Any thoughts about running Car Tires On The Rear?

[TerryTheSpyderRyder]

I just replaced the stock Kenda OEM rear tire on my F3-S with a Toyo Proxes car tire. The Kenda was worn out in the middle at 22,000 miles. The dealer says it was because I ran it at too high a pressure. I ran it at 30 lbs which I thought was the correct spec. Any thoughts about the Toyo car tire and tire pressure? Thanks

 

[Woodaddict]

It wasn't from 30 lbs, it's from weak tire manufacturing. You installed a car tire, much better and stronger cords to keep center from ballooning out. 18 - 20 lbs for car tires. Many tire threads on here to learn about best tires and pressures, can keep you reading for hours

Edit: since you posted in another thread. Kenda are manufactered with " for motorcycle use only" cause they are too weak for vehicle. The profile are exactly same, " J " style rims

 

[2dogs]

Most experienced riders run car tires all the way around, and they all use about the same PSI. For more info, go to the "search" section.

 

[2dogs]

Most experienced riders run car tires all the way around, and they all use about the same PSI. For more info, go to the "search" section.

 

[BajaRon]

The dealer is either ignorant or untruthful. Either way, not a good thing. You could run zero tire pressure (if that were possible) and the tire would still wear out in the middle, though 30 psi is a bit higher than recommended. Run 20-24 PSI in your Toyo. Some are running less than this.

 

[Peter Aawen]

I just replaced the stock Kenda OEM rear tire on my F3-S with a Toyo Proxes car tire. The Kenda was worn out in the middle at 22,000 miles. The dealer says it was because I ran it at too high a pressure. I ran it at 30 lbs which I thought was the correct spec. Any thoughts about the Toyo car tire and tire pressure? Thanks

Actually, EVERYBODY runs 'car tires' all round on their Spyders - the Kendas ARE car tires in all respects except that they're made very lightly made (and with poor quality control) and they have that label on the side so that people won't try putting them on their car, where they'd fail catastrophically pretty quickly cos they're so weak! But the Spyders' rims are car rims, with car style 'J' type bead profiles, and the Kendas have car tire construction, nothing at all like a motorcycle tire, but exactly the same construction type as all car tires, only weaker. It's a combination of that weak tire construction and the width of the rear tire that causes the centre of the Kenda & their clones tread to 'balloon out' when the tire rotates, more and more the higher the speed of rotation, pretty much regardless of their pressure, causing the rapid wear in the centre of the tread - cos that's the only bit ever touching the ground!

Most 'real' car tires are capable of carrying significantly more load than that imposed upon them by a Spyder, so if you run a 'real' car tire on your Spyder, their stronger construction holds the entire tread surface flat & in contact with the road surface and their stronger sidewalls mean that you really won't need to run anything much more than about 18 psi in them to carry the significantly lighter load of your Spyder, even if fully loaded, maybe a little less if you're light, lightly laden, or just pottering around town (don't go lower than 14 psi tho!), and running pressures much higher than that will likely introduce issues and wear characteristics related to over-inflation. If you've been running higher pressures for a while, it might feel a bit odd for a while, but once you get used to riding with pressure closer to what they should be for the load and therefore how things should feel, you'll likely very quickly learn enjoy the greater traction, better ride, handling, and the longer tread wear etc. Just Sayin'

 

[Bfromla]

Round Tire; holds air; ok ryde

 

[Gwolf]

Actually, 30 PSI on the rear Kenda is what is recommended and the dealer just said what Can Am wants them to say.

This is cut and pasted right out of my manual which came with the new Spyder.

I got about 6,000 miles out of the OEM Kenda rear. Get at least 4 or 5 times that with a Kumho @ 24 PSi on the rear.


Probably could get better mileage out of the rear, but I always try to stop just on the edge of the wide painted lines at the stop lights. The painted lines and the oil on the road leaves a slick place. If one of the kids on a Harley bagger with shotgun pipes stops side of me and revs the engine waiting for the green light, I leave him in a cloud of tire smoke when the light turns green. I have to keep getting older, but I don't have to grow up. I am only 75.

It is a safety thing. That oil on the road where the leaking heaps stop to wait for the light makes the tire slick and needs to be burned off before getting back up to speed.

 

[JayBros]

I am on my third General Altimax, and on the first two of them I replaced them early because I didn't want to be on the far side of beyond on a long tour and have the tour upended because I couldn't find another Altimax (Wally World can solve that problem) and, most important, a BRP dealership that would install a car tire AND check the belt tension with a Gates meter every time the wheel is removed the way the Spyder tech at the original dealership does.

 

[Mikey]

If you got 20,000 miles out of that tire you did well!!!

 

[TerryTheSpyderRyder]

It wasn't from 30 lbs, it's from weak tire manufacturing. You installed a car tire, much better and stronger cords to keep center from ballooning out. 18 - 20 lbs for car tires. Many tire threads on here to learn about best tires and pressures, can keep you reading for hours

Edit: since you posted in another thread. Kenda are manufactered with " for motorcycle use only" cause they are too weak for vehicle. The profile are exactly same, " J " s

The dealer is either ignorant or untruthful. Either way, not a good thing. You could run zero tire pressure (if that were possible) and the tire would still wear out in the middle, though 30 psi is a bit higher than recommended. Run 20-24 PSI in your Toyo. Some are running less than this.

Thank you! I have noticed the new tire has a better ride.

 

[Snoking1127]

I run 18-19 with General Altimax on the rear and 16-16.5 in the Vredesteins on the front.

 

[2dogs]

If you got 20,000 miles out of that tire you did well!!!

The Slingshot doesn't even get 20k in its rear tire.

 

[iSilentP]

I recently (June 2025) bought General Altimax RT45 tire for my 2014 RT. Rated at 75K miles. Time will tell, but I got a tremendous deal on it. ~$97 out the door (Walmart price match) at Discount Tire. Paid local dealer $200 for install. I got the 225/60 R 15 which is one size bigger than stock. Great thing about that size is it aligns the speedometer speed with the actual GPS speed which has always been one of my beefs about this and most other bike tires. So far with just over 2K miles, I am pleased. YMMV.

 

[Mtn Spyder]

I recently (June 2025) bought General Altimax RT45 tire for my 2014 RT. Rated at 75K miles. Time will tell, but I got a tremendous deal on it. ~$97 out the door (Walmart price match) at Discount Tire. Paid local dealer $200 for install. I got the 225/60 R 15 which is one size bigger than stock. Great thing about that size is it aligns the speedometer speed with the actual GPS speed which has always been one of my beefs about this and most other bike tires. So far with just over 2K miles, I am pleased. YMMV.

When you say the "local dealer" did the install, are you talking about a Spyder dealer or a tire shop?

 

[Dasmoetorhead]

If you got 20,000 miles out of that tire you did well!!!

In fact its probably a world record lol.

 

[Snoking1127]

When you say the "local dealer" did the install, are you talking about a Spyder dealer or a tire shop?

No tire shop would want to deal with replacing a rear Spyder tire or be qualified to be doing that. I have fitted two Spyders I owned with General Altimax tires. I will be doing another for a friend in the next couple weeks. And one this coming Summer on a new to me 2018 RTL with only 4200 miles, that should be mine on Sunday. It will not be used until Summer, as it is in Washington and I am in Arizona for the winter.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Just remember that in the past, when dealers have been 'outed' by a member posting here on the Forum that their dealer has fitted 'non-Kenda' tires onto Spyders &/or Rykers, they have frequently been either castigated by BRP for doing this and as a result will no longer do that for anyone else/ever again; or for whatever reason (which may or may not be related to said 'outing' ) they have very soon after ceased to sell or service Spyders at all! (could it be that they had been been dumped by BRP?! ) Even some 'non-dealer tire fitters' who've been 'outed' on the Forum have had 'the heavies' (not necessarily BRP or even specified/identified... ) visit/serve notice upon them that they'd better not do anything like that again!

And even if you don't specifically identify the dealer/tire fitter by name in this instance, if you have EVER included ANY unique identifiers &/or location details anywhere on the internet/social media in any of your posts, then you may as well have sent a formal letter to the World 'outing' these people, or maybe just posted your dealer's/the tire fitter's location in neon lights on every street corner in the country!

So please, if your dealer is kind enough/customer focused enough to fit a non-OEM approved/tire of your choice onto your Spyder/Ryker, ie, anything that is not an OEM Kenda/clone/derivative, then please, be smart enough and and kind enough to the dealer and all members here, and do NOT potentially screw that dealer over by publishing anything about them here - EVER! - if you must share that sort of 'this dealer fitted a/mkt tires to my Spydrr/Ryker' info with others on the public pages, do it via DM!

Just Sayin!

 

[BajaRon]

No tire shop would want to deal with replacing a rear Spyder tire or be qualified to be doing that. I have fitted two Spyders I owned with General Altimax tires. I will be doing another for a friend in the next couple weeks. And one this coming Summer on a new to me 2018 RTL with only 4200 miles, that should be mine on Sunday. It will not be used until Summer, as it is in Washington and I am in Arizona for the winter.

Probably true if you're asking them to remove and reinstall the rear wheel. But most tire shops will happily mount a tire to the rear wheel if you take it to them off the bike. Because it's no different than mounting any other car tire to a car wheel. They won't be able to spin balance it. But balance beads work great because a quality tire takes a lot less weight to balance than the Kenda OEM's.

Not to mention that you'll save a TON of money doing it this way.

But like Peter says. If your Can-Am dealer will do it for you, don't say anything. Gets them in BIG trouble.

3rd option for an upgrade. Have your dealer install a Kenda Kanine or the new XPS tire they just came out with.

 

[Mtn Spyder]

Thanks, you've confirmed what I thought. Fortunately, I generally do most of my own repairs so taking the rim to a "tire dealer" is no big deal for me. The only Spyder dealer near me is 75 miles away and they are very slow in getting the work done and my bike back. EG, it took all day to get a 2nd ley coded to the bike.