Some General Ride Height Info That May Benefit Others

[Peteoz]

I had 2 Goodyear Duragrip XL 165/60 (Made in Japan) fitted and balanced on my ‘21 RT-L today, by my local tyre shop.

After a shortish test run, this has fully addressed my goal of clearing serious humps/lumps/bumps (of which there are many) in the middle of our roads, and I find the Spyder not so affected by potholes.

Facts -

- The taller aspect tyres alone have lifted the front underbody by 10mm at rest.

- The front tyres have not altered the Speedo despite the taller aspect ……still showing 60kph while GPS shows 59kph…..this is the same as the Kenda Kanines 165/55. I only mention this as some believe that the Speedo sensors are affected by front tyres. This was not the case for either my F3 or RT. It appears the sensor for the speedo is indeed only at the rear.

- Auto tyre dealerships can balance tyres on the small Spyder wheel hub.

- Along with the preload adjustment, the front end underbody of the Spyder is now 15mm higher (when underway) than stock, and I experienced no underbody scraping in my short test run, nor any handling anomolies.

Seat of the pants observations -

- The Goodyears at 18psi definitely run much more smoothly over pockmarked roads than the Kanines.

- The Spyder feels like it is handling/cornering more comfortably (first noticed with just the preload).

I hope this info is of value to someone. It is not meant to trigger any kind of shock absorber discussion.:lecturef_smilie:

Pete

 

[BajaRon]

Speedometer runs off the rear wheel. So, changing front tires will make no difference.

 

[Peteoz]

Speedometer runs off the rear wheel. So, changing front tires will make no difference.

Thanks for the confirmation, Ron. I have read a couple of posts where posters have claimed that the front tyres affect the speedo, so I just wanted to note that that was not the case.

What is interesting is that I am still running the stock Kenda rear tyre, and the RT speedo and GPS are showing the same speed. There is usually a larger difference, with the speedo some 5kph higher. I wonder if they are calibrating them differently these days.

Pete