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Tire Wear

hhbarton11

I'm New Here
Hi Everyone,

I have a RV-14A with about 120 hours on it. I have noticed that the left main tire is wearing uneven. The wear is all on the outside of the tire compared to the inside. Is this normal for the RV's. When I look at the right main the wear is much more even. When looking at the Mains you can tell the left main has more camber than the right. I will say the plane tracks perfect on the ground, there are no pulling tendency or anything. Just seems to be wearing a bit odd. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you guys may have.

Heywood Barton
 
What you observe is common on spring leg type landing gear. At touchdown, the outer edge touches first, until the leg compresses a bit. Pull the tire off and flip it over, to even out the wear. OTOH the left and right gear should look the same.
 
I have greater wear on one tire, but mine is the right. As others have said, it’s always going to be the outside, but I’m on my third set of tires with the same wear pattern (right tire). Second set, I rotated the tires on the rims, but waited a bit too long. This set (third) I flipped them earlier and side to side as well as inside to outside. I decided that the cost and effort wasn’t enough to warrant going through the whole axle alignment over again.
 
Tire wear on inside edge

I have an RV7A and did a brake pad replacement this morning. I noticed the inside edge of the right main was badly worn. The left main is also worn more on the inside but not nearly as bad as the right. For some reason [no excuse] I have not noticed this on preflight. Any thoughts beside replace the tire.....?
Just tried my first image post and see you have to have a URL to post the image. I have no web site so no picture. :(
 
I believe if the toe in/out is set correctly, the wear is greater on the outside but both main tires. Many folks, including me, flip the tires from inside to outside to get more life out of the tire.
 
Tire wear on inside edge picture

Thank you for the advice on putting picture in as attachment. :)
 

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