It is true that over time BRP has dropped the tension specs on the belts several times, and we have found that dropping it even further can be done without issue. On most bykes, it will move the speed where the vibration occurs, but not eliminate it completely. By using a vibration damper it has pretty much killed the vibration for everyone that was experiencing it. It does make sense that the less tension the belt is run at (and the less vibration) it should reduce wear on the front sprocket. Since BRP has not given the stats of the number of failures and type of Spyder effected, we really only have what has been posted here and Facebook to go by. There seems to be more SE6's than the manual SM6's, but there are still SM6's failing, though not as many. There also have been some RTs and a few earlier models that have failed, but the majority that have failed have been F3's. Without actual stats, it also seems 2015 & 16's had the most failures. It is curious to note that most of the F3's have not had this problem, which some (including myself) are beginning to think that a batch of front sprockets weren't properly tempered, and that has caused the problem that some have experienced. Hope that helps. As I said, we are all flying blind here and speculation (although somewhat educated) is all we have.
