In article ,
"Jim Burns" wrote:

Annual report is coming soon. I was told by my mechanic that retread tires
are not allowed in my Aztec according to the manual. They actually thought
that this was generally the case with all retractable gear aircraft. In
light of this, I am putting new tires on the mains. My aircraft also
allows
for either 7.00 x 6 in 6 or 8 ply, which I thought was interesting. I'll
be
putting on the 8 ply just to be safe (and the price isn't all that much
different either)


I see you've got a 1965 Aztec, I don't know what the gross weight is, but
our '66 can't use the 6 plys because they are only rated at 1900 lbs each,
or 3800 lbs total, the 8 plys are rated at 2250 each, 4500 lbs total. As
far as all retractable gear aircraft not being able to use retreads, that's
a myth as most retractable gear airplanes actually do use retreads ie. the
airlines. There is an FAA AC that advises when installing retreads on
retractable gear planes to do a gear swing and make sure they fit in the
wells and to be carefull that the sidewalls do not overswell do to heat
build up on take off runs. There is no mention of retread tires in our POH
or in the manual for the Cessna R182 we flew.

We still haven't found any retreads and have ordered new tires which will
provide us with good cases for future retreading.


I would recommend swinging the gear *every* time you change the tires. I
once bought a pair of 6.00x6 McRearys for my Johnson Rocket. One tire
would not fit inside one well but fit in the other. The other tire fit
inside both wells. I have used Thompson's retreads successfully -- it is
partly a matter of the case.