Quote:
Originally Posted by lon@carolon.net
Thanks Bob. I took into account the California Personal Property Tax. But I forgot about tires and tubes, so now I've added those to my spreadsheet.
You've given me reason to hope -- and I know it's just a hope -- that there'll be few unexpected squawks when the plane is still young.
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I'm coming up on my second annual and have not needed to replace tubes and tires yet.
Due to the toe-in on the RV-12 my tires have not unexpectedly worn on the outer plies. My right tire has worn more than the left.
This may be partly my fault as I find it tedious to have to remove the back half of the wheel fairing in order to check the brake pads as well as tire pressure and then re-inflate as necessary. You can eyeball the tire but of course this is the inaccurate lazy way!
I just checked tire pressures today for all three wheels and it took me about 45 minutes to unscrew the fairings put air in and re-install them.
I had my mechanic cut some holes in the fairing so as to more easily check pressure and add air but the thing here is to roll the plane back and forth trying to find the mark I made on the tire to align with the gauge!
Though I really like the fairings, and I think they add a couple of knots to cruise speed, I'm wondering if I'll try flying without them them and see how much of a difference it makes.
When I picked up my SLSA from Vans they gave me a spare inner tube to carry in the plane.
I plan on having the main tires reversed at annual since the tire is resting on the opposite side of the toe in. I've heard of owners adding shims to try and reduce this but not sure if that's allowed on an SLSA.
It would great if Vans could design an access panel in the wheel fairings so as to make the brake and tire pressure inspection so much easier.