I have been constantly fighting prop nicks from stones thrown from my 8.50 X 6 Air Tracs off these gravel roads. I bought a tire groover to open the shoulder of the grooves so they don't catch as many stones. As I was cutting away the shoulders of the grooves something occurred to me about the way the grooves work on this tire. At reduced pressures the grooves on the outside shoulders open up as they round the bottom of the roll but the grooves in the center face of the tread work just the opposite. As the tire flexes flatter at the bottom of the roll, the center grooves pinch together and picks up stones just like a tweezer and as they come up the back side and top, the groove returns to normal size, opening up and releasing the stones. It's like supersized double ought buck shot thrown at the prop and up at the wing.
Upshot, the center grooves are the culprits. They are rolling tweezers. They should have no grooves at the center contact face of the tire. I'm going tire shopping and I don't see anything in an 8.50 that is tubeless which would be my first choice with reduced pressure. I might have to go to with a tubed four rib Goodyear that has grooves along the sides but not on the face. The choices seem limited on the 8.50's, not many companies to pick from. Which one of you guys is a tire expert.

Tires are round except when they are flat. Generally they are black. You fill them with air. Frequently if they have a leak. Some tires are bigger that other tires. Tires go on the lowest point on the airplane. You are trained to land on them. Really good airplanes have a little tire in the back. Complex mathmatics prove that tires are designed to roll. Tires are useless when you are in the air. Tires last longer on turf than on pavement. If you see an airplane with it's tires pointed in the air, then check that the pilot is unhurt. Old tires retire and are put out to pasture on the borders of runways.

Good enough?

Sounds like Rod is the expert and you should do whatever he says.

What about the goodyear blimp tires? designed to be run tubeless and they are smooth. Maybe the stiff sidewalls can be dealt with because you could run tubeless???

I tried to get Desser to recap a pair of 800x6s with their smooth tread but they couldn't do it because their fixture was for the 4 inch wheel; otherwise they would have done it

while you are shaving, why not shave all tread off your 8:50's and make them smooth??

The guys at AK Bushwheel sell a 29" "Air Hawk" (I think that's what it's called) that starts life as a grooved tire for much larger aircraft. They shave them smooth and offer them as a happy-medium long-lasting tire for guys who use pavement and rough surfaces alike. Wup/Rob correct me if I am wrong.

Perhaps you can have them shaved by someone with similar facilities?

To complicate my problem on tire selection I am planning to get Datum's wheel skis next winter. Courrier guy got me all jacked up for skis with the pictures he is posting. The largest tire they can accommodate is the 8.50 X 6. The width of the tire and the height are both going to just fit with that ski.
A question about shaving the rubber off the tread. Does that reduce the resistance to puncture like it does on most tires? The ones on here are 6 ply Specialty Air Tracs, it seems to me that the rubber is quite soft and wouldn't put up much of a fight if they were shaved.

Buy a big "O" Ring and put it in your center tread. But I didn't tell you to do it.

Desser sells 'em shaved also.

This is one of the advantages of a smooth tread tire. Grooved tires throw stones. Period. No way around it.

So, go with Goodyear 26 inch blimp tires, or get serious and go with AK Bushwheels.

MTV

mtv wrote:This is one of the advantages of a smooth tread tire. Grooved tires throw stones. Period. No way around it.

So, go with Goodyear 26 inch blimp tires, or get serious and go with AK Bushwheels.

MTV

Yep.....my grooved 850's DO throw rocks!!

When I get serious (and some extra money ) I'll be knocking on AK Bushwheels door!

dirtstrip wrote:To complicate my problem on tire selection I am planning to get Datum's wheel skis next winter. Courrier guy got me all jacked up for skis with the pictures he is posting. The largest tire they can accommodate is the 8.50 X 6. The width of the tire and the height are both going to just fit with that ski.
A question about shaving the rubber off the tread. Does that reduce the resistance to puncture like it does on most tires? The ones on here are 6 ply Specialty Air Tracs, it seems to me that the rubber is quite soft and wouldn't put up much of a fight if they were shaved.

I would make you a smoking deal on a set of 8.50 x 6 you could try shaving.
Super hawks, 90% tread, approx. 2 years old. Problem is they are out of round and caused a vibration on my stinson.
I see 60 mph ground speed on landing and take-off, I think they would be fine on something with 40 mph or less.
You pay for shipping and I'll send the tires, if it works out you can send me a buck or two, or a beer around a camp fire some day.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but smooth tires throw rocks too...

First things first, so for sure I'll take you up on the beer thing and it's on me just for you making the offer. Next is I've been in the hunt for those smooth recapped Goodyears by Desser but can't find anything on their site. I spoke with them this morning about a tubeless 8.50 X 6 after I had talked to Spruce and both places told me there is no such thing as a tubeless 8.50 X 6, that would go for any brand they deal in. Everything is a tube type. The Specialty Air Tracs I have are like new and probably could be shaved and then capped if that is a possibility. I'll check on that too when I call back. If it weren't for the wheel ski plans I would just go for the larger tundra tires but I can't afford both skis and tundra tires. It's like the song said "You can't always get what you want". Thanks everyone for the help so far.

1SeventyZ wrote:The guys at AK Bushwheel sell a 29" "Air Hawk" (I think that's what it's called) that starts life as a grooved tire for much larger aircraft. They shave them smooth and offer them as a happy-medium long-lasting tire for guys who use pavement and rough surfaces alike. Wup/Rob correct me if I am wrong.

Perhaps you can have them shaved by someone with similar facilities?

Correct Zane, the grove that is left is less than 1/8" not big enough to grab rocks. They work good.

Jaerl wrote::idea: Buy a big "O" Ring and put it in your center tread. But I didn't tell you to do it.

I kinda like that idea, cheap and practical, at least till a rock cuts the "O" ring

Coyote Ugly wrote:Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but smooth tires throw rocks too...

Save your 8.50's for when you get the skis and change them out for summer flying. I'd go with the 26" GY's if you possibly can. I have a set herew that are like new I may get rid of. Fly up and take a look at them.
WW

Thanks for giving one more option with the 26". Not being familiar enough with what's involved in the switch, I would assume that I would buy another set of rims too and keep both the 8.50's and the 26's mounted ready to roll depending on whether I used the skis or the wheels. I think that is a good choice as far as tires go but what do 26" tires bring, I haven't looked into those.

How come you aren't running these, did you go to 8.50's with TEN rows of grooves on the tire?

The Goodyear "blimp" tire, or 26 inch tire is in fact a tubless tire. BUT, it is only run as tubeless on the Goodyear blimp, which uses different wheels than other aircraft. So, on fixed wing airplanes, the tubeless blimp tire is run as a Tube Type tire.

CU: ANY tire will throw some stuff, especially cow pies.... Some's worse than others, and grooved tires are some of the worst.

MTV

mtv wrote:The Goodyear "blimp" tire, or 26 inch tire is in fact a tubless tire. BUT, it is only run as tubeless on the Goodyear blimp, which uses different wheels than other aircraft. So, on fixed wing airplanes, the tubeless blimp tire is run as a Tube Type tire.

If the wheel was designed to be tubeless then it wouldnt matter if the tire was on a plane or a blimp right?? There are some tubeless wheels available for the experimental crowd...I assumed dirtstrip had some.

I think someone has mentioned that the 26in gy is close in size to the 8.50 gy. It might be worth checking to see if they will fit the skis.