What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Tire Preferences

GHARBEN

Active Member
N12HR needs new tires. I have owned this little RV for almost a year. She has been flown about 50 hours.
N12HR has the short gear and seems to like wheel landings. I use one notch of flaps. Two notch’s of flaps doesn’t happen. No matter how hard you pull it or how slow you go itnever goes to two.
With all that said, I generally come across the numbers about 65 to 70 ( N12HR stalls at 45 indicated with one notch of flaps) and wheel land.
What brand of tires ( 5.00 x 5)do you prefer?
Thanks
G Harben
RV 4 w O 320 & wood Sensenich propeller
 
Agree with Steve about the Desser retreads.

Depending on your mission, the 380x150x5 6 Ply Desser Aero Classic tire is a nice option if you need a little larger tire. It is larger so will affect the fit of your wheel pants.

Not sure I understand about the flaps, sounds like you have manual flaps and the flap handle/lock is not working correctly??

Over the numbers at 1.5 VS0 is very fast, IMO. It seems that a lot of folks do it this way but I've never understood why. I approach at 1.3 VS0 (or 1.2 VS0 if I need a steeper approach) and am usually at 1.1 VSO (or just slightly above) over the numbers (which is usually my aim point). Here is a video showing some examples of that (https://youtu.be/tOPHb1WDXOo). That said, my mission is largely shorter/dirt airstrips at high DA so probably not typical. Regardless, the key is that you are happy with your landings! 😉 At 50 hours, I'm sure you are still figuring it out.
 
My go-to tires are the Goodyear FC II or the Michelin Air in 6 ply, always with Michelin Air Stop tubes.
 
Another vote for Wilkerson retreads! They have a website but no online ordering, so you gotta call, but that's okay since they're just so friendly on the phone.

I've used Desser retreads as well, no troubles there. If you do retreads, the tire diameter is just a wee bit larger than stock and you might have to open the wheel pant gap just a bit.
 
I have the short gear legs also. Go with the 380x150x5 6 Ply Desser Aero Classic if you're going to be on grass, they fit on the 5" wheel and give a little bigger footprint.

Can you get 2 notches of flaps on the ground? Check the linkage between the flaps and the arm on the torque tube. There's lots of places for it to get stuck if it's not set up right. Or, is the flap handle getting caught on anything?
 
Thanks to everyone for the information. I will certainly look at the retreads. Everyone seems to like the Michelin Air Stop tubes. Must be the way to go. One last question.
Any simple way to jack the RV up? The struts have a covering that isn’t very strong. I can make whatever would help get the tire changed.
Thanks again
G Harben
N12HR
 
Desser

Desser retreads. Be aware that they are a bit larger than standard new tires and if your wheel pants are cut tight around standard tires, your may not have sufficient clearance…
 
Been using Wilkerson retreads for the past 20-years. They last the longest lasting and cost the least per landing that any other tire. Last time I needed a set, they were out of stock because of lack of cores to retread. Have had best luck with Goodyear tires when using new tires. The Goodyear cost more but end up being the lower cost per landing of others that I have tried making them best value for new tires.

The AirStop tubes are the way to go. Have used them for over 20-years and typically only need to add air once a year.
 
Jacking the RV-4 can be dicey. One way is to remove the cotter pin and nut and stick a piece of pipe in the hollow axle and jack on the pipe. Some guy even makes a special tool that is the piece of pipe with a jack pad attached.
 
I agree with the above posts about Michelin AirStop tubes. Only way to go. DO NOT use Aero Classic Leak Guard tubes. They are also made of butyl but the mold lines are weak so they pop easily. True, Leak Guards don't leak. They just pop one day. Michelins perform as advertised. Buy 'em and forget 'em.

Always use plenty of real talc powder (not the modern corn starch based stuff J&J had to switch to after the talc law suits).

With your gear you want to avoid gear shimmy above all else. On my RV-3B I got tired of shimmy so I bought the fanciest Goodyear tires the sell and it was transformational. I guess the cheaper tires aren't exactly round which isn't a big deal unless they are installed on tapered spring gear.

I try to keep the air pressure up at or above 45 on the mains which helps keep the inner tubes in place without any chafing.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to everyone for the information. I will certainly look at the retreads. Everyone seems to like the Michelin Air Stop tubes. Must be the way to go. One last question.
Any simple way to jack the RV up? The struts have a covering that isn’t very strong. I can make whatever would help get the tire changed.
Thanks again
G Harben
N12HR

I jack my RV by chocking the other two tires then using an aircraft jack. The jack point goes in the wing tie down so you are lifting the spar.
 
WOW!
Two good ways to jack an RV 4! Thank You. I didn’t realize it would be safe to jack the plane up by the tie down points. That might work well for me. I will look at that tomorrow.
PS
If it is wise to use Michelin tubes why not Michelin tires?
 
Cost

I think the only reason more people do not use Michelin tires is the cost. They are very high quality but quite expensive and do not seem to last any longer than other brands. Other tubes do not match the air retention on the Michelin tubes which justifies the expense.
 
Replacement tires same size

My go-to tires are the Goodyear FC II or the Michelin Air in 6 ply, always with Michelin Air Stop tubes.

Walt are the Goodyear FC II tires the same size as the original tires from Van's? I need to replace mine on RV-7A and I don't want to modify the wheel pants.

thanks
 
On my non-RV taildragger, the tires are heavily loaded and abused with my crappy landings, poor things. Here are my tire experiences:

Wilkerson retreads - best wearing but I had to quit after they sent me a series of tires with nearly unairworthy sidewalls. That was in the early '90s or the late '80s, though, so I might return and try them again.

FC III - Decent tires with typical wear.

Desser retreads - wear is decent and the sidewalls have been fine. I'm using these now.

Michelin Airstop Tubes - absolutely superb. Wonderful product. WOuldn't have another brand or type.

Dave
 
My go-to tires are the Goodyear FC II or the Michelin Air in 6 ply, always with Michelin Air Stop tubes.
/\
|
*** This! ****



Walt are the Goodyear FC II tires the same size as the original tires from Van's? I need to replace mine on RV-7A and I don't want to modify the wheel pants.

thanks

The tires come in standard sizes so if you are buying new and get the exact same size numbers (i.e. 600-6) they will dimensionally be the same no matter the manufacturer. Sometimes re-treads are slightly larger due to the re-molding so don't go there with wheel pants. Also, steer away from less than 6 plies with wheel pants due to sidewall flex and bulging. On my RV-3 the only tire that eliminated gear shimmy was top of the line Flight Custom III's but I would only consider the extra money for IIIs if you had a special reason like that.
 
Retreads

The cool thing about the Desser recaps is that they add more rubber than the tyre originally had so they last significantly longer than new tyres for less $. Not really relevant for RVs, but when we installed them on retractable airplanes, we jacked them up and swung the gear to make sure they’d fit in the wells.
 
WOW!
I didn’t realize it would be safe to jack the plane up by the tie down points.

Just to clarify this. An appropriately strong threaded adapter must be used to jack at the tiedown points. It shouldn't be able to slip of the jack. I don't think the forged tiedown eyes are a good choice.
 
Michelin Air Counterbalance Weight

While changing my mains noticed something fell out of one of the tires just taken off the rim. (See pic.) I'm guessing it was some sort of counterbalance that was glued in. The other tire did not have one. I don't normally inspect the inside of a tire. My replacement tire there was also a glued in counterbalance that looked loose and starting to come apart. (This one said 10 G) Distributor let me exchange for a different one. Was not aware Michelin balanced these before leaving the factory. FYI
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2023-06-28 135322.jpg
    Screenshot 2023-06-28 135322.jpg
    89.9 KB · Views: 27
  • Screenshot 2023-06-28 135248.jpg
    Screenshot 2023-06-28 135248.jpg
    57.9 KB · Views: 19
Back
Top