Wish I had not gone with a Vredestien Tire

[TheMariner]

What size did you go with on the F3?

I use stock size 165/55R15 on the front and non-stock size 215/60R15 on the rear of my F3-S. Down here in Australia there can also be supply problems getting 165/55R15's 'coz they are not commonly used, so it pays to plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time to source them.

 

[troop]

I wonder what the OP ultimately decided to do?

 

[Mr. Bruce]

I heard a lot of encouraging stories about dumping kendas for Vredestein. For those that are on the fence - save time money and frustration and just don't do it.

I ordered 205/60R15, the stock tire I took off was 225/50R15. Immediately I could see the size difference- they weren't even close! The Vredestein is most noticeably much narrower. So maybe I ordered the wrong size??? I got online and searched - nope, I got the right one. So I went to the dealership (with whom I had already made aware that I will be bringing in the tire and wheel for them to mount), and the service writer agreed - it doesn't even look right. I pressed him to mount it anyways and he reluctantly agreed. Well today I got a phone call; they will mount it if I REALLY want them to, but they would again strongly advise against it based on the size difference. At this point I threw in the towel. My own doubts coupled with different technicians opinions tell me not to mess with the tire sizes. Do so if you want, but be prepared some raised eyebrows for mounting a tire that is clearly the wrong size.

"One man's opinion." Your mileage may vary.

 

[IGETAROUND]

FWIW I just replaced my rear tire on my F3-T @ 78300 mile. This is 21935 miles since last changed. Not too shabby for an "under sized " tire on the rear! You all do as you chose, but I think that the Vredestein tire is a great and safe replacement tire for the spyders. Thanks Mike for all the investigation into this tire.

Al in Kazoo

 

[Woodenfish]

I’ve been reading this thread and others like it and have been left wondering about hydroplaning in severe downpours on the Spyder. I got caught in the rain twice, once very heavy rain and the other normal rainfall. Both times hydroplaning with the Kenda tires was not the issue, it was my inability to see. No matter what speed I was going my vision was terrible. Hydroplaning was the least of my worries. How do you all manage driving in this weather?

 

[Columbia]

Vredesteins in the front improved handling immediately. Less noticeable change when Vred installed on the rear. Kenda? Glad to get rid of them all.

 

[Peter Aawen]

I’ve been reading this thread and others like it and have been left wondering about hydroplaning in severe downpours on the Spyder. I got caught in the rain twice, once very heavy rain and the other normal rainfall. Both times hydroplaning with the Kenda tires was not the issue, it was my inability to see. No matter what speed I was going my vision was terrible. Hydroplaning was the least of my worries. How do you all manage driving in this weather?

Riding at anything much over 30 mph in the rain, no matter how heavy the rainfall (and I've been in some Elephant drowning, Toad strangling deluges!! ) the air-flow over the front & sides of my 2013 RT creates a 'still air rain free' zone behind the windscreen that extends out to the back of the trunk (helped by the 'whale tail' type rack on the top of the trunk... ) and it also causes all the rain that hits the windscreen to bead and run up off the screen and out to the sides (it makes a very interesting/attractive pattern when you're riding into the sun setting on the horizon thru a downpour that's dumping out of the clouds immediately above you, but which are high enough that they're not blocking the setting sun on the horizon! It's almost as good as the pattern seen when riding into the sunrise and the moisture beads formed by the morning mist on the screen all blow out and away from the centre of the screen! ), and it creates an almost completely 'rain free' zone behind the screen so that both my pillion and I don't have any issues with too much rain on our visors either; even tho my head mostly sticks up above the top of the windscreen - even when the screen is in the fully raised position and my head is above it, it's still in the 'deflected air' zone. We basically just don't get wet unless we slow below 30 mph-ish &/or stop! And what little rain does hit our visors does the same as the rain that hits the windscreen; it's blown up and out, then off into the slipstream behind us!

Maybe something you've added up the front of your Spyder has disturbed the air flow that would otherwise do something like that; or possibly that 'windscreen clearing' air flow is something the newer body style has lost?!

 

[RayBJ]

I had a similar problem with rain vision when I had my Zumo mounted on top of the dash cowl. When I moved it to the handlebars, the airflow greatly improved my vision.