The general consensus among tire folks is: If you fly a lot, frequently, with lots of cycles (takeoff and landings)...use the better grade of tires and/or retreads.
If you fly infrequently with few cycles use the cheap tires. The philosophy is that the high-utilization aircraft will benefit from the tread-wear characteristics of high-grade tires and that retreads will also be cost effective if you have a training or high-utilization rate.
A low utilization airplane will suffer from oxidation and dry-rot/sidewall cracking regardless of the quality of the tire and will suffer premature tire replacements, so you might as well make them inexpensive. (You ain't gonna wear them out so you shouldn't waste money on expensive tires.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
John Renwick
Minneapolis, MN
Former owner, '55 C-170B, N4401B
'42 J-3 Cub, N62088
'50 Swift GC-1B, N2431B, Oshkosh 2009 Outstanding Swift Award, 2016 Best Continuously Maintained Swift
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