How many knots reductions will I get by taking off wheel pants?
Cessna 182 P
Weight reduction is 20 pounds.

Im looking to put this tires just because I like the look and hope they work.
I need new tires anyway.
Has anyone tried this ones?
Aero Classic All weather.
http://www.desser.com/retro.php

That reminds me of the comment of a friend who was an FSS specialist at Laramie years ago. I had dropped in to check the weather for a planned flight in the morning. He asked, "Do you have the Suburbanites on your airplane yet?" I said, "Huh?" He repeated, "Do you have the Suburbanites on your airplane yet?" I finally caught on, said no, and he said, "Well you better get them on, because by morning the only things moving will have either Suburbanites or chains on them." He was right--a blizzard blew in, and nothing moved for about 3 days, as all the roads in and out of town were closed, as was the airport.

To answer your question, though, I've run several Cessnas with and without wheel pants, and the difference is relatively small. I leave mine on, mostly because I like the looks and there is less spray on the airplane from running through puddles, etc. But I don't do it with the thought of squeezing out much more speed--there's only so much you can do to a Cessna to clean it up.

Cary

More grooves to throw more mud and rocks if off tarmac.

For weight reduction or how fast will I go ? Speed wise you might see a couple of knots with same size ( drag ) wheel and tire . For bigger tires you'll see another 3-5 knot reduction. There's a main wheel " scraper " to keep the mud and rocks from hitting the airplane . on nose Id put out the bucks for the 310/206 /182 heavy duty nose fork or go with the Landis set up. A little change from with wheel pants but much better IMHO than getting pants full of mud .

My plane had the pants off when I got it. They were damaged, and I fixed them up and tried them out. If I squint really hard, I *think* they add somewhere between 2 mph...maybe more...but it was hard to tell the difference. Then I flew it without the mains...just the nose pant. I think I got exactly the same as I saw with the main pants on. Then I took the nose pant off,and I was back to square one.

Summary: main pants: pretty much no effect. Nose pant: *Maybe* 2 mph.

I'd love to maximize speed on XC trips, but overall, the pants don't make a difference worth a hill of beans on my older '62. If it adds speed or climb, they might make me $100 or so richer every year in ops costs, but I'm more likely to bust them on rougher strips, and fixing them takes time (and probably most of the $100 savings in some PPG paint).

There's a main wheel " scraper " to keep the mud and rocks from hitting the airplane

For as simple as those things are, they are purty 'spensive! $1850 from Aero Twin in Anchorage, STC'd for a number of Cessnas, 180/182/185/206/207/208.

Cary