T6 Tires

Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:16 am

Where can a set of tires for a T6 be sourced in the USA and what's the approximate cost of a set of tires , mains and tailwheel ?

Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:28 am

Banaire, about $400/main & $200/tailwheel.

http://www.banaire.com/

Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:37 am

Thanks Hvd2Pilot , that was quick

Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:08 am

Desser tires, they have new and can do recaps. I had a set of hulls recapped and would not hesitate to do so again. You can have 2 main tires done for half the price of a single new tire and they will last twice as long as a new tire due to the harder compound of rubber used on the cap.

http://www.desser.com/tires.shtml

Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:19 am

Matt Gunsch wrote:Desser tires, they have new and can do recaps. I had a set of hulls recapped and would not hesitate to do so again. You can have 2 main tires done for half the price of a single new tire and they will last twice as long as a new tire due to the harder compound of rubber used on the cap.

http://www.desser.com/tires.shtml

I would also recommend Desser recaps; we use them on three T-6's.

Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:23 am

Thanks for that Matt, I'll look at the Desser's also

Does anyone have a guide for how many years it's safe to use NOS military tires ?

I've checked the Goodyear and BF Goodrich manual and they state their is no shelf life for tires providing they are within published spec prior to use. They provide a very comprehensive inspection guide in their tire manuals.

The Air Force here won't use tires that have been stored more than 12 yrs. What's the rule with the US military ?

What's the oldest set of tires someone is running on their warbird on WIX ?

I went to look at some NOS tires today thinking they could be T6 , they were F-86/T-33 tires but I bought them for stock anyway , they are probably 30 yrs old (I'll check the tags when they get delivered) but are still wrapped in hessian from the factory with no cracking or deterioration that I can see. I always tell buyers the year the tires were made but I would hate to sell a set of tires to someone that destroys their warbird or kills someone even if the buyer still wanted them.

Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:22 am

If the age is really a worry you might try one of the museums. I know the US NASM has containers with old tires in stock. I can't remember if they are climate controlled but they definitely keep them out of sunlight.

Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:43 pm

how about 47SC's. new and recapped??

Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:47 pm

Goodyear published info states that tires are airworthy if they meet certain criteria regardless of age.
Rich

Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:52 pm

Personally if an older tire checked out according to specs I'd be prepared to use it but with new inner tubes , inner tubes don't seem to hold up as well to long term storage.

Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:02 pm

TIRE AND TUBE AGE LIMIT
Age is not a proper indicator of tire serviceability. Goodyear aircraft tires or tubes have no age limit
restriction regardless of calendar age as long as all service criteria (Section 2 of this manual), visual criteria (Section 4)

Here's the extract from page 29 from the Goodyear manual

It can be downloaded here (4.7MB)

http://www.goodyearaviation.com/resources/pdf/aircraftmanual.pdf

Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:58 am

Matt Gunsch wrote:Desser tires, they have new and can do recaps. I had a set of hulls recapped and would not hesitate to do so again. You can have 2 main tires done for half the price of a single new tire and they will last twice as long as a new tire due to the harder compound of rubber used on the cap.

I don't know about the compounds used on recaps but one of the reasons that recaps last longer is that the cap doesn't have a maximum limit on the tread depth but all new tires do. If a recap has deeper tread depth then it will last longer than new. Some of the flight schools I used to work for made a point of using recaps for that reason as well as price and one recapper used to pay for cores.

Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:53 am

John Dupre wrote:
Matt Gunsch wrote:Desser tires, they have new and can do recaps. I had a set of hulls recapped and would not hesitate to do so again. You can have 2 main tires done for half the price of a single new tire and they will last twice as long as a new tire due to the harder compound of rubber used on the cap.

I don't know about the compounds used on recaps but one of the reasons that recaps last longer is that the cap doesn't have a maximum limit on the tread depth but all new tires do. If a recap has deeper tread depth then it will last longer than new. Some of the flight schools I used to work for made a point of using recaps for that reason as well as price and one recapper used to pay for cores.

next time you have a new tire and a recapped tire, check the feel of the rubber. The recapped tire is much harder.
As far as tread depth, recapped tires have to match the same diamentions as new tires, so the tread cannot be much if any deeper than new.

http://www.desser.com/retreading.shtml
http://www.swaviator.com/html/issueSO03 ... 91003.html

Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:21 pm

From personal experience, steer clear of anything that has rayon plies in it. Use Nylon. I have seen the result of newly fitted NOS rayon tyres letting go on a P51 - fortunately it happened overnight, in a hangar.