Time for some new shoes for my 1961 Cessna 172 B. Three questions:

1) Should I go with Air Hawks and Leak Guard tubes for about $360, or is it worth about $500 to go with Condor and Air Stop tubes? Just considering those two. I know there are other options.

2) My mechanic said I should go with 6 ply even thought the POH says 4 ply. Any reason to do or not do this?

3) If I go with 6 ply, is this just a minor alteration requiring a signoff in my logbook?

Thanks guys!

I put Air Hawks on my 56 C-172 11 years ago, my mechanic said I have to replace them before next annual because they are already showing weather cracks. 11 years seems like a short lifespan for them. As for 6-ply tires, my original W&B paperwork shows 6-ply tires as an option, so it shouldn't be any more paperwork than an amended W&B calculation for the extra 2 pound or so per tire.

I'm surprised that 11 years isn't that long. What do people typically expect?

The condor tires were really crappy tires. They always weather checked really fast some times just a few years. Condor tires are always way the heck out of balance and can take a mountain of weight to balance out if you care about that sort of thing. Then they got bought out by Michelin and I'm told they basically just stamp some Michelin tires as condor. Just make sure you don't get any old stock condors as they suck.
I have been running the Hawks but the quality is slightly worse then the condors and they do weather check fast.
Goodyear flight custom three is hands down the best tire around but they are expensive.

So how much do you fly? If you only fly 50 hours or so a year you are probably better off going with a more expensive tire so you don't end up replacing weather checked tires in a few years.

I'me not sure what is "average" for tire life, I know of one set of tires that had to be replaced because of weather cracks after only 5 years, on the other hand the tires on my plane when I got it were over 25 years old, outside the entire time, and parked on grass without flying for 14 years. They had some cracks, but were still flyable. My mechanic agrees, 11 years is less than average.