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Tire life

Ham

Member
I'm about to replace my Goodyear Flight Custom III tires at 140 hours (lots of short flights, many landings, always on pavement) and I have a couple of questions.

What lifetime can RV-4 pilots expect from their tires?

Are retreads a good options?

Thanks in advance for comments.
 
The second set of tires should last longer because you have now learned to land the plane and that should reduce the wear and tear. Retreads are good if you have the clearance in the wheel pants.
 
I'm about to replace my Goodyear Flight Custom III tires at 140 hours (lots of short flights, many landings, always on pavement) and I have a couple of questions.

What lifetime can RV-4 pilots expect from their tires?

Are retreads a good options?

Thanks in advance for comments.

You have one of the best tire brand on your RV4. If they are not dry rotten and not overly worn keep rolling. Usually the outer threads are worn more than inner and we often flip them.

I am not sure RV-4 tire life expectancy is less then other RV models. I fly an RV with a training wheel, often to places where hard braking is a must. I am still able to get from 500 to 1000 hours from a set. It would take me 35 sets of tires if I change every 140 hours.

I've tried them all. Retreads are heavy, a bit oversized and more often than not require the balancing. They have more rubber meat, harder and cheaper. However if there is a mismatch in shipping don't expect a quick response from customer service if any.

Let us know what you decide. Happy flying and please post a couple of pictures :)
 
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Just finished my 2nd annual on my RV-7 at a bit over 300 hours. The original tires supplied with the kit had just worn the inner grove to flush (no cord showing) so I replaced them with Goodyear Flight Special IIs.
 
On my 4 (which I did not build) I only got about 50-60 hrs on a set of cheaper tires. This was after changing them side to side after 15-20 hrs, due to uneven wear, and then turning them on the rim after another 15-20 and then side to side again. After checking the wheel alignment I found one side at 1* and the other at 1.5* toe in. I read that Vans wants .5* toe in on each side. Since I didn't want to go through the hassle of fixing the toe in I tried a number of tires during the 450 hrs I had the plane. The best I found were the Goodyear Flight Special II. They would last 100 hrs with no rotations (never did try the Custom III's due to the very high cost) before needing replacement.

On my 7 I replaced the original Vans supplied tires at 250 hrs with no swapping and very even wear. I could have gotten another 50 hrs or so but decided to change them during my annual rather than have to take things apart again. I put the Flight Special II's on and only have 70 hrs since my annual last spring so I will see how long these go.
 
I use the Specialty Tire AirHawk 6 ply tires, pretty inexpensive. I had to modify my wheel pants slightly to fit them from the original Aero Trainer 6 ply tires from Vans. I get 250-300 hours/landings (as I average about one hour flights) per set of tires with one flip on wheels. I consider the cost trade of the Goodyear’s being more than twice the cost therefore needing to get over 500 hours on them to pay for extra cost, plus not needing the 120-160 mph speed rating of the more expensive tires, plus the 1-2 lb lighter per tire of the AirHawk, plus not needing to modify my wheel pants every time I choose a different tire brand, I plan to stick with the Air Hawks.
 
Aligning and drilling the gear legs on my early -6 was quite challenging, and my tire wear was unnaceptable. Did my best to get the alignment right, but eventually replaced the engine mount with the pre drilled gear legs when they became available.
 
I'm about to replace my Goodyear Flight Custom III tires at 140 hours (lots of short flights, many landings, always on pavement) and I have a couple of questions.

What lifetime can RV-4 pilots expect from their tires?

Are retreads a good options?

Thanks in advance for comments.

I have Aero Classics with 380 hours and 1,015 landings. Many many landings were maximum braking for testing. My tires are beginning to show some wear on the outer edge. I may flip them to even out the wear, but they should last another 200+ hours and landings.
 
On my -7A, the OEM Airhawks gave me 725 hrs. and 500 landings.
Changed to Desser Monster retreads and got 500 hrs. with 340 landings, which was pretty disappointing to me after all of their hype. More shimmy and the Leakguard tubes I had needed to be aired up monthly.
I'm now on Goodyear Flight Special II tires with Michelin Airstop tubes, which have 200 hrs. and 125 landings. I really like this combination. Good balance with minimal shimmy. Tubes need air every 2 to 3 months.
My right tire wears pretty evenly. My left tire wears about twice as much on the inside versus the outside edge. I just flipped them. when the wear evens out on the left one, I'll swap them side to side.
99% of my operations are on pavement with very little hard braking. I've landed on grass 10 times total.
I've rarely done any traffic pattern/touch & go operations.
 
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Thanks all for your replies which are very helpful to my analysis.

Hi Ham, The problem is that flyers often provide tire wear data purely in terms of flight hours but how many hours one flies is irrelevant. It’s only the landings that count. You don’t get tire wear when you’re in the air. In reality some pilots have fewer hours but lots of landings because they’re mainly doing short local flights (or they like to hone their skills with lots of touch and goes) and others just spend hours in the air cruising around. So in the end it’s not hours per tire that is relevant....it’s landings per tire. Some guys are averaging a landing every 90 minutes....others are averaging a landing every 20 minutes. So hours per tire can be totally misleading. Then throw in the fact that some flyers really use excessive braking, and some flyers land on soft surfaces...and you can really start to get misleading data.

If you’re unhappy with your tire wear then simply change your brand to get some personal relativity. As with everything else in life, you tend to get what you pay for. I was a bit disappointed with the tire wear on the cheap tires that Vans provided with the kit so I moved to Michelins and they cost me more but I’m getting more landings out of them.
 
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And throw in the additional fact that the tires that come with the kit are the ones that people are using while. Wing the least experienced they will ever be flying there RV. This typically includes landing faster than necessary. Just 10 mph fast will have a major influence on tire wear, regardless of what tires you are using.
 
Rotating Tires

Rotating tires once when the outsides are worn is what I do.

How low on the tread do you go? All the way until the outside rib disappears?

 
I think ?the kid? could handle a good chunk of the East coast

With that tool and attitude,....

As long as VAF doesn?t end up on the wrong side of official child labor / OSHA laws....

The picture is another in the long line I have enjoyed seeing with all the ways of getting family involved
 
Fun reason to fly

That?s a cool concept...group meet ups and maintenance. My EAA chapter does a little of this.

We?d be willing to help anyone who could use a hand. We?re at SC45, let me know, we will put the tire tool and boys to work (under supervision of course).
 
Timely resurrection of this post. I'm just about to take my plane down for annual, I installed Desser monster retreads in March of 2020 and have 655 hours on them, and they are finally worn to replacement, 558 landings.
 
Air Hawks. 869 Landings so far during my ownership. The tires were installed 150 hours before I purchased the aircraft. I will replace them at next condition in a couple months and another ~50 landings. RV-3.
 
Jack set up - hose clamp and floor jack

Can you explain your jack set up here FlyinTiger?

I use a method someone showed me that was familiar with RVs.

1. I take a hose clamp and unscrew it until the band comes out of the worm screw.

2. With the hose clamp free to be opened up to go around the gear leg I tighten it up just below the landing gear leg fairing.

3. My small floor jack has a cupped pad where it pushes up on things, so I catch the hose clamp as I jack up the landing gear an inch or two above the ground.

4. To stabilize and for safety I usually put a couple of scraps of wood under the axle after the wheel is pulled. No wood present in this picture.

5. For me this is safe, easy and doesn't involve pointy things up under my wings, though regular wing jacks that go into the tie down holes can be useful for other maintenance where the gear leg needs to be free for inspection.

6. I got that bead breaker a few years ago at that Freight store, they had two sizes back then. I'm not seeing them on the website, though there is a similar one showing when I search the A-jungle-river place (don't think we can name retail stores here).:)
 
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My Dresser monster retreads lasted through 720 landings. Still, no cords showing.

Mine are at 655 landings, the grooves are just about gone but no bare spots. Do you guys usually replace when the grooves are gone, or when cords start showing?
 
rubber thickness

I've seen a few flight school planes with some rough tires, cords showing and flat spots due to students locking up the brakes. The tires still work fine but look rough even though the rubber has only been on the plane for a few months or less. Our RVs have tires that stay on our rims for years, sometimes a decade.

Under regular use by experienced pilots that aren't locking up their brakes or landing with their feet on the brakes (happens), tires are pretty hardy and work well beyond what I choose to keep them on my plane. I know plane owners that take used tires and get another 100 landings on them for free, and even a pilot that takes used oil from people who change it regularly and flies another 50 hours on it for free. These planes fly fine and are in good shape, even while using up what some of us would throw away.

By the time I wear the first rib smooth, flip the tires around and wear the second rib smooth the middle ribs are close to gone as well if I've been doing a lot of paved runway landings. I like touch and goes and visit a lot of airports. Consider that UV degredation isn't as big a deal as our wheel pants cover the tires while we are airborne and most of us hangar our planes.

At 100 hours a year I elect to replace my tires after they've been rotated and both outside ribs are worn smooth. I could give these tires away and some thrifty person on grass could probably fly them for another few years without an issue, but since I travel with my RV to distant airports I elect to change them early. I don't use retreads because I'm one of those guys who would rather change my tires and carry around a few less pounds, not open up my wheel pants to accomodate the larger sized tires and like fiddling with my RV-7 as a passtime.

Maybe at the next tire change I'll cut a tire in half on the band saw to see what the rubber thickness, cords and composition looks like after I consider them worn out.

- Or -

If you want some free tires I'll be giving away a set in about two or three years when I'm ready to swap them out for a new set. I might even go for a new set of tubes too, just to know they are up to that cross country to see friends in other states.:cool:
 
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