Questions....
 

This weekend I installed the said 380/150 15 tires by Aero Classic.
I have Van's stock Matco wheels and brakes, and new pads.
I tried installing with no spacing washers between the wheel and rotor and the brake caliber touched the rubber. With two standard washers I now have about 3/16 to 1/4" clearance. I did not note how much clearance there was with the old stock tires. It must have been about the same?

What clearance do you have???

As the pads wear the spacing will get better, I assume.

Also the caliber just touches the inside of the wheel pant. Do you think this will cause problems more than the obvious wear of both parts????

I'm glad this BIG TIRE post came up. I had the stock 500X5's on my six and they were adequate, but I always yearned for a larger tire for grass strips and frozen lakes. I haven't fitted my wheel pants yet on my 7, so I thought I would give the 380X150-5's a try. Regarding tire pressure, what PSI are you guys running with this setup? I found with my six that a higher tire pressure all but eliminated the shimmey problem. Figure I'll go with the Michelin's and have them dynamically balanced and see how it goes.

Jake

Clearance to move about the country...
 

Bruce,
I was a Big Tire "Beta Tester" having installed 380's on my Rocket and later my RV4 back in 2008. I purchased them after reading Steve Sampson's construction blog of his masterpiece RV4, G-IKON.
Cleveland wheels have close tolerance as well and I installed washers to allow for clearance as you did. I trimmed my wheel pants accordingly to increase clearance. I didn't notice any speed loss.

You're going to like the change however, especially if you operate primarily on soft turf or grass. Operating my Rocket from my home strip at the time "The Swamp" was a quantum leap better in ground handling especially during rainy season in FL (all summer)
:)
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...hwheels+Rocket
Here is a thread with more info...
V/R
Smokey

Thanks Smokey! I'll let you know how it works, or watch for me in the news! :D

Twice the ground clearance without raising the pant, photo taken with tail wheel on the floor.


More contact patch...

Bruce, any more updates since you started running the bigger tyres on the Matco wheels? Any touch issues with tyre to sidewall?

Cheers,
Ed.

Thanks for the info Smokey...
The photos from that 2008 post are not showing up...any chance of reposting those photos or updating the old post?

So far so good! A dozen or so TO's and Landings, with a couple on plush green, wet grass. Handles just fine. I did cut a small hole in the inside of the pants for clearance of the lower rear caliper bolt. It was touching the pant. I need to make a small bubble to cover it, right now it has some duct tape. :p. My pants are vinyl covered, so the patch will be easy.
And a couple cross country flights showed no noticeable speed loss.

I just mounted my 380x150-5's and they look great. Does anyone have a recommended tire pressure that I should be running in these?
Cheers,
Tom.

I had shimmy above 35PSI. 25-30 seems to work good for me. At 20 PSI they started to look flat.

Bevan