One of those good news / bad news stories...

[MSFT-1]

I did a long cross country flight this weekend (to Maine and back from Virginia). Beautiful conditions, easy flying.

I stopped at a small private airpark to look around a bit. When I taxiied into the grassy area they had designated "Transient Parking", I hit an unmarked drainage hole with my left main wheel. It busted the heck out the wheel pant. Needless to say, I used a few "Navy" words as I laid under the airplane taking both wheelpants off for the remainder of the trip. I was also pretty P.O.'d thinking about the cost of a new wheelpant, paint etc. Bad news.

But there was good news too. This was the first time I had taken the wheelpants off since the last annual (August 08). I could now clearly see that one of my mains was worn to the point that two of the plies had separated. They are six ply tires and probably were not in imminent danger of failing completely, but you never know. So I guess the silverlining of my little dark cloud is that I potentially averted a much more serious and dangerous situation by breaking that wheelpant.

One more funny angle to the story. My father who as an A&P mechanic nearly 30 years ago, happened to have two brand new (well, 30 year old) tires in his basement that fit my airplane. He laughed that he had always thought he might want them for something. It was actually fun bonding with my 80 year old father as the two of us labored under the airplane in the blazing hot sun replacing tires.

For those that are interested, I think I lost about 5 to 6 knots by having the wheelpants off.

Lessons learned:

1) check tire pressure between annuals (I am planning to mod my wheelpants to include a small access door to the valve stem). I think the worn tire was significantly low on air pressure and I didn't know it because the wheelpant covers the tire almost completely).

2) Be extra careful taxiing in grassy areas that you are unfamiliar with. This could just have easily been a prop strike.

3) Be nice to your father.

[Mel]

Please never let your tires wear this much! I've never seen "6 ply" tires on an RV. They are "6 ply rating". Most are really just 2 plies. If you have 2 plies showing, the "air" is very near.

[bsacks05]

I have learned to keep my tire pressures around 32-35 psi. and to check press. more often.

Flew into a local pancake breakfast and landed with a little bounce that normally wouldn't be an issue, however, I was loaded heavier than normal (me and a pax of = weight) and during roll out the left tire went flat. I knew that my tires were a little under pressure at the time.

Upon examination of the inner tube, it looked as though the side of the tube "scrubbed" against the inside of the tire causing the tube to fail. I can only assume that this was a result of low pressure and a harder than normal landing.

[MSFT-1]

On a similar topic, it's time for the annual and I plan to replace the brake pads but Van's apparently doesn't sell them (at least I couldn't find them in the web store).

Can anyone tell me the part number or the brake pads for the RV-10 so I can place an order with A/C Spruce?

thanks.

[Sid Lambert]

http://vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/cata...uct=brake-pads

The second item down is for the -10.

[LarryT]

Bruce,

Please be careful re 30 yer old tires. Rubber compounds age even sitting on the shelf.

While I know that rubber companies have different formulations for aircraft tires, they have learned the hard way (roll-over lawsuits for tread separations) that "100,000 mile tread warranty" tires can have age-related failures. The tire industry wishes that automotive tires would be replaced every 4 years.

The biggest advantage your 30 year old tires have is that they are no doubt nylon bias ply tires. For sure it is a lot more trouble to bond rubber to steel. The other advantage is that aircraft tires don't run any significant distance in our application so they are not continuously producing and trying to get rid of heat.

Just keep an eye on things

LarryT

PS: In a former life I was responsible for OEM tire supplier certification for an auto company.

[MSFT-1]

Larry:

I have already ordered new tires from A/C Spruce. The 30 year old tires were just to get me home from Maine. After looking at the wear on the original tires we felt that it was safer to use these new but aged tires.

The airplane is safely back in my hanger where it will stay until I begin the annual this coming weekend. I will put on new tires and new brakes as part of that annual.

Here are a few pictures of the original tire:

http://img196.imageshack.us/i/tire1t.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/i/tire2o.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/i/tire3.jpg

[Jamie Aust]

Links dont work for me.

[MSFT-1]

http://img196.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=tire1t.jpg

I think it will take you to three pictures.

[Vern]

"My tires and tubes are doing fine, but the air is showing thru."