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Gear Shimmy/Wilkerson Tires are awesome

olyolson

Well Known Member
Friend
This a huge shout out to Wilkerson tires for their main gear tires I just put on the airplane. I have an RV-4 and was getting a bad shimmy after landing at just about taxi speed. I read all the forum posts about gear shimmy including the ones about the gear leg stiffners. I have the long gear so I thought this might have been the solution.

Experimented with different pressures and even found a slightly warped brake disc that I replaced. The tires were not out of round and were balanced. Nothing seemed to work so I went back to the forums (don't you love this place) and found a post by someone about Wilkerson retreads. At $50 apiece shipping included I gave it a try. Not only did the shimmy completely disappear, the airplane definately taxiis better and tracks straight. I run the pressure at 45 PSI IAW their recommendation. Easy to move around and did I say they were only $50?

Highly recommend them if you need tires. Found them with a Google search for WILKERSON TIRES.
 
To reduce the bounce effect on my RV4, I run mine at 24 psi and no shimmy but then I have the short gear.
 
Very impressed

Tires are rock solid. Tread depth seems to be more than on other tires. Price was right too. And no more shimmy here either.
 
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