New Altimax RT45 225/60R-15 rubbing on belt on left turns

[jfischer]

Tire " calculators " are S.W.A.G. , , it's a mathematical formula ONLY ..... actual tire sizes can be quite a bit different form the Formula ....Mike :thumbup:

Yes, that is true. But since these bikes came with 225s standard, not 215s, it shouldn't generally be a problem I wouldn't think.

 

[Snoking1127]

You don't need to put the tire anywhere in relationship to the belt. I don't understand all the advise about a 215. The tire width is not the issue here. Even a 235 width tire should give you adequate clearance. Every Spyder ever made came stock with a 225 width tire. The tire you are using and the stock tire have the same width. Both will have 1/2" clearance at the belt.

Your wheel is mounted wrong. It's as simple as that. This is relatively easy to do on a Spyder. The 2 spacers (Red Circles) appear to be the same, but they are different widths. You want them to go back where they came from. And the rubber cushion set (Red Arrow) needs to go back exactly as it came out. If you just toss these components aside, you can easily put them back all wrong. We mark them at our shop so it's a simple and quick process to get this right the 1st time.

Then there is the matter of alignment. I'm not saying that they did this part wrong. But if you dismount the rear tire wrong, you have to realign it. A tedious and possibly time consuming process. If you do the wheel removal right, the alignment does not change, saving a lot of time and grief. I can't tell from the pictures what they did wrong. But your wheel/tire assembly is cocked to the left. Quite badly. I don't think even a really bad alignment would give you this much angle. But then again. I've never tried.

View attachment 207359

Looks like you identified the issue. Nothing in alignment would account to the large difference in spacing between the belt and tire.

 

[Allen42]

It actually was about 2" taller. We had to jack the trike up that much more to get the new tire under the mudflap. I took pics, but will have to upload them from the phone.

 

[Allen42]

Quote Originally Posted by BajaRon View Post
You don't need to put the tire anywhere in relationship to the belt. I don't understand all the advise about a 215. The tire width is not the issue here. Even a 235 width tire should give you adequate clearance. Every Spyder ever made came stock with a 225 width tire. The tire you are using and the stock tire have the same width. Both will have 1/2" clearance at the belt.

Your wheel is mounted wrong. It's as simple as that. This is relatively easy to do on a Spyder. The 2 spacers (Red Circles) appear to be the same, but they are different widths. You want them to go back where they came from. And the rubber cushion set (Red Arrow) needs to go back exactly as it came out. If you just toss these components aside, you can easily put them back all wrong. We mark them at our shop so it's a simple and quick process to get this right the 1st time.

Then there is the matter of alignment. I'm not saying that they did this part wrong. But if you dismount the rear tire wrong, you have to realign it. A tedious and possibly time consuming process. If you do the wheel removal right, the alignment does not change, saving a lot of time and grief. I can't tell from the pictures what they did wrong. But your wheel/tire assembly is cocked to the left. Quite badly. I don't think even a really bad alignment would give you this much angle. But then again. I've never tried.

Click image for larger version.

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This sounds exactly like what happened. The guy swapping it out was puzzled why the alignment would ahve gotten off, and this would explain it. I'm guessing he swapped spacer sides, and I know he didn't track when rubber cushion went in which hole, and I'll bet there's no way to know now. I think I'm going to show this to the dealer and make them take it back apart to try to correct it. Sigh.

 

[Peter Aawen]

This sounds exactly like what happened. The guy swapping it out was puzzled why the alignment would ahve gotten off, and this would explain it. I'm guessing he swapped spacer sides, and I know he didn't track when rubber cushion went in which hole, and I'll bet there's no way to know now. I think I'm going to show this to the dealer and make them take it back apart to try to correct it. Sigh.

Your dealer might not want to play, cos it's not an OEM tire?! :dontknow:

 

[Allen42]

Your dealer might not want to play, cos it's not an OEM tire?! :dontknow:

I mention that above... he's being very cool, and already knows it's not OEM. I don't think that will be a problem.

 

[BajaRon]

There just isn't enough information to make a determination on this one. I have thrown some suggestions out there. But it will be very interesting to find out what the final solution is. This is a strange one.

 

[Allen42]

Update: dealer removed the wheel, rebalanced it, and confirmed the spacers were all correct. He moved some of the rubber cushions around, reinstalled the wheel. He confirmed the left and right aligners were equal and aligned correctly, so adjusted the front pulley out some and now I have 1/4 to 3/8 (was about 1/8 before taking it in) clearance between the belt and tire. He said to keep an eye on it, and if it still rubs at all they’d shift the entire wheel to the right some.

Shout out to Texas Adventure in The Richardson Texas. The service manager, Kameron is a good guy. (I showed him our conversation, Ron. He knew of you and said he’d talked to you on the phone a couple of times.)