On all of the rental aircraft that I have flown which have 8.50-6 or larger tires, there is a pronounced "shudder" that shakes the whole airplane after take-off, as those big rubber donuts slowly spin-down and eventually stop rotating. As a result of this shuddering, I've gotten into the habit of tapping the brakes immediately after rotation to prevent this uncomfortable feeling for my passengers. I suspect that it may be causing other wear & tear around the airframe, but hey, it's a rental, right?

Now, I'm mounting 8.50-6's on my own airplane, and I'm wondering if I should get them "balanced"?

Thanx, Dave

P.S. - I'd never mount ANY size tires on my cars or trucks without balancing them first.

I used to balance new tires/tubes before I installed them. Don't do it anymore. Thing is if the tire is out of balance, the heavyweight portion ends up on the bottom. It is the piece of tire that gets worn down the quickest going from zero to whatever in a fraction of a second. That blue/white smoke is my current balancing technique for new tires.

Your milage may vary.

gunny

PS ongoing shudder is not usually a balance problem, more an out of round problem. Normally caused by sitting too long. Out of round tires tend to wear as I described above, but not always. Some are just low quality construction. Be considerate on what brand you spend your money on.

If you have a shudder on landing/rollout, you may be landing too fast, not breaking hard enough, and not stopping short enough...

8.50 tires are tiny compared to car tires. Most of the thumping or out of balance feeling is from flat spotting, particularly when tire pressures are kept low.

No balancing required.

MTV

They may be smaller than car tires but they are certainly not constructed the same as the V and Z rated tires on my car.

My Desser 8.50x 6 tires have done that shake on takeoff since new. I've got about 200 landings on them and it isn't getting better or worse.

At the fairly low pressure (12 psi) I finally settled on it is worse than if I had them cranked up to 20 psi.

I stab the brakes after lift off just as the OP does.

aftCG wrote:They may be smaller than car tires but they are certainly not constructed the same as the V and Z rated tires on my car.

My Desser 8.50x 6 tires have done that shake on takeoff since new. I've got about 200 landings on them and it isn't getting better or worse.

At the fairly low pressure (12 psi) I finally settled on it is worse than if I had them cranked up to 20 psi.

I stab the brakes after lift off just as the OP does.

My 26" Goodyears do the same, so I do the same brake-tap.

I used to balance as well, but couldn’t get the adhesive weights to last even a dozen flights. Now, I just tap the brakes. If the vibration is crazy annoying, I break the bead seal and rotate the tire on the tube 90 deg.

The 600x6s on my plane were balanced by my MX when we put them on and I'm glad for it - was weird getting that rattle on the old tires w/o it and having to tap brakes. Happy for any distraction I can avoid on takeoff.

I learned early on to buy better tires, and balancing issues went away. The first Skylane that I had in partnership had tires already worn out when we bought it, as the first owner had been a student who (on reputation) made a lot of skewed landings with excessive braking. We replaced them with McCreary's, which turned out to be el cheapos that vibrated horribly. When we went to Goodyears, the problem went away. I run Michelins on my airplane, and I've never had a balancing issue with them.

Cary