Tires, how old is too old?

[Culver LFA]

In the grand scheme of things, tires and tubes are cheap to replace at your home field. Hard to believe but a date code of 2005 is 18 years ago, if mine I’d have replaced those tubes/tires twice by now even if in good condition and sleep good at night knowing I did my best to prevent issues down the road.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Culver LFA

[Grandmas Flying Couch]

On 2/7/2023 at 9:38 AM, Culver LFA said:

In the grand scheme of things, tires and tubes are cheap to replace at your home field. Hard to believe but a date code of 2005 is 18 years ago, if mine I’d have replaced those tubes/tires twice by now even if in good condition and sleep good at night knowing I did my best to prevent issues down the road.

Well after looking carefully at the grooves when changing doughnuts I pulled the trigger.  My tires were old enough to vote and had checking in the grooves.  They are dated 2005.  I appreciate everyone's help but for $600 for tubes and tires from spruce it's not a bad deal (next year they'll be $900).  Thanks for helping me mull it over!  

[Pinecone]

Which tires and tubes did you get, and why?

[Grandmas Flying Couch]

1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

Which tires and tubes did you get, and why?

Airhawk set from spruce.  Tubes made by specialty.  Why?  Money!  

[jetdriven]

Tubes are kinda scary right now. We just replaced a tube on an A36 with 50 hours on it.  Complete garbage, its falling apart.

[EricJ]

32 minutes ago, jetdriven said:

Tubes are kinda scary right now. We just replaced a tube on an A36 with 50 hours on it.  Complete garbage, its falling apart.

What kind of tube?

 

[philiplane]

Tires rarely cause problems due to age. Weather checking and dry rot don't really cause failures. But inner tubes are another story. They are the weak link.

Aero Classic Leakguard brand tubes tend to split after 5-7 years. The rubber always seems more like plastic and they get stiffer with age. The regular Specialty Tires tubes are OK for 3-5 years tops.

Michelin Air Stop tubes are the best you can buy. They will probably last more 20 years, although I never let them go that long. But I have taken 15 to 20 year old ones out of customer's planes and they are just as pliable as a new one. The manufacture date is inked on the tubes so you always know how old they are.

FWIW, in 30 years of commercial aircraft maintenance, I've never had a problem with Michelin tubes. But lots of premature dry rot, sidewall splits, seam splits, and pinholes in all the other brands.

Edited March 3, 2023 by philiplane

[T. Peterson]

2 hours ago, jetdriven said:

Tubes are kinda scary right now. We just replaced a tube on an A36 with 50 hours on it.  Complete garbage, its falling apart.

That’s cuz it’s aviation specific! Feds are looking out for you by only allowing you to buy the good stuff!!

[jetdriven]

2 hours ago, EricJ said:

What kind of tube?

 

we dont know. Its not a Michelin Airstop, its not an aeroclassic leakguard, its not a Goodyear.

[PT20J]

Years ago, I worked for a flight school run by the most frugal guy I've ever met. He went so far as to get a legal interpretation saying that he could file IFR for training flights in VMC in an airplane without a current pitot/static check, so he could save money testing the fleet.

He equipped the airplanes with Goodyear Flight Special IIs. I asked him why, and he said he had tried them all over the years and the Flight Special II was the sweet spot for value.

I haven't tested tires for thousands of hours like Dick, so I've just taken his advice and run those. The Michelin airstops have also given me good service.

Skip

[hais]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:04 AM, N201MKTurbo said:

UV is what kills them. If it was stored in a hangar, you should be fine.

The real tell is splits and checks in the sidewalls and between the treads.

I would think the failure mode of old tires is the same for car tires and airplane tires. They will shed chunks of tread, or the sidewalls fail and the whole tire shreds. Our tires roll for such short distances, it's unlikely any failure wouldn't show up at preflight before it completely failed. I've never seen or heard of an airplane tire catastrophically failing. I'm sure it happens, but I've never seen it.

AF 4590 - okay, not a fair comparison, but it was a catastrophic failure

[N201MKTurbo]

4 hours ago, hais said:

AF 4590 - okay, not a fair comparison, but it was a catastrophic failure

Wasn’t the tires fault…..

[jetdriven]

On 3/2/2023 at 11:10 PM, PT20J said:

Years ago, I worked for a flight school run by the most frugal guy I've ever met. He went so far as to get a legal interpretation saying that he could file IFR for training flights in VMC in an airplane without a current pitot/static check, so he could save money testing the fleet.

He equipped the airplanes with Goodyear Flight Special IIs. I asked him why, and he said he had tried them all over the years and the Flight Special II was the sweet spot for value.

I haven't tested tires for thousands of hours like Dick, so I've just taken his advice and run those. The Michelin airstops have also given me good service.

Skip

The FC2 or FC3 desser retread is even better than the new tire and is like less than half the cost. Those with Airstop tubes you have a bulletproof combo. 

[Pinecone]

Do the Dresser Monster extra thick tread fit on Mooney wheel wells?

 

[Fly Boomer]

19 hours ago, jetdriven said:

The FC2 or FC3 desser retread is even better than the new tire and is like less than half the cost. Those with Airstop tubes you have a bulletproof combo. 

Have any problem balancing those?

[jetdriven]

no.  they are  more balanced than new FC3's.