After 183 hrs and 268 landings I have not done anything to my original Van's tires. This afternoon I open up the wheel pant and took a look. Well, the outer edge of the tire wore a lot!

It is time to rotate the tires so I can get a little more life out of them. Unfortunately, the temperature in my hangar is in the upper 90s. Without a fan, neither water to drink, I decided to come back tomorrow morning when it is cool and possibly a storm.

Rotating airplane tire is not as simple as rotating car tires. Basically, we are flipping the tire. Since one side of the wheel half has a hole for inner tube Stem and the other side has brake, to flip the tire one has to take the wheel apart and flip the inner tube. After removing wheel from the leg, air is deflated. By pushing the half with tube valve stem, the half is loosen. Push the valve stem out of the hole in the wheel half, the wheel half is separated from the tire. The other half is set quite tight with the tire. I pushed a piece of flat plastic between wheel half and tire to separate them. Then, I used two wrenches to pry them apart. The rest of the work is not very difficult.

12-17-2008. A better way to separate wheel halves is to use a bead breaker. You may find one ($19) from Harbor Freight for motorcycles.

Remove right side wheel and axle sat on 2x4.

Remove wheel half

I replaced the first set of tires from Van's at 301 landings. Later on I realized that these two tires are still usable so I reused them. The most puzzling is the Dresser Retread I used on the left side lasted only 268 landings before it is totally worn out. After six years I have to conclude that my left side tend to wore out faster. When I replace tires it is because of the left side. Right side still have a little thread. I need to land more leveled!

During my 6/29/2012 tire change I decided to replace left side first and wait until right side has worn more to replace it. I don't think it is critical to have both tires on the same wear level. After 100 additional landings and without any noticeable landing difference it is time to replace the right side. Wow, 545 landings. Now I believe that I have replaced previous tires prematurely.

Tire change photos can be found below:

Number of Landings from each tire: