SonexBuilders.net

I'll be operating much of time out of the glider club field which is grass, pretty good condition. I'm used to bouncing around on the big pawnee tires...or in the L19. My B will have the larger tailwheel and I would like to go with bigger tires up front. I'm looking at the Condor 6 ply 5.00 x 5 on spruce, 5.5 lbs. The 4 ply is the same spec weight. Any general thoughts, recommendations, issues? The tires, along with the whelen tip lights, will likely be my only off plan adds.

When it gets a little warmer the wings will come up through the living room floor..I'll plug them in and get the holes drilled. That step is holding things up alot...

peter

"Ply" is a load bearing ability. 4 ply is easily enough for an LSA, Aircraft of up to 2,000lb easily get by on 4 ply. 6-ply is overkill. Back in the day 4 ply were slightly lighter. I'm a little surprised that you found the 4 and 6 ply are the same spec weight. Now it comes down to $$. Are the 4 ply cheaper? Yes - slightly.

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Specific to the Condor brand - I've had 2 sets and eventually hated them. It took me a while to realize what was going on. Basically once about half worn - if they sat for a week - they would flat spot and next time you taxied was an uncomfortable wobbling till they rounded out again. Which they did if you taxied long enough.

I eventually was persuaded to spend the extra $$ on Goodyear Flight Specials. Slightly lighter than Condors. More tread and lasted way longer in services. No flat spots either.

YMMV

The Air Hawk 5.00 x 5 were recommended on the Sonex Flight Podcast, seems that's what Jeff Schultz and the guys are running. I know they do a fair amount of soft field ops. That's what I'll be ordering for mine this week.

http://www.sonexflight.com/65/index.html

I have no direct experience with any of them, my airplane currently has some Chinese knock off 4.00s. Good tread, but dry cracked from sitting. The load rating table in the Aircraft Spruce catalog also states that 4 ply is plenty for our Sonexes. Cheers!

I swapped to air hawks 500 x 5 about 7 years ago when I was based at a grass strip for a short while. Have roughly about 400 landings on these tires, mostly on sealed surface and they still arent totally bald. The sonex appears to wear the tires more on the inside, so I rotated them a couple of years ago. I'll be replacing them in the next year or 2 and if they are still available will use the same again.
They can even be squeezed into the stock wheel pants.
Steve
Sonex 892

For 5:00X5 and larger tires I recommend Desser retreads, I use them on my certified airplane with excellent results, and Aviation Consumer recommends them. I have 5X00:5 on the nose, 6:00X6 on the mains, they wear like iron. No financial interest. https://shop.desser.com/prodcat/aircraf ... _tubes.asp

thanks, I will look at those recommendations

peter

I replaced my factory supplied kit tires and tubes at 60 hours with 5:00 x 5 Desser retreads and Aero-Classic leak-stop tubes. The factory 4 inch (Chen Chin's?) just felt squishy to me on landing and take-off. They also wore out really fast. Also, the supplied tubes would not hold air. I was adding air every 5 days.

Since changing the tires and tubes, the plane feels really sure-footed, I gained an inch or two of height, and I haven't topped them with air in 3 months. Still holding 50 lbs. The retreads are heavier, but....so am I. 3 fewer cheeseburgers this week and I will make up weight the difference!!

I'll also say thank you to you guys for sharing your experiences. It's new tire time for me as well.

Just a quick note to those converting to 5.00 x 5 tires from the much smaller Sonex standard. The larger tires should not be inflated to the high pressures of the small Sonex tires. The increased side wall area puts too much force on the wheels and I find 25 psi is more than adequate.

David A.

The nuts that come with the Azuza wheels are shear nuts.
There are only two threads inside those thin nuts. I replaced them with full-size all metal lock nuts.
I feel much better about the strength of the wheels now