Does anyone know how much cruise speed and climb rate is lost when switching from stock 600x6 to 850x 6 tires?

I lost 10 miles an hour in Cruse going from 700s to 850s

10mph?! Dang. Thats a lot. I didnt loose that much going to 29"s!
Shouldn't matter tho. 8.50's are the smallest tire any self respecting 180 wants to wear anyway...
6's are not to be used on 180's or else you end up with some serious problems. Your 180 will develop a complex and become less confident. Everywhere he goes he'll feel like his friends are laughing at him. I've seen it happen. It's not a good sight.
It's not worth it. Next thing you know someone reports you to the 180 abuse hotline and theres a knock at your door. It's kinda like those cable vs satellite commercials, it's all downhill.
Do your part to help keep 180's proud. Take 5 minutes longer to get there and enjoy the ride. Your 180 will thank you. In the end. You'll be glad you did.
this message brought to you by the 180's against TTS (tiny tire syndrome)

55wagon wrote:10mph?! Dang. Thats a lot. I didnt loose that much going to 29"s!
Shouldn't matter tho. 8.50's are the smallest tire any self respecting 180 wants to wear anyway...
6's are not to be used on 180's or else you end up with some serious problems. Your 180 will develop a complex and become less confident. Everywhere he goes he'll feel like his friends are laughing at him. I've seen it happen. It's not a good sight.
It's not worth it. Next thing you know someone reports you to the 180 abuse hotline and theres a knock at your door. It's kinda like those cable vs satellite commercials, it's all downhill.
Do your part to help keep 180's proud. Take 5 minutes longer to get there and enjoy the ride. Your 180 will thank you. In the end. You'll be glad you did.
this message brought to you by the 180's against TTS (tiny tire syndrome)

+1

And for sure you wont loose 10mph. Going to 8.5x6 will be almost unnoticeable... And what you will gain (in self esteem) is worth the 1-2mph you might loose.

bigrenna wrote:

+1

And for sure you wont loose 10mph. Going to 8.5x6 will be almost unnoticeable... And what you will gain (in self esteem) is worth the 1-2mph you might loose.

Ditto. Just did extensive trial on my bird doing exactly that. 7.00's to 8.50's. For me it was not noticeable as far as speed. The only thing I noticed was a slight vibration from the gear (intermittently) at around 7500 to 9500' MSL. My old 180 did the same.

I did the "book speed" routine several times as a part of my insurance check out/BFR and then followed it up checking the number on an 11 hour trip home.

Hopefully this is not too much thread drift, but what cruise speeds are you guys actually seeing in 180s?

skywagons.com claims mid 130 knots range for most models. How does that compare to real life?

BKK wrote:Hopefully this is not too much thread drift, but what cruise speeds are you guys actually seeing in 180s?

skywagons.com claims mid 130 knots range for most models. How does that compare to real life?

Mid 130s is what my 62 model cruises at with 8.50s and 6" bubble windows...

Our '54 model is solid 130 in cruise with 8.50s.

Thanks for the responses. I have been shamed,by some local pilots, into going to bigger tires. There is no backcountry type flying in my area, that I am aware of. They land at my long, flat, smooth runway, with their giant tired planes. They point and laugh and ridicule me about my tire size then climb in their planes and take off to the next long smooth flat runway.

I can't take it anymore, the sleepless nights, the finger pointing at the pilot shop, the snickers at my favorite 100 dollar hamburger joint (which has a 5000' paved runway).

It all came to a head when my grand daughter came home from school crying, I had to drag it out of her, I asked why she was crying. She looked at me with a quivering lip , tears streaming down her cheeks and said, "the other pilots daughters are picking on her about her grand pa's little tires, they call me Tiny Tires Tina".

This has gone far enough, when my poor choices in life effect my family I have to do something about it, so I went to my wife and asked if I could use the credit card so I could save my grand daughter from bullying.

The tires are on their way!!

120-122 with 31's

Get a set of 850/10's.

Keep your planes ego in tact and you can fly almost any mission you want without losing much speed and the comfort knowing you can land there.

Akt

I see 135-140 mph at 21"/2300, running 850's.

I am getting 150 to 155 mph with 600x6. I am thinking about the off field, engine out saftey that the bigger tires will give me. I guess it is worth a couple of mph.

I forgt to add, I don't really have a grand daughter named tina. But, I do get picked on about my small tires.

I'm quite comfortable following my big tire buddies around on my 8.00x6s. That being said, if and when I NEED bigger tires, I'll get them.

I fly a 180K, O-470U, and I run 8.00s. I run 65% at 7-10K which works out to about 19-20" over 2200 RPMs. I routinely true out in the low 140s knots. I average out about 11.5-12.0 GPH. Might do better on fuel burn if I put an engine monitor in and had better info on my EGTs.

So I think what you're hearing on the other board is true!

AEROPOD wrote:I'm quite comfortable following my big tire buddies around on my 8.00x6s. That being said, if and when I NEED bigger tires, I'll get them.

We all know why you are running the little lame-o tires Lopes... It aint cuz you choose. (its cuz your a cheap prick)

As far as all you guys talking about cruising in the 140kt range... Not me man. lm draggy as hell. With the 29's I cruise at 115mph, but thats at 40% power at 7.5 gph.

On the '55 180 with a Horton STOL kit and 850's we are seeing 135 mph.

I talked to the Snider Speed kit guy this past week. He stated with his kit that you will see a 5 knot increase with 850s on the plane. The weight of kit is 9.2 pounds.

135 sounds about right. It doesn't seem to change much going to 850x10s either. Maybe because the wheels cover the brakes?

bigrenna wrote:

AEROPOD wrote:I'm quite comfortable following my big tire buddies around on my 8.00x6s. That being said, if and when I NEED bigger tires, I'll get them.

We all know why you are running the little lame-o tires Lopes... It aint cuz you choose. (its cuz your a cheap prick)

As far as all you guys talking about cruising in the 140kt range... Not me man. lm draggy hell. With the 29's I cruise at 115mph, but thats at 40% power at 7.5 gph.

I knew this was coming Greg, I'm just surprised it took so long. You're not entirely wrong, but realistically, if most of us balance our mission with our wallet, 8.00s are more than adequate. The way I use my airplane, flying out of a lot of paved and grass strips and the occasional wheat field, 8.00s fit the bill. I have a set of 8.50s in the hangar, I just don't need them yet.