New rear tire and now going into limp mode

[jon8622]

I installed a 215/60R15 on the rear. Now I am going into limp mode whenever I go above 40mph. Nearest spyder dealer is 200 miles away and is not really an option.

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[Grandpot]

If you disturbed the ABS sensor when you changed the tire, check it's adjustment.

[Chupaca]

Easy to mess up the abs sensor or the wires to it . It reads off the starated disc behind the brake disc. You should be able to get some codes to help out with the problem. If you don't have the spyder code app you should get it (free) to help you with all these things....

[jon8622]

Thank you! I will let you know how this turns out. I didn't think about the sensor positioning.

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[Peter Aawen]

While it is most likely related to disturbing your rear ABS sensor, if sorting that doesn't fix your problem, you may need to consider your front tire size!!

Please bear with me while I explain a little. Firstly, the 'nanny' relies on the sensors on each wheel telling it that the wheels are turning at the same speed, so if you've changed your rear wheel & the size difference (rolling dia/circumference) between front vs rear is now much more than about 20mm different to what it was/what the nanny expects it to be, you might need to do something (like change air pressure in the tires or fit similarly 'over-sized' tires up front) so that the front vs rear tire speeds match better or at least get within the limits the nanny can handle - it seems that the closer the speeds are to being within an acceptable difference, the faster you can travel before the nanny gets upset....

Generally, fitting a 215/60 on the rear instead of the OE 225/50 shouldn't be much of an issue to the nanny or anything else, but the generic or nominal tire sizes on their sidewalls don't always tell the full story, so whatever brand tire you've fitted might actually be pushing the increase limit just a little, especially if you are running a fairly high tire pressure (say, anything over 30 psi!!) Add to that the fact that the front wheels are only ground driven, so if they are getting a little worn & low in their tread depth, and maybe you are running a fairly low pressure in them (say, anything below about 18 psi) you could be pushing the rolling dia/circumference difference into the realm of 'too much' for the nanny!!

So like I said earlier, if sorting the ABS sensor position doesn't resolve your problems, you might hafta look at finding out exactly what the rolling dia of your new tire is & compare it to the specs on the OE crap rather than going by a generic size comparison chart. Even if they seem pretty close, consider the state of wear/tread depth on your front tires & check your tire pressures all around. Many tire fitters use 40 plus psi to 'seat the bead' when fitting a new tire, & that might be OK IF they remember to drop it back down to a safe road pressure, but they often don't!! And as I've experienced myself, running the rear tire pressure too high by as little as 4psi in your new rear tire is quite enough to upset the nanny when you still have fairly worn OE front tires or they are running a 'lower than spec' pressure!!

Dropping my new rear tire pressure by 2psi (to 26 psi from 28 psi) & upping the fronts (from 18 psi to 22 psi) pushed my 'upset the nanny' front/rear speed variance high enough so I didn't get any 'limp modes' for any of my usual 'daily driving' speeds, but it wasn't until I fitted new front tires that were about the same % larger than the OE size as the rear increase was that I resolved it entirely!! Good thing my front tires were almost worn out I guess; altho while putting an after market tire on the rear improved things a lot, fitting them on the front as well as the rear improved the ride & handling, traction etc sooo much more that if I bought a brand new Spyder right now, it wouldn't get off the showroom floor before I tossed the Kenda crap & ordered some real tires!!

I do hope your issue is just the ABS sensor positioning, but if it's not, I hope the info above can help. Good Luck.

[Highwayman2013]

I put a 215/60/15 on the rear with stock Kendas on the front and no nanny problems for 5,000 miles and then put 185/60/14s on the front and no nanny problems for 15,000 miles. Check the sensor.

[billybovine]

You did not share what model year your GS/RS is. If it is a 2008, 2009 or early build 2010. There are 2 sensors and both have to be correctly set with the go no go gages in the tool kit. 2010 late build and later have only one sensor and no checking tools in the kit.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

While it is most likely related to disturbing your rear ABS sensor, if sorting that doesn't fix your problem, you may need to consider your front tire size!!

Please bear with me while I explain a little. Firstly, the 'nanny' relies on the sensors on each wheel telling it that the wheels are turning at the same speed, so if you've changed your rear wheel & the size difference (rolling dia/circumference) between front vs rear is now much more than about 20mm different to what it was/what the nanny expects it to be, you might need to do something (like change air pressure in the tires or fit similarly 'over-sized' tires up front) so that the front vs rear tire speeds match better or at least get within the limits the nanny can handle - it seems that the closer the speeds are to being within an acceptable difference, the faster you can travel before the nanny gets upset....

Generally, fitting a 215/60 on the rear instead of the OE 225/50 shouldn't be much of an issue to the nanny or anything else, but the generic or nominal tire sizes on their sidewalls don't always tell the full story, so whatever brand tire you've fitted might actually be pushing the increase limit just a little, especially if you are running a fairly high tire pressure (say, anything over 30 psi!!) Add to that the fact that the front wheels are only ground driven, so if they are getting a little worn & low in their tread depth, and maybe you are running a fairly low pressure in them (say, anything below about 18 psi) you could be pushing the rolling dia/circumference difference into the realm of 'too much' for the nanny!!

So like I said earlier, if sorting the ABS sensor position doesn't resolve your problems, you might hafta look at finding out exactly what the rolling dia of your new tire is & compare it to the specs on the OE crap rather than going by a generic size comparison chart. Even if they seem pretty close, consider the state of wear/tread depth on your front tires & check your tire pressures all around. Many tire fitters use 40 plus psi to 'seat the bead' when fitting a new tire, & that might be OK IF they remember to drop it back down to a safe road pressure, but they often don't!! And as I've experienced myself, running the rear tire pressure too high by as little as 4psi in your new rear tire is quite enough to upset the nanny when you still have fairly worn OE front tires or they are running a 'lower than spec' pressure!!

Dropping my new rear tire pressure by 2psi (to 26 psi from 28 psi) & upping the fronts (from 18 psi to 22 psi) pushed my 'upset the nanny' front/rear speed variance high enough so I didn't get any 'limp modes' for any of my usual 'daily driving' speeds, but it wasn't until I fitted new front tires that were about the same % larger than the OE size as the rear increase was that I resolved it entirely!! Good thing my front tires were almost worn out I guess; altho while putting an after market tire on the rear improved things a lot, fitting them on the front as well as the rear improved the ride & handling, traction etc sooo much more that if I bought a brand new Spyder right now, it wouldn't get off the showroom floor before I tossed the Kenda crap & ordered some real tires!!

I do hope your issue is just the ABS sensor positioning, but if it's not, I hope the info above can help. Good Luck.

.....I'm sure the OP has Stock wheels .....and therefore there is no combination of tire sizes that could cause this ........IMHO......Mike

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

As others have said. There is virtually no way the rear tire you fitted would cause the issue you're having. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Spyders have this tire combination with zero issues. There just isn't enough of a disparity between the 215/60 and the 225/50 to cause any heartburn with the nanny.

And as others have said, it is most likely the rear sensor that is the culprit.

Let us know what you find to be the fix.

i'm not saying the tire is the problem but a 215x60R15 is over 30mm taller then the factory 225x50R15. personally when
the time comes i will put back factory size on my bike whether it be kenda or someone else, a 5% variance is more then
i will allow.

[SpyderAnn01]

We put a 215/60/15 on a 2010 RS and it caused ABS and VSS errors also. We were able to clear them with BUDS.

[BajaRon]

We put a 215/60/15 on a 2010 RS and it caused ABS and VSS errors also. We were able to clear them with BUDS.

Really! Well, live and learn. It must be some variance in what different VSS systems will tolerate. So, maybe he does have a tire size issue.

You can clear this with BUDS but did they make a calibration change to keep it from happening again?

[jon8622]

Thank you all. I fused with the sensors, they seem okay. I am trying the tire pressure suggestion. Buds, is it only accessible at a dealership?

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[Grandpot]

Dealers have Buds and some independent shops will have it. I bought my own recently because I work on all my bikes and cars. A Buds system costs around $1,000 plus you will need a laptop.

[jon8622]

Thank you all. The tire pressure change seems to have this solved. This is so good as many roads in Wyoming had their speed limits increased.

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[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Thank you all. The tire pressure change seems to have this solved. This is so good as many roads in Wyoming had their speed limits increased.

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... I'm almost positive you got the code from spinning the tire to fast.......after installation........This often occurs when people are checking their ALIGNMENT , and spin the tire........It won't matter what size tire you put on .....even the OEM Kenda tire can / will cause this.............It will clear it-self tho...............Which is exactly what happened in your case...............Mike

[Peter Aawen]

Altho I said it before, I guess I couldna said it clearly enough.... While MOST people won't have any issues swapping a 225/50 for a 215/60, because there are differences in actual sizes of different brand/make tires, there's a chance that some will have issues - and while in my earlier post I offered a 'fall back option' to the OP just in case the sensor thing didn't work for him, maybe this time explaining it a little differently can help others come to grips with it too.... And btw, apparently the tire pressure thing did help!

There can be a fairly significant difference in actual tire diameters across the range of manufacturers & different brands of tires even in the same 'nominal' tire sizes - the 225/50R15 that Kenda sells is a 'nominal' 23" dia tire (actually about 23.5", but even that varies a bit!!) that does about 850 revs to travel a mile, while many others with the same size branded on the sidewall are 'nominal' 24" tires that only do something like 815-820 revs per mile.... And while most 215/60R15 tires are 'nominal' 25" tires (generally around 25 to 25.9" dia) that do around 805-810 revs per mile, there are quite a few of them that are a tad larger and drop down to 800 revs per mile & some even drop down into the high 790's in revs per mile.

With a few years of testing tires on all sorts of vehicles behind me, like many others I've seen and experienced the issues raised by the differences I described above, & I also experienced the Spyder VSS issues described when I first fitted a (slightly...??) larger dia 225/60R15 on the rear of my RT without changing the (well worn) fronts at the same time - but the tire pressure changes (that have worked for many with the same problems) worked well enough for the next (slightly less than) 1000 miles or so before I swapped the fronts to 175/55R15's & reverted to 'normal' (for me, anyway) tire pressures. Been there, done that, wouldn't have posted anything unless I knew that it happened!!

But the most important thing to realise about all this is that the tire size printed on the sidewall of any tire does not necessarily mean it's going to be EXACTLY the same size as the details provided by generic tire size calculators!! There can be and often is a fairly significant range of variation in the actual dimensions of 'same sized' tires that are made by different manufacturing plants, different brands, or even just different tread patterns or construction type from the same manufacturer!! While the generic size calculators can be a handy guide for starting your replacement tire search, you MUST look at the specific details published by the manufacturer for a particular tire if you are changing tire size or brand, and you need to compare the rolling dia, circumference, & even revs per mile with your current tire. And even then, because our Spyders have a pretty good nanny, you need to consider the state of wear on your fronts vs your rear - putting a brand new tire on the rear that pushes the 20mm or so dia increase limit that the VSS can handle anyway while your front tires have worn down, possibly almost 10mm of tread from new could well push the front/rear size variance well beyond the maximum difference in revs per mile that the VSS can tolerate: +20 from the rear teamed with -10 up front = 30mm, which seems to be well beyond the size variance & therefore the speed/rotation difference that the VSS can manage!!

Adjusting tire pressures to compensate is a tried & proven 'band-aid' & short-term fix, but the only real long-term fix is to make sure that you know the ACTUAL dimensions of the tires you are fitting onto your Spyder and that if you increase the rear rolling dia, you should also match that with a similar increase in the front rolling dia....