Flat tires ?

[L.Adamson]

How are the tubes and tires that Van's supplies these days holding up?

A fellow RV'er who isn't too familier with this forum has asked me to ask the question. He's had two flat nose wheel tires on his new RV9A with in the last few months. His previous 9A from 2004 never had the problem in the 140 hrs that he flew it.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

[Ron Lee]

I don't recall any nose wheel flats recently and will go see what tube I have (tomorrow). I think I changed to the low leak tube from someone on the mains and that seems to be doing well now also. For a while I seemed to have more than my fair share of flats.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

How are the tubes and tires that Van's supplies these days holding up?

A fellow RV'er who isn't too familier with this forum has asked me to ask the question. He's had two flat nose wheel tires on his new RV9A with in the last few months. His previous 9A from 2004 never had the problem in the 140 hrs that he flew it.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

This type of failure interval with a nose tire is usually an indicator of tube damage (pinched by wheel) during installation. Mounting a nose wheel tire on an RV (other than 10) can be a challenge.

[Andy Hill]

Our Finish Kit was shipped Aug 2006. The Van's tubes needed topping up every few weeks, and then one went flat (valve problem).

Swapped to Michelin Airstop tubes and no topping up / problems required since. I'd advise anyone building to go that route, and anyone flying and bored of frequent top ups to consider it as well

Andy & Ellie Hill
RV-8 G-HILZ

PS While we're discussing tyres a lot of the UK builders now use the 380x150-5 larger tyres... Maybe we do more (soft) grass stuff over here? We had a formation meet the other day and 2 x RV-8 taxiied across a waterlogged area. The depth of the tyre tracks, and power required, for the standard Van's tyres versus us was clearly visible (and audible). Saves rebuilding spats (pants!) too

[AlexPeterson]

There are a lot of threads similar to this one - they start with questions about nose wheel (non-RV10) tubes or tires, and all sorts of advice about the mains starts showing up. Check the archives for this, lots of discussions. You'll have to sort through the irrelevant replies pertaining to main gears, but the gist is this. There have been lots of nose wheel flats caused not by mounting problems, but by some sort of sidewall chewing that goes on. (plenty of mounting problems also...)

It seems the solution is two fold - one, put a thorough amount of baby powder all throughout the inside of the tire, and two, keep the pressure high, around 30psi. Use caution as you increase the pressure if you have normally used less for shimmy. The failure mode I've seen early on with my plane (3 flats) and on several others is a chewing sort of damage to the tube directly on the sidewall, nowhere near the tread or rim. I've not seen any apparent defect in the tubes.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by AlexPeterson

There are a lot of threads similar to this one - they start with questions about nose wheel (non-RV10) tubes or tires, and all sorts of advice about the mains starts showing up. Check the archives for this, lots of discussions. You'll have to sort through the irrelevant replies pertaining to main gears, but the gist is this. There have been lots of nose wheel flats caused not by mounting problems, but by some sort of sidewall chewing that goes on. (plenty of mounting problems also...)

It seems the solution is two fold - one, put a thorough amount of baby powder all throughout the inside of the tire, and two, keep the pressure high, around 30psi. Use caution as you increase the pressure if you have normally used less for shimmy. The failure mode I've seen early on with my plane (3 flats) and on several others is a chewing sort of damage to the tube directly on the sidewall, nowhere near the tread or rim. I've not seen any apparent defect in the tubes.

with Alex that this is another failure mode but from what I have seen, it usually takes more than 5-10 hours to occur (unless a tire is run severely under inflated). Since the failure interval was listed as "last few months" I am assuming installation damage as being more likely.

I also concur with using lots of talcum powder!

[flyvans.com]

having problems with the default van's tubes... airplane is sitting in the shop but both main wheels loose pressure over about a half a year. went from 30psi to 7in each :-(

anyone have the source, part #, size etc... for the michelin air stop tubes that are being recommended?

thanks a lot,

kind regards,
bernie

[bsacks05]

My right main tube lasted over 200hrs before it developed a leak and had to be replaced. Installation could have been the culprit, but I doubt it. Plenty o' talcum and care were used.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by flyvans.com

having problems with the default van's tubes... airplane is sitting in the shop but both main wheels loose pressure over about a half a year. went from 30psi to 7in each :-(

anyone have the source, part #, size etc... for the michelin air stop tubes that are being recommended?


thanks a lot,

kind regards,
bernie

This is normal............ A/C tires can lose pressure at 1/2 to 1# per week.

[JonJay]

I never paid attention when I installed my tubes originally in 2005. I lose very little air. Recently, I rotated my tires and discovered the tubes where Airstop supplied by Van's in my kit.