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Front end Wobble (again)

S

StillKickin

Member
I know this seems to be an endless thread, but thought I'd post my experience here and see what others say? My 2012 RTS has always had a front end shimmy since bringing it home from the showroom. I thought that might be normal not having Spyder experience. Last month I had the 14k service done, including tire replacement as the front was out of align and tire worn. New Kendas, laser alignment and I left for a weeks trip. They hadn't test drove the bike prior to my picking it up. Had they, they would've noticed the front end wobble between 40-60 mph, no longer a "shimmy" but a notable wobble. I took it back to them and the saga began.... First they replaced the tire, back to shimmy, then replaced wheel, no help, then possibly bearings, then ball joints, then rotor... fixed they said, after 3 more weeks. Unfortunately, on my drive home I have a definite wobble between 40-60 mph. IMHO it's the OEM tires, which disheartens me. I hate to buy another brand as these aren't that old. I think that dealer only uses OEM as I questioned if I could choose another make at the start and they suggested the Kendas. I will probably replace with another brand and pray for resolution. I'll talk with this dealer, but will likely take my business elsewhere. Your thoughts? :dontknow:
 
Curious..!!

are you working with only one dealer..?? You may need new eyes on your ryde...hope they get serious and get it fixed or you need to move on...!! :dontknow:
 
Yeah, you right!

Chupaca said:
are you working with only one dealer..?? You may need new eyes on your ryde...hope they get serious and get it fixed or you need to move on...!! :dontknow:
Click to expand...

So far I've only worked with them on this as I bought the tires from them. I am moving on tho. If they can't fix it in that amount of time, no sense going back for more. Unfortunately there are no dealers close to me so it's a bit of a commitment when I head out. I can and will go to a local tire dealer but that won't help with the OEM's on it now. Probably bite the bullet and try another make, Potenza?
 
Suspect the tires

Over the course of 70,000 miles, three spyders, five different sets of wheels and seven sets of tires, I have determined it is the cheap OEM tires more often than not. Back when I got my 2008s I had bought the six-spoke wheels for both of them. Before I put them on, one unit was as smooth as silk and the other had a wobble. When I put the six spoke wheels on the smooth one with new tires, it worked well. Before I put the six spoke wheels with new tires on the other, I first put the original wheels and tires from the first one on there. Wobble was gone. So I swapped out the wheels one at a time and found the bad one. Took them all to a tire shop with a high speed balancer so we could see how far off they were. Not impressed.

To make a long story short, having so many sets of wheels and tires to play with, I found the stock Kenda tires were really marginal at best. Even the wheels were not all that well balanced. I get nervous when you see gobs of wheels weights on a front wheel. Back to the Spyders, the one unit that had been smooth for so long started to wobble as soon as we installed new tires on it after 22,000 miles. The other Spyder got even smoother after we installed new tires on that one. So I have learned that every time we install different tires it changes. You either have to go through a few tires to find really good ones, or just switch to a better quality automotive tire. it could be the wheel, it could be the tire, both are suspect. Every time I swap front tires, it changes things. Even when you have the wheel and tire balanced as good as they can get it, it might not be good enough. Swapping with a different unit will show you the difference. At least this is what I have experienced.
 
wobble

I also have a 2012 RTS that I got the middle of May. I was used to my 08 GS that handled very well. It took me a long time to get the Rt to handle as good. My handle bars shook very bad to start. Had everything checked by dealer, but no change. I checked front oem tires, and one was 3/8 inch out of round. Dealer put new oem tire on, helped lower some of the shaking, but not happy yet. I replaced BOTH front tires with cooper car tires. WHAT A HUGE CHANGE. These tires are actually ROUND, took most of the shake away. One last thing I did was LAZIER ALIGNED the spyder. I now have a smooth ride, very good handling, etc. If you would like more info, feel free to pm me.
 
It's always tires causing that.I started to have that problem at 15000 miles.Got rid of the stock tires put Potenzas on problem completely gone.Same happened to a friend of mine.He to went to my dealer,had Potenzas put on and completely cured the problem.

ivor:spyder:
 
eagle said:
I also have a 2012 RTS that I got the middle of May. I was used to my 08 GS that handled very well. It took me a long time to get the Rt to handle as good. My handle bars shook very bad to start. Had everything checked by dealer, but no change. I checked front oem tires, and one was 3/8 inch out of round. Dealer put new oem tire on, helped lower some of the shaking, but not happy yet. I replaced BOTH front tires with cooper car tires. WHAT A HUGE CHANGE. These tires are actually ROUND, took most of the shake away. One last thing I did was LAZIER ALIGNED the spyder. I now have a smooth ride, very good handling, etc. If you would like more info, feel free to pm me.
Click to expand...


Hey Eagle, where did you go for the laser alignment??
 
Firefly switched to Potenzas after having a couple of OEM stinkers... He's digging them!
uneven wear can also be screaming "Alignment" iisues!!! :shocked:
Seriously consider the lazer alignment process... :thumbup:
 
Bob Denman said:
Firefly switched to Potenzas after having a couple of OEM stinkers... He's digging them!
uneven wear can also be screaming "Alignment" iisues!!! :shocked:
Seriously consider the lazer alignment process... :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Been laser aligned twice! I see Potenzas in my future:thumbup:
 
Our 2012 RT Limited has the same shimmy between 45 and 55. Replaced the nasty Kenda tires with the Bridgestone Potenza tires and voila!, no more shake, rattle, and roll.

Carl
 
Potenza tires

Ivorspyder said:
It's always tires causing that.I started to have that problem at 15000 miles.Got rid of the stock tires put Potenzas on problem completely gone.Same happened to a friend of mine.He to went to my dealer,had Potenzas put on and completely cured the problem.

ivor:spyder:
Click to expand...
I too have had vibration problems on my 2013 RT. The dealer has balanced the tires 3 times but it still feels crappy. I am beginning to suspect the OEM Kenda tires, especially after reading some of the posts relating to the problem of wobble and front end vibration. Cant seem to find the Potenza's in the 15 inch size though. 165/55R15 . Any ideas ??
 
Update - problem resolved!

:yes: Took my bike into a local tire shop where I buy my truck tires. He pulled the two front off the :spyder: and spin balanced them. Runs smooth as butter! No wobble, no shimmy!
Eyeballing the tires before balancing, I noticed that the weights had been removed from the wheels and wondered where they'd gone. I called the dealer I bought the tires from and he said they removed the weights and use beads in the tires. I'm positive that they forgot to add the beads to mine. Now, why they didn't resolve this wobble is beyond me... they've got alot of crow to eat. Me, I'm just delighted it's resolved! What a saga... the end. :bowdown:
 
Federal tire in 2013 size

This Federal tire is the only one I have found in this exact size used on the front of the 2013s. It is a 165/55-15 FEDERAL 595 EVO. Just click on the link in my post above and you can see it.
 
sledmaster said:
This Federal tire is the only one I have found in this exact size used on the front of the 2013s. It is a 165/55-15 FEDERAL 595 EVO. Just click on the link in my post above and you can see it.
Click to expand...
I just installed the EVO's on my 2013 RTS SE5. They seem fine.
 
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