tire wear

Harvey rv12 · #1 04-27-2016, 12:45 PM

I was inspecting my tires & brakes during annual. My left main is very worn on the outside of the tread, while the inside is nearly untouched. Right side is similar, just not quite as extreme. What is this a sign of ?, poor alignment?, or simply a result of the built in camber of the main gear ?. has anyone tried to shim it to minimize uneven wear ?.
I am tempted to remove tire and rotate it on the rim, to get full mileage out of it. tire has 133 hrs, on it since new, and when I get home, I will count the number of landings.
What kind of tire life are you -12 owners getting ?.

Also, how do you apply lubrication to all the flight control linkage, bearings & hinges ?. I took a small 1/4" paint brush, dipped it into LPS 2 spray lube, and applied as best I could. Your thoughts ??

Thanks in advance

tomkk · #2 04-27-2016, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harvey rv12

I was inspecting my tires & brakes during annual. My left main is very worn on the outside of the tread, while the inside is nearly untouched. Right side is similar, just not quite as extreme. What is this a sign of ?, poor alignment?, or simply a result of the built in camber of the main gear ?. has anyone tried to shim it to minimize uneven wear ?.
I am tempted to remove tire and rotate it on the rim, to get full mileage out of it. tire has 133 hrs, on it since new, and when I get home, I will count the number of landings.
What kind of tire life are you -12 owners getting ?.

That's normal, I just rotated my tires on the rims recently to use the other half of the tire. Not sure how best to measure tire life, I guess by the number of landings. I flipped mine after 140.

PilotBrent · #3 04-27-2016, 01:47 PM

Very normal for the outsides of the tires to wear faster - there are several threads and postings on here related to that topic. Next question will be which brand to replace the tire with. Again, lots of opinions. Wish I had started rotating earlier to balance the wear myself.

For lube, I use the spray lube as well with the extension tube on the nozzle to help better aim/direct it to where you want it. Hold a rag behind each place that you spray to limit the over-spray mess. Lube seems to soak into the various places you are targeting.

Ueli N · #4 04-27-2016, 01:48 PM

After landing gear installation I found out that the left gear had a tow in of one degree.
Vans sells alignment shims in half and one degree.$ 25.00 each.
Too much tow in will increase tire wear on the outside.

Tony_T · #5 04-27-2016, 03:06 PM

Here is a picture I took right after I turned the tires on the rims. This was at 3 years use, about 200 hours. I haven't counted the landings.

200 hours.

Now at 350 hours and I just replaced the tires and tubes with new.

There are several threads in the forum about the tire wear. Without seeing yours it's hard to say if it is normal, but wear on the outside is typical.

f1rocket · #6 04-28-2016, 05:23 AM

The tires are always going to wear a little more on the outside edge due to the camber. However, you can really stretch your tire wear by taking the time to do a proper alignment of the axles. Yes, Van's sells you two different degree shims for the axles so that you can get the toe to as close to zero as possible. As I recall on mine, one axle was perfect and the other was out by about 1 degree. I shimmed it.

I used a laser straight edge to align my gear. I now have 200 hours on my first set of tires and they look like they will easily go another 100 hours, maybe 200.

BigJohn · #7 04-28-2016, 05:48 AM

Keep in mind that wear is not the only thing to look for in tires. My originals still had plenty of tread left at over 200 hours, but the rubber was starting to show a look of checking, after four years. Replaced all three last year at annual imspection time.

Tony_T · #8 04-28-2016, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by f1rocket

I used a laser straight edge to align my gear. I now have 200 hours on my first set of tires and they look like they will easily go another 100 hours, maybe 200.

Randy, can you describe your laser straight edge set-up to measure toe-in. I would like to check this with a better method than the string.

BCP Boys · #9 04-28-2016, 09:14 AM

Your question as to why your Left tire is wearing more than your Right tire may has something to do with you flying your RV-12 from the Left side with no one in the passenger seat. If that is the case and you fly alone most of the time then it's perfectly normal. However, if you have someone with you most of the time and the weight distribution is on both tires, then you may have to look at a shim for the Left side because if weight distribution is the same then both tires should be wearing at the same rate on the outside of the tread.

Harvey rv12 · #10 04-28-2016, 10:17 AM

I have about 200 landings and 133 hrs, and my left front tire is completely worn on the outboard side.
Is there a tire alignment spec that call for a certain camber or toe-in-out ?.
As soon as I figure out how to use drop-box to post a photo here, I will share a pic of my 2 tires.