About six months ago I fitted wheel pants to my RV-12 and being new to the mechanics of wheel pants I followed Vans installation to the letter. I trimmed the fairings to the trim lines as directed, when fitting I felt there was too small a gap between the tyre and fairing so I made a greater clearance. This clearance seemed to match other RV?s in my hangar. After quite a few landings with no problems. The other day I landed on a hard runway and allowed the nose wheel to come down a bit too quickly, I heard a bit of a noise but took little notice until we got back to the hangar where I found I had ripped a large piece of out of the back of the nose wheel fairing.
I think the cause was the clearance between the fairing and tyre was too small and the tyre distorted as it hit the runway, increasing the circumference to increase enough to grab the back of the fairing.
I repaired the fairing and it is like new once again, and have increased the tyre clearance. I feel disappointed that Van?s didn?t give a minimum clearance between the tyre and fairing.
The only reason for this post is to alert other builders to allow enough tyre clearance on their wheel pants.
T. E.
I think the cause was the clearance between the fairing and tyre was too small and the tyre distorted as it hit the runway, increasing the circumference to increase enough to grab the back of the fairing.
I repaired the fairing and it is like new once again, and have increased the tyre clearance. I feel disappointed that Van?s didn?t give a minimum clearance between the tyre and fairing.
The only reason for this post is to alert other builders to allow enough tyre clearance on their wheel pants.
T. E.