Tires And Tubes

The following is derived from maintenance facility submissions to the FAA’s Service Difficulty Reports database.

Aviation Safety

Saturday, November 09, 2024 at 06:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By: Omar Filipovic

Key Takeaways:

Multiple reports detail significant quality issues with retread tires, including immediate defects like bulges and air gaps, and premature cracking even before operational use.
Aircraft tires experienced various sidewall integrity failures, ranging from blistering and debonding to complete sections missing, sometimes leading to damage to other aircraft components.
Internal tire defects, such as coarse inner surfaces, loose balancing strips, or other manufacturing flaws, caused inner tube damage and slow air leaks.
Many reported tire failures occurred prematurely after minimal flight hours, during storage, or represented recurring issues across fleets.

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Cessna 172L Skyhawk

Defective Retread

New retread tire installed on aircraft. Three hours and four landings later, post-flight inspection revealed a bulge on inboard sidewall. Examination revealed an air gap of 0.375 to 0.5 inch depth between outer and inner surfaces. Gap area estimated 2-3 square inches. Groove was sliced open; outer rubber thickness at slice was less than 0.030 inch. Tire was shipped to me with 8130 release, but was not airworthy.