The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I agree that we'd look a little silly driving around with
them now, but those big tires on your 60's muscle car
served a purpose! If you were anything like we were,
we built up the motors on our cars 1st and worried about
paint/interior 2nd.... Had to put the horsepower onto
the road somehow.... If we'd have had skinny/small tires,
we'd have been replacing them every week!

As far as airplanes go, big tires do have some plusses.
The prop is farther away from what might hurt it (picking
up rocks, gravel, etc.), some old-timers who've operated
180s in the bush for decades say it decreases the chance
of the tailfeathers getting bashed by junk thrown up
by the main tires, there's of course the fact that it's less
likely you'll get the "Cessna Logo" on your fore-head by
walking into the trailing edge of the flaps while walking
around the airplane, and finally, if you're into fartin' around
on un-improved strips, it's a no-brainer to go with big(ger) tires.

As with anything in life, it's a compromise.... They do
weigh more and they do induce more drag.

Just a personal observation but I think women look better without
panties on, and the same thing goes for the 170.

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

gahorn wrote:Desser Tire, found in TradeAPlane will ship free if you also purchase a main tire and/or tube. They also give free tire talc to sprinkle inside the tire to prevent chafeing the tube. 800-247-8473
I purchased new "Retro" tires for my airplane. IF you order online thru their website, they'll throw in new tubes for free! (Worth about $35 each.) It made the price of Retro tires the least expensive. (Always install a new tube when replacing tires.) http://www.desser.com/
Aircraft Spruce will also sell you a tire/tube if that's all you want and prefer to buy thru them.
In any case, it's a 2.80/2.50 X 4 McCreary tire (and tube). About $23.

Annual time and new tires time, among many other things. Anybody know of any good deals out there? Desser still the one?

Rainy, winds 20 - 30 gusting to 50 here in the DFW metroplex.

I check for the best prices whenever I replace tires/tubes,it usually seems that Desser isn't any (or much) cheaper than Spruce or Chief,and I usually have some other stuff to order anyway so I go with one of them. Seems like tires are usually sold with free S&H thrown in.

Eric

I think wheel pants should be painted pink. And no matter what they say, size counts...

Joe Moilanen

Dresser still has the retros on sale, but only on the Internet site. I put some on and they look great. Lot's of compliments. The macho guys with the big tires will want to beat you up, but they will never catch you with all that extra drag.
jc

Anybody have any thoughts on whether to buy 4, 6, or 8 ply?
David

I installed the Retro tire also. Thought I would point out that they are made by Specialty Tire (McCreary), so they are the same basic tire as an Air Hawk. When you click on the Retro picture on the Desser website it does not say who made them. It does show them in the list when you click on McCreary though. One good thing, I have not had to add any air since putting them on, no weeping. As a comparision the two 600x6 4 ply (McCreary) kits I ordered from Wag-aero for the Cessna 120 and 140 both seep down after a month or so. I like the 6 ply tires for the 170, the extra weight of the 8 ply is not needed. FWIW! RC

Why do people want to give you a penny for your thoughts, when you give your two cents worth? Where does the other penny go? Taxes
I read this somewhere the other day

N2865C wrote:Dresser still has the retros on sale, but only on the Internet site. I put some on and they look great. Lot's of compliments. The macho guys with the big tires will want to beat you up, but they will never catch you with all that extra drag.
jc

You got that right! I've had my '54 in both configurations (600s and
850s) and the 850s cost about 4-5 mph in cruise. But we look so
cool with our big tires when we taxi up after y'all have set up
camp and cracked the 1st beer!

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

My plane had 800x6's when I bought it. I replaced them with 600x6's because they're lighter, less drag and have better braking because the moment arm from the brake disk to the ground is less. I now have double puck Cleveland brakes with Goodyear Flight Custom 600x6 tires and really like that setup. Unless you operate from rough/soft fields 600x6's
are better in every respect. But I admit they don't look as sexy.
Rudy

My first set of 800's were 6 ply. When I had to replace them I noticed that the TCDS sez 4 ply,so that's what I bought. Both McCreary. So far,I haven't noticed an difference between 4 & 6 ply in how they ride or wear.

Eric

Just to let you know what i put on at my annual, I have sort of a tire fetish so I always over reaserch my tire purchases. I ordered both aero classic and mccreary tailwheel tires to do a comparison, and as a budding tailwheel pilot I opted for the McCreary due to the wider and thicker tread and also semed to have a better rubber compound. The Aeroclassic is fine and Tso'd but look as if it should be on a tricycle, I have it as a spare in my flyaway kit. As for the main gear I went with the Michelin aviator 700x6 which comes with free tubes, it has a nice tread profile and I like the sidewall profile and the rubber compound seems to be of quality.
As for a tire study My buddy did when we were doing maint for a flight school we installed tires of various manfacture and models and tracked hour per hour the wear characteristics, they we all C152 with I belive 15X6.00X6 we found that after 500 hrs of hobbs there was a definate trend of a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio of tie replacement. So we came to the conclusion that even though premium tires cost more we got more landings per tire dollar. Now I know recomending a tire is tough, it's like underware, it is somthing you do yourself so I wount do it unless you want, I guess it's a guy thing (haines, fotl or bvd).

Vic

The term "rawhide" comes from the fact that cowboys used to wear burlap underwear.