forgot to mention...my mirrors dont vibrate with new tires, oem tires made them shake alot....... just like the handlebars did..

[Jambo Creek]

I just put Vredrestein 175/55-15 front tires and a General Altimax RT43 215/60-15 on the rear of a 2022 Sea2Sky. My dealer told me the fronts didn’t have enough clearance and would rub a wiring clip on the fenders. In addition, the drive belt was being pushed to the outside of the rear sprocket. When I took it back to them, they said the wheel was flexing on turns and pushing against the belt. They increased the psi from 18 to 25, but the movement persists. The dealer said these problems were the reason they didn’t like mounting car tires. I’ve had this size Altimax tires on three different bikes without any issues, so I don’t know what’s going on. Anybody have an explanation?

[Peter Aawen]

I just put Vredrestein 175/55-15 front tires and a General Altimax RT43 215/60-15 on the rear of a 2022 Sea2Sky. My dealer told me the fronts didn’t have enough clearance and would rub a wiring clip on the fenders. In addition, the drive belt was being pushed to the outside of the rear sprocket. When I took it back to them, they said the wheel was flexing on turns and pushing against the belt. They increased the psi from 18 to 25, but the movement persists. The dealer said these problems were the reason they didn’t like mounting car tires. I’ve had this size Altimax tires on three different bikes without any issues, so I don’t know what’s going on. Anybody have an explanation?

The first bold bit I've highlighted in the quote is only because whoever did the pre-delivery on that Spyder didn't put the wiring clip in the right place! It's a fairly simple matter to take the wheel off; move the wiring &/or clip so that it's NOT anywhere it can ever be rubbed or damaged by the wheel, ie, put it where it should have been in the first place; refit the wheel onto the Spyder. And btw, any tire tech worth spit would check for things like this AND FIX THEM as a matter of 'proper practice' whenever re-installing a new tire on any vehicle! And just while you've got the wheel off again to sort this, cos the bod doing the job on your Spyder obviously WASN'T worth spit so probably didn't do this either ... you might also want to check that the hex heads of the screws that hold the fenders onto their support arms aren't sticking out into the wheel space too much - many of us running 175's have found that it's often a good idea to swap those hex head screws that have 10-12mm tall heads out & replace them with pan head screws that only have 5-6mm tall heads so that there's no chance they'll ever contact the tire sidewalls either.

The second bold bit, that's just crap!! How can fitting a NARROWER tire on the same OEM rim make the NARROWER tire rub on the belt when the WIDER OEM tire didn't?? Besides, even if it is the tire that's the issue (which I don't believe at all in the first place - it's far more likely they just didn't align the NARROWER wheel assembly that you've chosen to use properly when they re-installed it!! ) then they've just made things WORSE, not better, by increasing the tire pressure!! The higher the pressure in the tire, the further around the wheel the tire deflection will be carried as you corner; so if the tire is actually contacting the belt on turns at all, then you need to REDUCE the pressure in it so that the twisting forces transferred from the tread & the road contact patch into the carcass of the tire won't travel/be transferred so far up the casing & sidewalls as that section lifts off the ground once the tire rotates on...

Basically, the most critical things all these comments from them should be telling you is that this dealer/tech/whoever is full of it & likely just doesn't know what they're on about beyond pushing the corporate rubbish they're told to, so they're saying whatever bunf comes to mind in order to blame YOU for choosing to run better quality/safer tires rather than admitting their inadequacies in that:

1. They haven't done their job properly in the first place, and ensured there's nothing projecting into the wheel well area that shouldn't be when they refitted the wheel onto the hub; and

2. They haven't done their job properly and made sure that they've aligned the belt correctly when re-installing the rear wheel, cos if they HAD, then your tire wouldn't be ABLE to contact the belt regardless, just like they don't on the hundreds of other Spyders out in the real World that are already running these tires &/or any other non-'OEM Kenda' car tires without any belt contact issues, or any other issues for that matter!! And btw, their comment re not liking to fit car tires raises another point which just confirms even more so/yet again that they've got little idea of what they're on about - cos the OEM Kendas ARE CAR TIRES, just very lightly constructed car tires with less quality control & a far worse reputation than just about anything else out there, but they're still Car Tires nonetheless!

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

The first bold bit I've highlighted in the quote is only because whoever did the pre-delivery on that Spyder didn't put the wiring clip in the right place! It's a fairly simple matter to take the wheel off; move the wiring &/or clip so that it's NOT anywhere it can ever be rubbed or damaged by the wheel, ie, put it where it should have been in the first place; refit the wheel onto the Spyder. And btw, any tire tech worth spit would check for things like this AND FIX THEM as a matter of 'proper practice' whenever re-installing a new tire on any vehicle! And just while you've got the wheel off again to sort this, cos the bod doing the job on your Spyder obviously WASN'T worth spit so probably didn't do this either ... you might also want to check that the hex heads of the screws that hold the fenders onto their support arms aren't sticking out into the wheel space too much - many of us running 175's have found that it's often a good idea to swap those hex head screws that have 10-12mm tall heads out & replace them with pan head screws that only have 5-6mm tall heads so that there's no chance they'll ever contact the tire sidewalls either.

The second bold bit, that's just crap!! How can fitting a NARROWER tire on the same OEM rim make the NARROWER tire rub on the belt when the WIDER OEM tire didn't?? Besides, even if it is the tire that's the issue (which I don't believe at all in the first place - it's far more likely they just didn't align the NARROWER wheel assembly that you've chosen to use properly when they re-installed it!! ) then they've just made things WORSE, not better, by increasing the tire pressure!! The higher the pressure in the tire, the further around the wheel the tire deflection will be carried as you corner; so if the tire is actually contacting the belt on turns at all, then you need to REDUCE the pressure in it so that the twisting forces transferred from the tread & the road contact patch into the carcass of the tire won't travel/be transferred so far up the casing & sidewalls as that section lifts off the ground once the tire rotates on...

Basically, the most critical things all these comments from them should be telling you is that this dealer/tech/whoever is full of it & likely just doesn't know what they're on about beyond pushing the corporate rubbish they're told to, so they're saying whatever bunf comes to mind in order to blame YOU for choosing to run better quality/safer tires rather than admitting their inadequacies in that:

1. They haven't done their job properly in the first place, and ensured there's nothing projecting into the wheel well area that shouldn't be when they refitted the wheel onto the hub; and

2. They haven't done their job properly and made sure that they've aligned the belt correctly when re-installing the rear wheel, cos if they HAD, then your tire wouldn't be ABLE to contact the belt regardless, just like they don't on the hundreds of other Spyders out in the real World that are already running these tires &/or any other non-'OEM Kenda' car tires without any belt contact issues, or any other issues for that matter!! And btw, their comment re not liking to fit car tires raises another point which just confirms even more so/yet again that they've got little idea of what they're on about - cos the OEM Kendas ARE CAR TIRES, just very lightly constructed car tires with less quality control & a far worse reputation than just about anything else out there, but they're still Car Tires nonetheless!

with Peter 200% also ...Find another dealer .....JMHO ....Mike

[K80Shooter]

I agree with Peter. The problem that you now have is to convince the dealer that "THEY" screwed up, which is unlikely that they will admit it.

If they had done the rear correctly then there would not be a problem. As for the front, do as Peter said above.