2016 RT With A Rear Car Tire
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:44 pm
A couple problems solved read below.
I am running a car tire on the rear on my 2016 RT because I like to ride long distances and I don’t like to have to change my tires while out riding. I switched from a Gold Wing last year and bought a new 2016 RT. I was having to change the rear tire before 9,000 miles on the first two sets of tires. I did not like that as I sometimes do rides longer than 9,000. I had used a car tire on my Gold Wing’s for over 150,000 miles with no issues and I really liked hoe the car tire handled on the Gold Wing.
I started looking to see if anyone was running a car tire on BMW’s and came across a couple who were using them on K1600’s but no RT’s or other BMW’s. The riders using a car tire on the K1600’s only had good comments and were happy with what mileage they were getting and the performance of the tires. The only issue was that they needed a 3/8 inch spacer between the wheel and the hub to keep the car tire from rubbing the swingarm. They all said the spacer did not cause them any issues and the K1600 still tracked straight down the road.
I started researching car tires for the RT and I wanted a 195/55R17 as I knew that tire would not need a spacer because the wheel width is narrow enough. Of course no one makes a 195/55R17 tire so I kept looking. I finally found a 195/45R-17 YOKOHAMA S.DRIVE XL that would fit and not need the spacer. I rode about 5,000 miles on this tire and it felt good except it caused the odometer to record more miles than I was riding since the diameter was smaller than the OEM tire. It also reduced my MPG’s slightly. It felt good but I did not like the tradeoffs so I kept looking.
I use a website that allows me to compare tires to get the diameter and other measurements, https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=180-55r17-205-50r17
During this time I contacted the person who made the spacer for the K1600 riders and had him make me a spacer just in case.
I finally found a nice tire that had great test and driver reviews and I ordered it. It is a 205/50ZR-17 BF Goodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S XL - UTQG: 400 AA A. I took the wheel to the local tire place and had them mount it. I mounted the tire to the RT to see if I would need the spacer and found I did need the spacer as the tire would touch the swing arm. So I put the spacer between the wheel and the rear hub and I used GSA wheel bolts as they are a little longer and would work with the spacer. The person who sold me the spacer told me this trick.
I put 37 PSI in the tire and went for some rides and I found that 37 PSI was too much pressure and I reduced it to 34 PSI and that is where it felt great. I road around 8,000 miles with the tire doing some 1500+ mile days and it really felt great and did not cause me any problems in the twisties. I was even able to drag a few things with the car tire.
I now on my second BF Goodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S XL and have over 16,000 miles and still love the tire and the setup.
There still was one problem. The BMW TPMS would flash yellow with around 33 PSI and more all the time and it would turn red and be real annoying if the pressure dropped below 33 PSI like when it was cold out and or raining. On my Gold Wing I had the same issue so I reversed the programming of the TMPS sensors making the onboard system think the rear was the front and the front was the rear. This solved the issue of the TPMS light coming on with the Gold Wing.
I have the GS-911 and saw it had some TPMS learning capabilities and started asking questions could I also reverse the TPMS sensors and fool the BMW RT into thinking the rear was the front and the front the rear. Well everyone said NO!
I thought that was not correct so I started playing around and I read all of the user manuals to see how to program the TMPS with the GS-911 and I started testing. One thing I found out was that you need a TMPS tool to wake up the sensors which I had as I had to do that with the Gold Wing. You also need to know the TPMS sensor ID number which is printed on the sensor in the tire and is stored in the RT’s onboard computer. The GS-911 will also display the TPMS sensor ID.
I got everything setup and the GS-911 connected to the RT and I started the TPMS sensor functionality in the GS-911 and I saw the TMPS sensor ID for the front and rear in the GS-911 software. I took a couple photos of these numbers so I would not forget them as I needed them to reprogram the computer. I used the TMPS sensor wake up tool and then ran the GS-911 software and the sensors did wake up and I could read the tire pressure and the tire temperature.
I tried to use the manual TPMS programming functionality in the GS-911 software and program in the rear sensor ID for the front and the front for the rear but it would not take. I tried a few times thinking maybe I made a mistake. I then thought maybe I need to change the sensor ID’s to something that is not already stored into the computer so I programmed the front to 1111111 and the rear to 2222222. I then tried again to program the front with the rear TPMS sensor ID and the rear with the front TMPS sensor ID and it worked!
Now on my dash the TPMS does not light up yellow or red when I only have 32 to 34 PSI in the rear tire. I only need to remember that I have the sensors switched. The front reads 34 PSI and the rear reads 41 PSI.
I should get around 20,000 miles out of the rear tire.
I am running a car tire on the rear on my 2016 RT because I like to ride long distances and I don’t like to have to change my tires while out riding. I switched from a Gold Wing last year and bought a new 2016 RT. I was having to change the rear tire before 9,000 miles on the first two sets of tires. I did not like that as I sometimes do rides longer than 9,000. I had used a car tire on my Gold Wing’s for over 150,000 miles with no issues and I really liked hoe the car tire handled on the Gold Wing.
I started looking to see if anyone was running a car tire on BMW’s and came across a couple who were using them on K1600’s but no RT’s or other BMW’s. The riders using a car tire on the K1600’s only had good comments and were happy with what mileage they were getting and the performance of the tires. The only issue was that they needed a 3/8 inch spacer between the wheel and the hub to keep the car tire from rubbing the swingarm. They all said the spacer did not cause them any issues and the K1600 still tracked straight down the road.
I started researching car tires for the RT and I wanted a 195/55R17 as I knew that tire would not need a spacer because the wheel width is narrow enough. Of course no one makes a 195/55R17 tire so I kept looking. I finally found a 195/45R-17 YOKOHAMA S.DRIVE XL that would fit and not need the spacer. I rode about 5,000 miles on this tire and it felt good except it caused the odometer to record more miles than I was riding since the diameter was smaller than the OEM tire. It also reduced my MPG’s slightly. It felt good but I did not like the tradeoffs so I kept looking.
I use a website that allows me to compare tires to get the diameter and other measurements, https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=180-55r17-205-50r17
During this time I contacted the person who made the spacer for the K1600 riders and had him make me a spacer just in case.
I finally found a nice tire that had great test and driver reviews and I ordered it. It is a 205/50ZR-17 BF Goodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S XL - UTQG: 400 AA A. I took the wheel to the local tire place and had them mount it. I mounted the tire to the RT to see if I would need the spacer and found I did need the spacer as the tire would touch the swing arm. So I put the spacer between the wheel and the rear hub and I used GSA wheel bolts as they are a little longer and would work with the spacer. The person who sold me the spacer told me this trick.
I put 37 PSI in the tire and went for some rides and I found that 37 PSI was too much pressure and I reduced it to 34 PSI and that is where it felt great. I road around 8,000 miles with the tire doing some 1500+ mile days and it really felt great and did not cause me any problems in the twisties. I was even able to drag a few things with the car tire.
I now on my second BF Goodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S XL and have over 16,000 miles and still love the tire and the setup.
There still was one problem. The BMW TPMS would flash yellow with around 33 PSI and more all the time and it would turn red and be real annoying if the pressure dropped below 33 PSI like when it was cold out and or raining. On my Gold Wing I had the same issue so I reversed the programming of the TMPS sensors making the onboard system think the rear was the front and the front was the rear. This solved the issue of the TPMS light coming on with the Gold Wing.
I have the GS-911 and saw it had some TPMS learning capabilities and started asking questions could I also reverse the TPMS sensors and fool the BMW RT into thinking the rear was the front and the front the rear. Well everyone said NO!
I thought that was not correct so I started playing around and I read all of the user manuals to see how to program the TMPS with the GS-911 and I started testing. One thing I found out was that you need a TMPS tool to wake up the sensors which I had as I had to do that with the Gold Wing. You also need to know the TPMS sensor ID number which is printed on the sensor in the tire and is stored in the RT’s onboard computer. The GS-911 will also display the TPMS sensor ID.
I got everything setup and the GS-911 connected to the RT and I started the TPMS sensor functionality in the GS-911 and I saw the TMPS sensor ID for the front and rear in the GS-911 software. I took a couple photos of these numbers so I would not forget them as I needed them to reprogram the computer. I used the TMPS sensor wake up tool and then ran the GS-911 software and the sensors did wake up and I could read the tire pressure and the tire temperature.
I tried to use the manual TPMS programming functionality in the GS-911 software and program in the rear sensor ID for the front and the front for the rear but it would not take. I tried a few times thinking maybe I made a mistake. I then thought maybe I need to change the sensor ID’s to something that is not already stored into the computer so I programmed the front to 1111111 and the rear to 2222222. I then tried again to program the front with the rear TPMS sensor ID and the rear with the front TMPS sensor ID and it worked!
Now on my dash the TPMS does not light up yellow or red when I only have 32 to 34 PSI in the rear tire. I only need to remember that I have the sensors switched. The front reads 34 PSI and the rear reads 41 PSI.
I should get around 20,000 miles out of the rear tire.