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Clarification on Matco wheels and tires

RandyAB

Well Known Member
I just ordered Matco mains and nosewheel. I?m also getting ready to finalize my finishing kit order. George at Matco told me that the tires and tubes supplied by Van?s would fit the Matco rims yet it seems like people delete the tires from the kit and go with the Desser tires. I?d just as soon not pay extra for shipping tires that aren?t needed. Thanks for the clarification.
 
I just ordered Matco mains and nosewheel. I?m also getting ready to finalize my finishing kit order. George at Matco told me that the tires and tubes supplied by Van?s would fit the Matco rims yet it seems like people delete the tires from the kit and go with the Desser tires. I?d just as soon not pay extra for shipping tires that aren?t needed. Thanks for the clarification.

As you stated, wheel and tire sizes are the same.

There are many choices for tubes and tires. As you know, Van's tend to go with the frugal choice on most things. That means that there are better quality products available, but they are going to cost more.

Tire wear is also a function of how well you get the gear aligned when installing them. That's why some aircraft go through tires quicker than others. The other variable is how precise you are with landing. Do you grease it in every landing or are you one of those people that gets the load chirp because you aren't aligned with the runway properly?

My kit supplied tires lasted me about three years. I've know others that lasted longer and shorter than mine did.

My personal opinion is to delete the tires and tubes and upgrade to something better. The "what" to upgrade to is more of a religious debate.

Dresser sells many brands of tires as well as there own recaps. The recaps will require some modifications to wheel pants that were set up for standard tires due to their thicker tread. Some people have had good luck with the retreads and others haven't. Dresser does usually have pretty good prices.

I upgrade to Goodyear Flight Custom III tires. I've only had them on my RV-10 for a little over a year, but I've been happy with them so far.
 
From my experience, the main concern is the originally supplied tubes more than the tires. I feel it was a real time/frustration saver for me to install Michelin Air Stop tubes over the original. There may be other comparable brands to the Michelin but I've had excellent results from these.

I had to air-up the original tubes every few flights, so I switched to the Air Stop. Since then I add air every three to six months. (On that same note, I use new Air Stops whenever I replace the tires.)

Tire wear is a combination of many factors as stated in the previous thread so your results may vary.

Chris
 
Desser

My family owned a flight school and we used the Desser recaps. They tended to last substantially longer than new tires...they are also substantially less expensive.

If you haven?t done your wheels pants yet, it is a simple thing to trim them for the recaps. They tend to be a bit larger than a new tire. The bonus is that if you set up the pants for recaps, you can always use either. If you set them up for new tires, you won?t be able to use the recaps without modifying the pants.

I am using the recaps on my -10.
 
I have used the Dresser retreads for years with good results, but like most things it’s what you feel good with. If you go with the retreads, the monster retreads do not fit the mains on the -10s
 
Do you have a part number for airstop tubes with 90 degree stems?

-Marc

There was a post here within the last month that had the info. If I recall correctly, the tubes were not of the airstop variety. Personally, the 90* fill valve is more important than the airstop feature.
 
Ok. I got my Matco rims (mains and nose) and am going through the manual looking for tubes that will work with the rims. According to the manual the wheel should have straight or 45 deg valve stems but a 90 deg can be used, implying that it is not ideal. The suggestion here was to make sure that the tubes had 90 deg valves. Both the AeroClasic Leak Guard and Michelin Airstop tubes in 600-6 size have straight valves which I found a bit surprising. I don't see them on ACS at least with 90 deg stems. What tubes do people recommend?
 
Ok. I got my Matco rims (mains and nose) and am going through the manual looking for tubes that will work with the rims. According to the manual the wheel should have straight or 45 deg valve stems but a 90 deg can be used, implying that it is not ideal. The suggestion here was to make sure that the tubes had 90 deg valves. Both the AeroClasic Leak Guard and Michelin Airstop tubes in 600-6 size have straight valves which I found a bit surprising. I don't see them on ACS at least with 90 deg stems. What tubes do people recommend?

the 10 doesn't use 600-6 tires. They are 15/600 X 6

Larry
 
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