I think my baby is going to like her new dancing shoes !!
I've had the new wheels and brakes, 500X5 Clevelands that are replacing 600X6 Clevelands, installed since eariler this week but the weather has not been too good until today. I stopped by the airport this evening and rolled the KR out for a test flight. I taxied approx 3000 feet to the end of the runway and shut down in the runup area. I got out and checked for any fluid leaks and to see if the tires were showing any scuffing at that point. Everything looked good and the KR seemed to taxi fine also except I noticed the brakes seemed a bit soft. Never having used brakes for directional control and with enough brake to stop the airplane and hold it during runup I decided to fly. With my old tires that had uneven wear and gave me noticable tire scrubbing at liftoff speed, I was anxious to see how the new ones would perform. Acceleration was good and everything was feeling really smooth. As I sat there overjoyed on how smooth things were I realized I had just lifted off. I glanced at the ASI and it was reading 50 mph. I let the airspeed build and started the climbout. At altitude I lowered the nose and let it accelerate. The air was a bit bumpy so it was hard to tell if I've picked up any speed with the smaller wheels or not but it seemed to accelerate up to 155 mph indicated a bit quicker. If I were guessing I'd say I've probably picked up a couple mph. I quickly headed back to the airport to see if the landing and rollout would be as smooth as the takeoff. It was. Everything seemed to be working so well that I taxied back and went around the pattern again. When I got back to the hangar and checked the tires I still had all the little "spikes" on the tires that come from manufacturing. The only ones missing were on the spot where the tire touched down on landing and they were still there, just smashed flat. It would appear after approx 2 1/2 miles of rolling on pavement that they are running straight with no scuffing on the inside or outside. I guess I never realized how bad my old tires were getting and/or how they were probably mis-aligned. These new wheels/tires are SO SMOOTH !!! I tried to align the new wheels at zero toe-in as I did the first set but this time I did the alignment with the tail on the ground. The first alignment I did with the KR in a level attitude. Was that the difference? I'll probably never know. The biggest difference I noticed on the new wheels, besides how smooth they are, is that directional stability with the tail up seems to be more "neutral" now. It never tried to take off to one side or the other but it felt more "fluid" in handling, like I was balancing on a beach ball or something. It was like I could feel the gear legs flexing at my pucker muscle. I guess the slight vibration with the old wheels/tires was hiding that before and I'll probably adjust to it after a couple of flights. My overall impression was YEEEE HAAAA ! I'll add a bit of fluid to the brakes and get started on mounting the wheel covers so I can go chase Mooneys!!!! Larry Flesner
