Just bought - 2014 Spyder RT-S SE6 77K miles with RT-622 trailer

[BertRemington]

I'm the wiring guy for a friend's SCTA roadster and his workshop is an hour-long commute. While I can ride my Moto Guzzi V7 III both ways, after six hours of work (fun) the return home is no longer safe due to fatigue. So I bought a 2014 Spyder RT-S SE6 77K miles (apparently mostly in the SouthWest) with RT-622 trailer. Nice backrest, great wind protection, cruise control. I haven't taken it above 65mph yet but I expect it will be fine at the 80mph of the car pool lane. BTW I'm an ATGATT guy with Roadcrafter Classic, Bell SRT-modular, etc. 3-wheels are the same as 2-wheels when it comes to safe riding gear.

Here's what I've purchased and will install to establish a maintenance baseline:

Can-Am 219800356 XPS Oil Change Kit (SE6)
Can-Am 420211156 Transmission Filter
GoldPlug MP-01 and MP-18 Drain Plugs

Can-Am 779150 XPS Pre-Mixed Coolant

NGK MR7BI-8 (90982) Spark Plugs

EBC FA630HH Front Brake Pads
EBC FA631HH Rear Brake Pads
ATE 706202 TYP 200 Brake Fluid

Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 LFP Battery

Service Repair Manual on CD
Shop Manual Supplement on paper

Here's what I will do afterwards:

Move Garmin Zumo 660 from Royal Enfield to Can-Am
Fabricate Turn Indicator Repeaters visible in sunlight
Fabricate Lifting Adapters for my 2-Post Hoist
Install LED 6K Headlight Bulbs
Install LED 3K Fog Light Bulbs
Install LED Backup and Turn Signal Bulbs
Order custom Front, Side and Rear Compartment Liners
Order someone's Front Shocks
Maybe order someone's Rear Shock (the stock ACS seems handy)

The 2-wheeler leaving the stable: 2016 Royal Enfield Classic 500 in Lagoon Blue with SB/GG hot-rod engine. If you are interested visit https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php?topic=29991.0#msg352444

 

[BertRemington]

Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 LFP Battery installation went well. if you install one, be sure to bend the two locking tabs on the holddown plate so they don't short the battery terminals.

EBC FA630HH Front Brake Pads installation was easy. Still studying EBC FA631HH Rear Brake Pads installation process.

Completed conversion of incandescent 7507 turn and 1156 backup bulbs to dual LED turn signals. Discovered two broken mounting tabs but I think repairs will be easy. Waiting for backup light which will be installed below the license plate. I wasn't happy with low height/angle of tail/brake lights so looking at installing Skene P3 Lights with Decelerometer as CHMSL on top of trunk.

After studying posts on this forum, I will be replacing analog fuel level and coolant temperature gauges with oil pressure and voltage gauges, probably GlowShift White. Oil pressure is critical to SE6 transmission performance and voltage is critical to VSS, DPS, et al performance. I may also install a second Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 just to sure electronic gremlins don't find anyplace to roost. Yes I'm cleaning exposed terminals when I have the bodywork off for oil and coolant change.

A belt tension gauge will be purchased and a belt tensioner is under consideration.

Replacement of Torx fasteners with flanged button-head socket stainless steel fasteners is going well. I'm very pleased with the improved visibility and ability to use the ball-end T-handle tools I used on my Moto Guzzi.

Still haven't manned-up to mirror removal but that time is coming...

 

[BertRemington]

Thanks Peter. I will follow your relocation suggestion after I establish the maintenance baseline and determine whether I bought a 77K part-it-out Spyder or a many-more-years-and-miles Spyder. Meanwhile I want to keep posting because if I stop I'll never catch up.

WRT Magic Mirrors, LG was the first vendor site I visited and I loaded up my cart, including Magic Mirrors, to about $1K. I started the checkout, got the PayPal okay, and was finalizing my purchase when suddenly LG was asking for all kinds of information even though I selected Guest checkout. So I rolled-back the purchase. Which gave me time to ask if I really needed all those nifty farkles. And I didn't. But I intend to get Magic Mirrors somehow. The previous owner of my BMW R1100RT damaged the popoff mirror mounts which were a pain to repair. Don't want that for my Spyder.

I have the parts in-hand for oil change, coolant change, and spark plug change. Weather is cool with occasional showers but I'll be out when the sun shines. I want to get this Spyder reliable for the road.

 

[BertRemington]

Removed RH bodywork. Five tries to remove the mirror. The two snap fitting were rusty so I think some cleanup will help until I get the Magic Mirrors. One broken tab under the seat, should be repairable. Some damaged Torx fasteners by floorboard and brake pedal but I'm going to socket head so they'll be replaced. Some out of place grommets for which I need to find their proper homes (I have the service and parts manuals to guide me).

Changed the coolant. There was a worm gear clamp on the plastic crossover pipe so I removed that hose since both radiators had their original clamps. Drained about 3.5 quarts of orange (long-life) coolant that looked almost new. A very good sign for engine life. Installed a constant torque clamp and 3.5 quarts of XPS coolant. Pressure cap looked good. The front fins of both radiators looked worn but not too much bent fin damage. Hopefully they'll flow enough air during SoCal summer heat. Otherwise $650 to replace.

Oil change tomorrow along with LH bodywork removal. Maybe even spark plug change.

 

[BertRemington]

Oil change (Can-Am XPS) completed including HCM filter. Oil was very dark however no sparkles in the drain pan and just a few slivers on the gearbox magnet. Was the dark due to clutch material? I'll know more after some miles. I replaced drain plugs with GoldPlug MP-01 and MP-18 and used bonded seal instead of aluminum crush washers. Tightened to same torque although probably not needed that high. I'll be repeating this every 5K miles so next service is 3K miles away at 80K.

Fuel filter change completed (Wix 33095). Filter change was easy (now I have the RH bodywork removed) but had to replace 8-year-old fuel lines due to cracking (I could see cords in one hose) which was not so easy.

After a 3-day process of repeatedly referral to service manuals and posts on this forum I managed to remove the air boxes so I could replace the spark plugs (BajaRon kit, highly recommended because it includes thermal grease for plugs and silicone grease for coil seals). Which was easy although RH plug was a bit fussy coming out so loosened a full-turn, tightened a half-turn, repeat until released. All plugs were Brown. I'm happy. I'll be repeating this every 25K so next service is 23K miles away at 100K.

All the forum guidance on spark plug access said something along the lines of "I don't think you need to remove the frunk but ...whatever reason... I did." They were correct: you don't need to remove the frunk. What you must do is lift and shift backwards is the upper half of the Spyder. Surprisingly it's not that hard. What's hard is knowing which fasteners to remove and which can be left in place. I am now facing the reassembly challenge. Which is an opportunity to clean 8 years of hidden road grime, repair broken bodywork tabs (only 3 so far, I'm happy), and change from Torx and hex fasteners to socket (Allen) stainless steel.

Overall I think Can-Am (Bombardier) is providing tremendous value for money with the Spyder. Yeah they wrapped some busy-work curvey bodywork around a rather prosaic chassis but they assembled a whole lot of out-sourced parts plus some smart software to build a very affordable and capable machine. My compliments to their engineers.

 

[Little Blue]

Good Information

Welcome to the Spyder Forum. I have enjoyed reading your posts about your Spyder.
A lot of good Tips. Please post often. ......:thumbup:

 

[PW2013STL]

BertRemington,

When you do the rear brake pads the piston has to be turned in to give the needed clearance for the new pads. Do not use a C-clamp. Some use needle nose pliers, but I purchase the socket tool that BajaRon sells which makes it super easy to turn and push in at the same time.
Magic mirrors are worth every penny since doing anything on the 2014-2019 RT's seems to require removing the mirrors first. Lamonster garage and Spyderpops both sell them.
The 1330 motor is a very reliable motor. We had over 84,000 miles on our 2014 before trading in on a 2018 F3. A friend had over 100,000 miles on his 2015 before trading in on a 2020RT.
Both ours and his are still running strong for the new owners.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

:welcome:...& ...:congrats:.... now that the Batt. terminals are clean, go back and add TWO Star washers to the bolts and re-tighten .... because of even normal vibes they tend to loosen ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[BertRemington]

HCM and Fuel Filters Photos

At 77K miles without any service record I was establishing a maintenance baseline, which included the HCM and fuel filters. If you are changing the oil filter, you don't need to remove much more bodywork to get to the HCM and fuel filters. Some pictures.


The HCM filter was easy (I got mine from BajaRon). Make sure you thoroughly drain the engine oil first, both drain plugs. Remove the Torx fasteners, then tap and twist the old filter so its gasket frees up and gently pull it off. There shouldn't be much oil mess. Lightly lubricate the new filter's rubber parts and gently push it into place. Install the Torx fasteners with a GOOD torque wrench with at least 2 intermediate torque settings before the final setting. Follow the tightening pattern.

From my perspective if you have an SE6 then replacing the $100 HCM every oil change is cheap insurance. Although the transmission clutch pack doesn't appear all that hard to replace. Not that I want to quite yet.

The fuel filter was not quite as easy because the little critter is behind a bracket with a fussy filter clamp. I had to replace the hoses as well as hose clamps. Use the proper fuel-line clamps not worm clamps although a clamp was missing on the inlet of my filter and there was no leakage. Not a recommended practice. Remember any fuel leakage is next to your wedding tackle.

The inlet (left) side of the filter comes from the fuel tank pump. The outlet (right) side of the filter goes to a Y-fitting. The straight-through part of the Y feeds the fuel injector rail. The reverse part of the Y returns to the fuel tank pressure regulator. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the Y because rebuilding fuel lines wasn't all that easy and I was concentrating on that fussiness. Remember when you first turn on the ignition after replacing the fuel filter there will be a squeal as air is purged from the fuel lines.

 

[BertRemington]

Oil Pressure and Voltage Gauges w/photos

So I bought this 2014 77K mile RT-S SE6 for my old age. I didn't buy it from the original owner so its maintenance history was opaque although I was told it was dealer-serviced; lived in SoCal; and primarily traveled in the SouthWest with an RT-622 trailer.

It seemed to shift properly and it always started but in establishing the maintenance baseline the oil was Black and the battery was old. So new oil, filters, battery.

The RT-S comes with coolant temperature and fuel level gauges; the base RT does not. Except as I discovered on this forum if you disconnect the RT-S gauges it goes into base RT display mode with coolant temperature and fuel level on the LCD display.

While the 1330cc I3 seems to be a tough engine, the paddle-shifted SE6 is worrisome as it seems to need proper oil pressure for operation. And the VSS, DPS, etc electronics need their electron pressure (voltage) too. So I bought two health gauges: oil pressure and voltage.

I wanted stepper motor gauges for their needles-not-numbers and 270 degree sweep. SpeedHut and Autometer were kinda outside my price range (I need new front tires) so I bought GlowShift which is a good-enough gauge (eg, 3-wire oil pressure transducer).

GlowShift offers 7 face color choices with the default being Blue markings on a White background.


The gauge function is powered by the Black and Red wires. The gauge face is powered by the Yellow wire. Remembering your color choice is powered by the Orange wire, which must be Always-On. Since I liked the Blue-White default, I connected the Red and Yellow wires to Ignition-On and left the Orange wire disconnected. I used a Ring terminal to connect to the Spyder gauge ground and a Spade terminal to connect to the Spyder gauge power so I didn't have to Posi-Tap any Spyder wires.


And here's what the dash panel itself looks like.


Them little Green lights? That's another post.

The service manual shows a port for measuring oil pressure via an adapter and a mechanical gauge. Looking at the front of the engine there are three choices.

You need GlowShift's M10x1.0 Male to 1/8-27 NPT Female Adapter, along with Loctite 243.



Do the gauges work? Yep. I'll post some videos starting the engine cold and then after it heats up (spoiler alert: lowest oil pressure is 18psi hot 1st gear idle at traffic light -- I'm happy!). And coolant temperature and fuel level are displayed on the LCD as promised.

 

[Snoking1127]

"(I need new front tires)" Federal Formoza AZ01 tires up front and the BajaRon' sway bar are great improvements in handling and tracking straight. I have settled on 16.5 PSI in the AZ01s for best pressure for ride and handling. Discount tire could not balance them, as they did not have the correct cone. Tire tech did state that he mounted them with the colored dot lined up with the valve stem, which he said was a manufactures recommendation that I had never heard of before. I said fine just refund that charge. I had read here that the Federal hardly need any weight to balance, so I gave it a try and they are smooth as can be.

Recalibrate Turn Signal Flash Rate on your model year for LED bulbs.

1. Turn the engine ON.
2. Press and hold the Hazard button until the Dashboard lights flash once (20-30 seconds).
3. Release the Hazard button.
4. Turn on LH turn signal.
5. Let it blink once and turn the engine OFF.
6. Turn the engine ON.
7. Press and hold the Hazard button until the Dashboard lights flash once (20-30 seconds).
8. Release the Hazard button.
9. Turn on RH turn signal.
10. Let it blink once and turn the engine OFF.

Repeat 1-10 completely if either LH or RH flash rate is incorrect.

 

[Bangorbob]

Bert, Welcome to the forum. I really envy you living where you do. Beautiful riding throughout the area. Lived in south San Diego for 30 yrs. Just nice riding. Have fun and be safe.

 

[ARtraveler]

:congrats: on your purchase. Although it has some miles on it, the 2014 SE6 platform is a very good one. Once you get it tweeked for you, you should be good to go. :2thumbs:

 

[BertRemington]

4,500K HID Headlights w/photos

For no special reason, I wanted to change my headlights from incandescent 9005 to HID or LED (my Owner Manual says H4 but that's not for the USA). I wanted something around 4,500K for nighttime illumination but nothing was available in LED. And I prefer HID for projector housings anyway so bought DDM Tuning's 35W CANbus-compatible kit https://ddmtuning.com/DDMPlusCanbusHIDKit

The High-/Low-beam function in the Spyder is not the traditional two filaments but rather one filament with a mechanical shutter exposing more or less of the bulb's light. This is perfect for HIDs because they have a warmup time which results in beam-shifting delays. Except the LH headlight has a 5-pin connector with a jumper and the RH headlight has the same connector with 3 pins populated. Thus each side gets low-beam power, high-beam power and ground. Since the 9005 bulbs get continuous power during beam-shifting, I made a wiring harness that powers both the LH and RH HID ballasts from the LH 9005 bulb connector.

I also had to power the HID bulbs and needed extensions.

I used the Lamonster technique for penetrations into the headlight housings (thanks). The 5-pin connector is the chassis feed to the housing; the 2-pin connector was for the 9005 bulb; and the Blue and White connectors are for the HID bulb.

This mates to the chassis connectors. I ran the HID wiring outside the headlight housing opening and then through the same opening used for the headlight adjuster cable.

I mounted the two ballasts and their four warts (two filters and two ignitors) opportunistically under the headlights.

I also bought DDM Tuning's OE Fit 3,000K LEDs https://ddmtuning.com/SaberLED-OE-Fit-H8-W-Y.SaberLED-OE-Fit-H8-LED-Bulbs-5000LMPR-WY for the fog lights which will be wired so the appropriate side will flash synchronously with the turn signal while the other side is dark using three of my favorite programmable relays https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015Z2EQCU But that's another post.

 

[BertRemington]

Givi 30L Monolock Case w/photos

For my Royal Enfield Classic 500, then carried over to my Moto Guzzi V7 III, I chose the Givi 30L Monolock Top Case http://www.giviusa.com/givi-products/cases/monolock-cases/e300n2-30ltr-matte-black-case-detail to hold my full-face helmet, gloves, etc when away from my bike. And wanted the same for my Spyder RT-S. I will never have a passenger so removed that backrest and I removed the tilting portion of the driver backrest leaving a pivot at the back of the seat. I mounted an aluminum U-section to the pivot and put the Givi adapter plate http://www.giviusa.com/givi-products/top-case-mounting/z113c-monolock-universal-fit-kit-detail on top. The case includes a backrest pad although I'll be adding a second one for lower back support.

The case uses one key with two buttons to open the cover and to remove it from the adapter plate. They are at the back of the case which I tilt up to get access.

And it also tilts out of the way when I refuel.

Can-Am coyly suggests you can put your helmet in the side cases. Nope. And the frunk is a dark pit where I put my walking boots anyway (I don't like walking in my riding boots at my destination). The Givi 30L is my perfect match solution.

 

[BertRemington]

Some spark plug related photos and other stuff

Some things I wish I knew before I changed my spark plugs. LH and RH views of valve cover.



The engine air intake extends from the left-side fronk to the right-side throttle body. Above the engine are these two linked air boxes. On the left is the air intake from the frunk (worm gear clamp, Brown) and the air filter access (Green). You must remove the air filter, reach in, and turn CCW about 30 degrees the inter-box coupling (Orange). On the right is the throttle body connection (worm gear coupling, Blue) with breather hose on the side. The rubber tubes are held to the box with long tie wraps.

The changeover from Torx to flanged button socket head has gone well. Where the mating surface wasn't metal I included a washer. Yeah extra work but plastic gets old and brittle and repairs are a pain. And now I can easily see the fasteners because they're shiny stainless steel. I've used so much M5 and M6 hardware Amazon was offering a subscription (just kidding but I've got a 1qt bag almost full of Can-Am's fasteners). I'm now considering replacing most of the push-pin fasteners with M6 socket heads into rivet nuts. I can't do that with the U-nuts because they need the wiggle room.

I'm happy with the oil pressure. I'm running the XPS 5W40. The 1330 and I are happiest at 3,500rpm and above (smooth power quickly available) which is 50psi oil pressure. Hot idle drops to 18psi. Corresponding cold pressures are 58psi (relief) and 20psi.

Voltage is pretty much 14.4V all the time. The battery (Shorai LFX) has a resting voltage of 13.2V which drops lower after a few days. I've seen as low as 12V but starting power is strong.

I'm still learning to drive in the center of the road. When I first started riding motorcycles there was a grease mark down every road which you needed to avoid. And positioning the front wheels is still a challenge because I'm not in line with them.

Handling is terrible, even frightening at times. It has stock suspension and stock tires, 2015 year in front and 2018 year in rear. Tread good in all positions. Tie rod linkages good. Sway bar bushings seem loose to my thinking. Handlebar ends rock fore-aft, up-down a bit and from what I've read they shouldn't. I plan on removing the handlebar covers and will explore a bit from there. Certainly will do a deep dive when I change the oil in 3K miles.

Tried various techniques for stable steering. It will take and hold a set until the road changes and then destabilizes badly. I've tried lightly decelerating to put weight on the front tires before turn-in -- no joy. I've tried lightly accelerating to shift weight onto outside tire for turn-out -- no joy. I haven't adjusted air spring pressure. It's stable in a straight line at CA freeway speeds which these days are about 20mph over posted. But even sweepers tighten up the sphincter.

I need to study this vehicle's dynamics a bit more before I make any decisions. But I don't think it's tires. I don't think it's alignment. I don't think it's springing. It could be dampening, both compression and rebound, from old shocks. It could be swaybar although I find it hard to believe Can-Am would release a Spyder with these characteristics. Yes it leans but the disturbing part is the rapid change from stable to unstable (rocking repeating left-right) which significantly affects steering. And by the way, is the front suspension intentionally designed to enhance bump steer?

I installed the Lamonster Magic Mirrors -- very nice design. I'm going to order the TricLED Wide-Vu mirror when they return. And a Lamonster belt tensioner after I fix the handling because I can detect a harmonic at 76-78mph. Not bothersome and actually a handy reminder but harmonics probably increase belt and bearing wear.

I need to finish rear lighting (CHMSL, backup) which is a future topic.

 

[Peter Aawen]

.....

Handling is terrible, even frightening at times. It has stock suspension and stock tires, 2015 year in front and 2018 year in rear. Tread good in all positions. Tie rod linkages good. Sway bar bushings seem loose to my thinking. Handlebar ends rock fore-aft, up-down a bit and from what I've read they shouldn't. I plan on removing the handlebar covers and will explore a bit from there. Certainly will do a deep dive when I change the oil in 3K miles.

Tried various techniques for stable steering. It will take and hold a set until the road changes and then destabilizes badly. I've tried lightly decelerating to put weight on the front tires before turn-in -- no joy. I've tried lightly accelerating to shift weight onto outside tire for turn-out -- no joy. I haven't adjusted air spring pressure. It's stable in a straight line at CA freeway speeds which these days are about 20mph over posted. But even sweepers tighten up the sphincter.

I need to study this vehicle's dynamics a bit more before I make any decisions. But I don't think it's tires. I don't think it's alignment. I don't think it's springing. It could be dampening, both compression and rebound, from old shocks. It could be swaybar although I find it hard to believe Can-Am would release a Spyder with these characteristics. Yes it leans but the disturbing part is the rapid change from stable to unstable (rocking repeating left-right) which significantly affects steering. And by the way, is the front suspension intentionally designed to enhance bump steer?

......

MY comments on the things I've bolded above, in order:

1. Your front tires are OLD & IMHO past due for replacement, and this could be a significant contributor to ALL your handling and steering issues! I'd suggest you consider replacing them all with A/mkt auto tires!
2. The 'Nylon' OE Sway bar links are problematic at best, abject failures at worst, and this could be a significant contributor to ALL your handling and steering issues! I'd suggest you consider replacing them with something like BajaRon's links - so you might as well do the sway bar itself at the same time - I really doubt you'll regret it!
3. Many others here who are reasonably well versed in this sorta thing have made the same comment as you, and persisted in trying to remedy some &/or all their handling, ride, & suspension issues (even vibration issues too!) individually &/or collectively until eventually, after repeated failures, they've finally succumbed, biting the bullet and tossing the OE Spec Kenda tires; only then to beat themselves up afterwards, saying things like 'Why didn't I just do this earlier!?' because of the MASSIVE improvement tossing the OE Spec Kendas in favour of a 'real' auto tires run at an appropriate pressure for the load brings - you could do a lot worse than seeing if there's someone nearby prepared to lend you a set of non-Kenda front wheels/tires for a test ride - you might be very surprised - just like many others who were SURE it couldn't be the crappy Kendas... but it was!!

But that lot's just my opinion, and as always, I'm just puttin' it out there - it's your Spyder, you can do as you will. :thumbup:

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

MY comments on the things I've bolded above, in order:

1. Your front tires are OLD & IMHO past due for replacement, and this could be a significant contributor to ALL your handling and steering issues! I'd suggest you consider replacing them all with A/mkt auto tires!
2. The 'Nylon' OE Sway bar links are problematic at best, abject failures at worst, and this could be a significant contributor to ALL your handling and steering issues! I'd suggest you consider replacing them with something like BajaRon's links - so you might as well do the sway bar itself at the same time - I really doubt you'll regret it!
3. Many others here who are reasonably well versed in this sorta thing have made the same comment as you, and persisted in trying to remedy some &/or all their handling, ride, & suspension issues (even vibration issues too!) individually &/or collectively until eventually, after repeated failures, they've finally succumbed, biting the bullet and tossing the OE Spec Kenda tires; only then to beat themselves up afterwards, saying things like 'Why didn't I just do this earlier!?' because of the MASSIVE improvement tossing the OE Spec Kendas in favour of a 'real' auto tires run at an appropriate pressure for the load brings - you could do a lot worse than seeing if there's someone nearby prepared to lend you a set of non-Kenda front wheels/tires for a test ride - you might be very surprised - just like many others who were SURE it couldn't be the crappy Kendas... but it was!!

But that lot's just my opinion, and as always, I'm just puttin' it out there - it's your Spyder, you can do as you will. :thumbup:

Not just your opinion Peter because :agree: with everything:thumbup: you said ..... Mike

 

[BertRemington]

2015 year tires were definitely on the replacement list with the Vredestein Quatrac 5 165/60R15 https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...66HR5QT5&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes being the leading candidate. I chose the 165 over 175 for lighter steering and taller sidewall.

However tires just didn't feel right to me. I've built two road track cars (for open tracking, not racing) and people said I did well setting up their suspensions. On the other hand, I'm far from understanding 3-wheel dynamics.

As I think things through, I'm coming around to alignment. When I initiate a turn, the steering is smooth initially and then suddenly the turn-in accelerates to the extent that I have to counter-steer. So maybe I have a toe problem, either zero toe (which I used for my track cars for quick steering) or toe-out (which I didn't use because steering was too quick). And then there's the distinct possibility of a steering linkage problem or a DPS problem (do the sensors wear out like throttle position sensors?).

The leaning doesn't bother me (lifting an inside wheel looks like fun) so the BajaRon sway bar was several months in the future. His end links appear to be the same for the stock sway bar and his sway bar so they might be an early candidate.

I will buy four 706201391 sway bar bushings as they aren't expensive and are easy to install.

I don't mind buying and mounting new front tires but I do mind if they only make the underlying problem harder to fault isolate which is why I'm hesitating.

So my thinking now is:

1. Get a front alignment with aggressive toe-in.
2. Install new sway bar bushings.
3. Deep dive into steering linkage.

At this point I should know more about the nature and cause(s) of the problem.

Please keep the suggestions coming -- I'm listening.

 

[Peter Aawen]

I don't think I'd go down the path of using 'aggessive' toe-in, altho I can see why you might. Buuut, I've been there, done that, pretty much still got the pucker stains on the RT's seat to show for it!! :shocked: A little toe in, even maybe 3mm of total toe, yeah maybe, but certainly no more! :lecturef_smilie: Besides, this could also be due to worn suspension bushes... on the frame end especially, they are pretty agricultural in there & difficult to maintain - I don't think you can even add grease to yours, but if I don't add grease every 3,000 miles or so on my 2013 that still has grease zerks, then things start to get a little wobbly & the wear rate accelerates markedly! But don't exclude the possibility of it being one or more dodgy ball-joints, the OE ball-joints are cheap placcy crap that many are finding they need to replace frequently.... (there is an a/mkt supplier of much better quality/race spec units in Austria, but I don't have the details handy atm, sorry. :sour

However, what you've described above does sound a whole LOT to me like you may have a DPS doing dodgy things - possibly because it's either on it's way out or maybe because your battery is getting a liitle tired! Your alternator is probably more than capable of managing everything you can throw at it normally, ie, drivinng straight, and maybe even when you (gently??) initiate a turn, but the DPS is a Power Whore, and as the turn tightens up &/or you feed more throttle or speed in, the power demand from the DPS/Electric Power Steering increases exponentally, putting 'peak load &/or reserve power' demands on the battery to iron out the peaks & troughs - and if the battery is a tad tired so that it can't readily keep up with the noticeably increased load demands that entails, then the DPS can either add heaps of assist suddenly, or drop power assist suddenly, producing exactly what you describe! Do you really need to ask me how I know that this DOES happen?! So maybe get your battery load tested & if there's ANY sign of it starting to get a little tired, fit a new good quality battery! BTW, if your DPS is dodgy/on its way out, there's not much you can do besides replace the entire unit - BRP have very carefully made them 'non-serviceable' except by replacement, and I don't believe there's anyone who's successfully been able to replace a torque sensor yet! :gaah:

Still, while I'm on a roll peppering you with alternative thoughts, I'd be looking at your tires sooner rather than later - quite a few of the OE front tires made around 2014/2015 were REALLY dodgy, altho they do seem to have improved marginally since; many OE tires of that vintage wore out spectacularly rapidly & we saw a lot of complaints here on the Forum and elsewhere, but while it didn't get quite the same degree of public complaint, there were also many that suffered from belt separation &/or delamination, both of which might contribute to the handling characteristics you describe, even if the tires do still have reasonable tread! :gaah: Are you sure you can't borrow a set of rims shod with any tire but an OE Spec Kenda?? Anyone nearby prepared to offer?? :dontknow: Even just a half an hour with a set of 'real' auto tires up front running at 16-ish psi should be very revealing, and might just save you a lot of time chasing your tail needlessly looking into other things. Might not too, but if I was a betting man I'd still put the odds on you being quite impressed with the improvements 'real' tires can bring!

Is that enough with the alternative ideas already?? Over to you! :cheers: