larger tires for 5" RV-7 wheels

[787]

Im looking for larger tires for my standard 5" RV-7 wheels, Can someone tell me where to purchase? Price? How much taller and wider can I safely go on 5" wheels? How do they handle on soft/rough? Hard surface? Will Carved out standard RV wheel pants still fit?
Thanks

 

[scsmith]

Im looking for larger tires for my standard 5" RV-7 wheels, Can someone tell me where to purchase? Price? How much taller and wider can I safely go on 5" wheels? How do they handle on soft/rough? Hard surface? Will Carved out standard RV wheel pants still fit?
Thanks

Many of us use 380-150x5.00 tires. You can buy them from ACS or other usual sources. They are about 1" bigger in diameter, and a bit wider. If you search the forums, you can find a photo that someone posted a while ago of side-by-side comparison of a 500x 5.00 and the 380-150x5.00. I find they are really superior on any soft surface, and better on pavement although that is not really needed. There is also a tire called 15x6-5.00 or something like that, which I think is just an american size listing for basically the same tire as the 380-150x5.00. Sometimes there are different prices though for those.

Depending on how your wheel pants are installed, you may or not have interference/fit problems. No doubt you will need to enlarge the opening to maintain desired clearance with the tire at the opening. I installed my wheel pants about 1/2" higher than indicated on the plans anticipating using these tires, and I did find that that created a clearance problem on the brake caliper, so I made blister fairings (wheel pants bulges) to solve that. You can find pictures of those here on the forum too. Those are available for sale from HPAircraft.com (usually an advertiser here).

 

[787]

Many of us use 380-150x5.00 tires. You can buy them from ACS or other usual sources. They are about 1" bigger in diameter, and a bit wider. If you search the forums, you can find a photo that someone posted a while ago of side-by-side comparison of a 500x 5.00 and the 380-150x5.00. I find they are really superior on any soft surface, and better on pavement although that is not really needed. There is also a tire called 15x6-5.00 or something like that, which I think is just an american size listing for basically the same tire as the 380-150x5.00. Sometimes there are different prices though for those.

Depending on how your wheel pants are installed, you may or not have interference/fit problems. No doubt you will need to enlarge the opening to maintain desired clearance with the tire at the opening. I installed my wheel pants about 1/2" higher than indicated on the plans anticipating using these tires, and I did find that that created a clearance problem on the brake caliper, so I made blister fairings (wheel pants bulges) to solve that. You can find pictures of those here on the forum too. Those are available for sale from HPAircraft.com (usually an advertiser here).

Thanks Steve,
will look for 380-150 x 5" tires.