Sonex Tire Life

[daleandee]

In another thread I noticed that there are wildly varying times being given before tire replacement. Some seem content that 35-40 hours on a set of tires is "normal." If you are doing flight training or flying mostly touch & go landings I can understand accelerated tire wear but to wear out brand new tires in 40 hours tells me something else must be going on. My experience with my previous my nose roller Sonex and now my taildragger was that even the cheap tires were good for many more hours than this.

I've noticed myself and some others that are getting 200 hours or more from a set of tires. I've always run the inexpensive 11X4X5 tires as supplied by Sonex so getting good time from the cheapest brand of tires is not unheard of. I do not claim any superior piloting skills as I'm very much a newbie at tailwheel landings.

So I guess what I'm seeking to learn is what it is that is making the difference. Can it be that I generally land three pointers? I do an occasional wheel or tail low landing but most are as slow as possible in a three point attitude as gently as I can.

Could it be weight? I'm not thinking so as my Corvair powered plane is overall heavier than most others and has a bit higher gross weight (although most flights are solo).

Others are focused on wheel alignment i.e. caster & camber. Mine was set up using the Sonex plans method at 0.7º and it tracks very straight. Having too much toe in, as long as both sides are the same, will track straight but tend to eat tires.

Can it be the difference in runway type? I fly from pavement and to mostly paved airports but I do visit a few turf fields. Most paved runways are in fair condition but here in the south the heat of summer could be a factor that accelerated wear.

Last but certainly not least is tire pressure. My small tires are run at 50psi and I check them quite religiously as even with the "leak-guard tubes" the pressure will change and must be strictly maintained.

So what's your thoughts? Why is tire wear patterns so scattered? What kinda of tires do you use and what kind of time are you getting between changes?

At the end of the day it may not matter much as we are all gonna put tires on as we need them because ... we need them to fly these wonderful machines!

Curious as to your experience ...

[builderflyer]

In another thread I noticed that there are wildly varying times being given before tire replacement. Some seem content that 35-40 hours on a set of tires is "normal."

I've noticed myself and some others that are getting 200 hours or more from a set of tires.

So what's your thoughts? Why is tire wear patterns so scattered? What kinda of tires do you use and what kind of time are you getting between changes?

Curious as to your experience ...

Hi Dale.........my Sonex is only operated off of paved runways, no water for a grass runway here in California, and I was accused of not changing my tires until "bald". Here's the stats:

Small Chinese 11x4.00-5 tires maintained at 50 psi
All take offs and landings made in a tail low or 3 point stance
Almost all flights are short, 30 minutes or less
Tires are reversed on wheels at about half life
457 hours logged on last set of tires

If someone only gets 40 hours on a set of tires, something is seriously wrong with that experience.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[lpaaruule]

I had an issue with “shimmy” on the passenger side. Almost no tread is left on that side, while the pilot’s side has plenty of tread yet.

[daleandee]

Another of the things that may be wear factors that I failed to mention is whether or not pilots use (hard) braking a lot when landing. I have Tracy O'Brien brakes and with them there really isn't any such thing as "hard braking." although I did get a squeal once when doing a short field landing after filling the tank with fuel ...