I just got back from a dealer who installed my 225/60/15 Altimax. Everything went fine until I got home and read the repair order. Here is what they wrote. "Rear tire will cause the speedo to read incorrectly. Aspect ratio of tire was wrong (wrong tire size) sidewall is bigger and the wheel diameter is larger which MAY cause extra/premature wear on the belt and pulleys along with vehicle speed being off. I do not recommend doing this". The Spyder is my wife's ride and she is now very concerned that I did this. Can you comment on this opinion. Was it just a CYA?
Dealer has been very good to us and was the only one in 60 miles that would mount a customer's car tire.
While they are absolutely correct in that the tire isn't the exact same size/spec as the OEM tire (which is basically a '
not really great quality or well made' lightweight version of a car tire in an odd size so that you can't readily go anywhere else to replace it with any better alternative in exactly the same size

) they've simply toe-ed the corporate line with a lot of their statement, and at least some of it is demonstrably
WRONG!!
Here, I'll fix it for you:
"
Rear tire will cause the speedo to read closer to your correct/true speed. Aspect ratio of tire is different to OEM as the sidewall is taller so the wheel rolling diameter is slightly larger, which teamed with the stronger construction and better quality control during the tire manufacture, WILL provide better traction, ride, rider comfort, handling, braking, suspension compliance, puncture & road hazard resistance, and more; and while it MAY cause barely measurable extra/premature wear on the belt and pulleys along with the indicated vehicle speed & fuel economy/range etc. being closer to correct/true, the former wear concerns haven't yet been shown to occur on any of the thousands if not tens of thousands of Spyders already running similar sized tires successfully over many tens of thousands of miles. But because we are good corporate members toe-ing the company line in order to boost dealer & manufacturer profits, I do not recommend doing this."
So yeah, it's an exercise in Dealer CYA and a sop to BRP demands, who
really frown on dealers fitting anything but their preferred but OEM option, so I really hope you haven't mentioned
WHO your dealer is or even provided enough info for anyone to hazard a guess as to who they might be anywhere on the internet, cos if you have, there's a pretty good chance that they'll be getting a stern talking to from BRP in the near future about doing this, and as a result, either they'll stop fitting owner preferred/alternative tires entirely, or as evidenced in earlier posts on this subject here on the Forum, they'll choose or be forced to stop dealing in Spyders entirely.... :banghead:
Marginally larger/higher profile better quality a/mkt car tires run at an appropriate (lower) pressure of about 16-18 psi in order to suit the (lower) weight they're carrying when fitted to a 'lighter than a car' Spyder should see the a/mkt tire you've had fitted out-performing the OEM tires in all respects; so really, your wife shouldn't be
concerned at all. In fact, she should be
relieved and pleased that you care enough and consider her comfort and safety enough to choose to fit a tire to her Spyder that will out-perform the OEM tire in all respects, apart from that of making more profit for the dealer/manufacturer!
Just Sayin' :cheers: