Tire opinions?

Hey, all... as usual, I figured I'd try to get some opinions on
a new purchase for the Cherokee. Mains are worn out, and I am leaning
towards some McCreary AirHawks. Any thoughts? The plane sits outside,
but has been getting lots of flying in of late. I find it hard to believe
that a tire that costs 2x as much will actually last 2x as long. Any
knowledge here?

Thanks,
-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

wrote:

Hey, all... as usual, I figured I'd try to get some opinions on
a new purchase for the Cherokee. Mains are worn out, and I am leaning
towards some McCreary AirHawks. Any thoughts?

My plane came with McCrearys. They lasted over five years. I still had tread
left when I replaced them, but I had cracks between the treads going down to
the belts. I replaced them with Condors. Three years later, they still look
nearly new. At three years old, I had to reverse the McCrearys to equalize
tread wear, but they probably had more hours on them than the Condors do now.
For me, the Condors were worth the extra money. I think they look prettier, too.

George Patterson
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
good fortune to run into the ones I like, and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

We've been very happy with re-treaded tires on our Cherokee Pathfinder. They
appear to have a lot more rubber on them than new tires, and my A&P swears
by them...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

wrote in message
...
Hey, all... as usual, I figured I'd try to get some opinions on
a new purchase for the Cherokee. Mains are worn out, and I am leaning
towards some McCreary AirHawks. Any thoughts? The plane sits outside,
but has been getting lots of flying in of late. I find it hard to believe
that a tire that costs 2x as much will actually last 2x as long. Any
knowledge here?

Thanks,
-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

We've been very happy with re-treaded tires on our Cherokee Pathfinder. They
appear to have a lot more rubber on them than new tires, and my A&P swears
by them...

They don't appear to have more tread, they actually do. There is a requirement
for specific tread depth on a new tire but there is not one for retreads so
retreads can have a thicker tread depth than new and consequently will take
more landings. Probably one of the better values in aviation.

John Dupre'

Hrm... it's sounding like retreads are a pretty popular choice. I
can believe that a retread with a good compound can be the same price as a
cheaper compound new. I think that the stigma associated with retreads is
from truck retreads that tend to sluff off rubber shrapnel on the freeway.
I would hope that a certified aircraft tire wouldn't do such a thing.

Any trouble on the size of retread tires and fitting in wheel
pants?

-Cory

JDupre5762 wrote:
:We've been very happy with re-treaded tires on our Cherokee Pathfinder. They
:appear to have a lot more rubber on them than new tires, and my A&P swears
:by them...

: They don't appear to have more tread, they actually do. There is a requirement
: for specific tread depth on a new tire but there is not one for retreads so
: retreads can have a thicker tread depth than new and consequently will take
: more landings. Probably one of the better values in aviation.

: John Dupre'


--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

Any trouble on the size of retread tires and fitting in wheel
pants?

None noted.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article ,
wrote:

Hrm... it's sounding like retreads are a pretty popular choice. I
can believe that a retread with a good compound can be the same price as a
cheaper compound new. I think that the stigma associated with retreads is
from truck retreads that tend to sluff off rubber shrapnel on the freeway.
I would hope that a certified aircraft tire wouldn't do such a thing.

Any trouble on the size of retread tires and fitting in wheel
pants?


I had some retreads awhile back -- Goodyear and McCreary casings. The
Goodyears were fine, but the McCrearys didn't fit into my wheelwells, so
I gave them away. IIRC, I had problems fitting the McCrearys originally
-- one wouldn't fit into one well but went into the other OK, so I used
them that way.

I have had no problems with Condors and have used 3 sets of them.

ALWAYS do a retraction test when you mount new tires!

Any trouble on the size of retread tires and fitting in wheel
pants?


I had some retreads awhile back -- Goodyear and McCreary casings. The
Goodyears were fine, but the McCrearys didn't fit into my

wheelwells,

so
I gave them away. IIRC, I had problems fitting the McCrearys originally
-- one wouldn't fit into one well but went into the other OK, so I used
them that way.

I have had no problems with Condors and have used 3 sets of them.

ALWAYS do a retraction test when you mount new tires!

I have never seen problems with retreads mounted with wheelpants. I have seen
problems with underinflated tires hitting the sides of wheel pants but that is
another isusue.

As for retractables it makes good sense to always check that new tires will fit
and especially retreads. Some of the retract Cessnas use specially designed
low profile tires to begin with and some of the retreaders will not recap those
because they will jam in the wheel well afterward and are not used on many
fixed gear aircraft.

John Dupre'

Orval Fairbairn wrote:
: ALWAYS do a retraction test when you mount new tires!

I'll make sure to do that on my Cherokee 180... ;-)

-Cory
--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

wrote:

Any trouble on the size of retread tires and fitting in wheel
pants?

I've read about some problems with them fitting in wheel wells on retracts,
but never heard on any problems with fairings. One of the nice things about
retreads is that it is possible to get better quality rubber on the tread
part. The rubber on new tires is sort of a compromise. Sport Aviation had an
article on tires several months back. If you're an EAA member, you might want
to look for that.

George Patterson
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
good fortune to run into the ones I like, and the eyesight to tell the
difference.