That’s interesting, CanAm……thanks.
55% of 175 is 96,
60% of 165 is 99,
55% of 165 is 90(stock)
So a 165/60 gives the most additional height over stock. (albeit minimal, bet every mm helps.)
Pete
That lot ^^
might be true
IF those tire sizes reflected the
ACTUAL sizes of the tires you're planning on putting on, but they rarely do!! :banghead:
Some tire manufacturers use the tire carcass sans tread layers (usually about 6-8mm x 2 thicknesses of rubber!
) size as their basis for the
NOMINAL tire size they'll put on the sidewall of the tires they make/sell; others use the completely manufactured & ready to sell/fit to your vehicle tire (ie. with the tread layers already installed) size as their basis for the sidewall label; while some seem to use whatever number happens to come to mind when they're tossing around the idea of making a new tire?!? :gaah:
The sad reality is that while those sizes printed on the sidewall of tires can be handy indicators & an
aid for choosing/comparing tires before you buy a new set, they are simply
NOMINAL sizes that if you're lucky
might bear some vague resemblance to the tire's actual size... but
you really need to look at the physical dimensions of the tire you are planning on fitting to be sure!! I've test fitted a tire
labelled 185/65R15 on the front of my 2013 RT Spyder, a tire that was visually only just a touch larger in size to the OE Spec Kendas, and it fitted easily within the fender & didn't touch/scrape anywhere. However, that was only it's
NOMINAL size, and in reality that (cheap, generic brand) tire
was very similar in size to the 165/55 Stock Kenda and despite the somewhat larger
NOMINAL size shown on the sidewall it was physically smaller in both tread width and rolling diameter than the 175/60R15 Khumo's that have been my 'daily running' tires for a fair while now! And just be warned, I've seen worse size disparities than that, even in tire's that
should (going by their Nominal sidewall size) fit our Spyders!
Just as a quick aside, and not specifically applicable to our Spyders, but the largest difference between
Sidewall size and the
Actual size I've come across so far was that of a 4WD tire - it was a tad over 50mm
larger in rolling diameter than the size printed on its sidewall suggested it should've been!! :shocked: Yup, that was
FIFTY mm's, not just
five mms, but actually
FIVE ZERO mms taller than the Nominal size on the sidewall suggested it should be!! :cus: So yeah, you might use those generic size comparison sites/charts to compare Sidewall sizes in order to help you decide what tires to look at; but
Please, before you fork out your hard earned $$, just look for and do a quick comparison using the
tire manufacturers published physical dimensions/specs for that tire &
DO NOT just rely on the Nominal Sidewall size or solely on any comparison done using those ready-reckoners or generic tire size comparison sites!! :lecturef_smilie:
Now, all that said, the 175/60's I'm running
HAVE increased the Spyder's Static Ride Height by about 10mm - a difference which may not be very much, but it comes in very handy by reducing the number of times the Spyder's undercarriage actually touches the road surface while I ride, and I've done a few 'back to back' comparisons on that too - same load, same rider, same road/track, same path on the road, same speed, same bumps - the
only difference being the slightly larger/taller tires (btw, run at a 'more appropriate for the load' slightly lower pressure too!
) and the taller tire doesn't touch in places the previous tire did... so even just a few mms helps!
hyea:
But going back to fitting larger tires into the wheel well & under the fenders, you might find you need to ease the new tire in & under the fender by lifting the fender a little, but the fender's flexible enough to allow that; then once in, just make sure that the placcy inner fender skirts, any wiring hidden under the fender, and the screws holding the fender onto the spindle don't touch the tire on rotation. I found I had to make sure the wires were all pushed to the outside of the fender supports, and that the screws holding the fender skirts to the supports are now all low-rise pan head screws & no longer the OEM high-rise hex head screws that stick out 10 mm into the wheel well :sour: the very top of those high-rise hex heads touched the tire sidewall when cornering hard! Some have found the inner fender skirts, the black placcy bits, touch on hard cornering too, but that is
usually a sign that their tire pressure is still too high and the flex of the tire carcass due to the tread slip angle is being carried too far up the tire as the tire rotates and the tread lifts off the contact patch - dropping the tire pressure 1-2 psi usually resolves that & improves traction/handling/cornering too, even if it means there's not quite as direct a steering 'feel' as many have become used to thru running over-inflated tires;
OR, if you aren't comfortable with dropping your tire pressures any more, then you can always simply remove those placcy skirts, they're really just trim pieces... :thumbup:
Sorry this reply turned into such a saga, but you did ask.... and it's not a subject that a simple yes/no answer would work for!
Over to you! :cheers:
Ps: I don't believe the front fenders on any Spyders have changed significantly since they introduced the new 15" tires on the 2013 models - there's only a few OEM options and they'll all fit the same sized (larger) a/mkt tires equally as well as each other - barring any minor production variations in how the assembly worker at the factory wrapped the wires around the fender supports when they fitted them, or how tight they ran in the hex head screws holding the fender to the supports - and those are all little things that you can fiddle with & resolve yourself,
if you can get the bike up high enough or you can get down low enough to work on them! And if you can't do those things yourself, any good tire fitter should be able to help, especially if there's a 6-pack of stubbies or long necks involved! :thumbup:
