Herculiner on tyres

[rosslr]

Today I decided to start coating my 26" Airstreaks with Herculiner. My friend Col with his Super Cub is doing it also. We researched it fairly well - there are good reports from the super cub mob on using this stuff successfully so we decided to give it a go. Especially given the price of replacing these tyres given their high price to start with and then conversion to OZ dollars and freight!

I washed the tyres with detergent and water then rinsed them off with fresh water. I then cleaned them with Xylene before brushing on the first coat. I plan on 2-3 coats. Will let you know how it goes.

Hope you like the white walls too!

cheers

ross

[southwind32]

What is the purpose of this application?

[Esser]

Is that a polyurethane product Ross? Edit: It is polyurethane, I just looked it up. Seems like a good idea to me.

It's to add material to the tire so they don't wear as fast.

[AirFox]

I ran into a guy on the gravel bar yesterday who was on his 3rd application of this stuff Ross. He said that it was working out great. I have 655 hours on my Airstreaks and They are still holding up. I stay off the asphalt as much as possible. I am considering doing the same application. Thanks for the detailed instructions.

Scott

[rosslr]

Yes Guys, its to prolong the life of these great but rather expensive tyres. A bit like retreading I guess. There are many posts on the Cub blogs sites about it. My research suggests that Herculiner is the one to go with. There are other bedliner products and reports suggest they are nowhere near as effective on the tyres as is Herculiner.

That's impressive Scott - 650 and still ok. I too try not to use the asphalt - only occasionally due to the grass being too wet. Mine have 300hrs on them now and they are doing well. I think I can detect a little bit of wear and that it is on e the sides - I have ordered some shims as I thin I have a little bit of +ve camber.

Off to the shed to see if coat one has cured overnight!

cheers

r

[3kdscf]

Bumping an old thread to give my experience rolling Herculiner onto my expensive 26" Airstreak 2.0 tires. To make application easy, I put the front end up on blocks so each wheel could spin freely. I washed the tires with dawn and a scrubbrush, then rinsed with clean water and let dry. I skipped the cleaning with xylene. To put the stuff on, I used a 2" roller and just spun the tire while holding the roller in one place. Pretty easy to put on. I put on one coat, then had to let it dry for 3 days to lose its tack because temp was in the 50s, normally it would be dry in a few hours. The second coat also took 3 days to dry. One quart covered both airstreaks with two coats.

That was 3 months and 34 hours of pavement flying ago and the tires have been awesome. Nothing ever came off and it wore evenly. I typically land about 3x/hr so about 100 landings on pavement in that time. The liner has now worn off and its time for another herculiner coat. This time I will do three coats to make it last longer. Re-treading with a $29 can of Herculiner every 30-50 hours might seem like a pain but its not nearly as painful as another $2400 set of tires :)
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[Eric Page]

Thanks for the bump. I joined the forum after this thread was long dead and I was unaware of this procedure. Appreciate the tip!

[WWhunter]

I'll have to find the thread, but I think someone suggested Flexane (?) over Herculiner.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtthgYYhkz0

[alexM]

I think Trent did a video showing a small contraption that looks like a motorcycle wheel balancer, and they dip the tire in a tray and keep it rotating so it coats evenly.

Eric, you won't need to worry about this coating process if you're using the Desser 8.50s like I had on my Citabria. I not only abused those tires extensively on pavement, I signed off several tail wheel endorsements over a 3 year period and they still had lots of life left in them. I'm talking many, many hundreds of landings.

The AWB 26" (and larger) are soft sticky rubber, and they're much heavier than the Desser 8.50 which means they suffer more when they touch down on pavement. When I was at Stick and Rudder they showed me the dead pile. They go through several sets of 26" AWBs every season.

[Eric Page]

Eric, you won't need to worry about this coating process if you're using the Desser 8.50s like I had on my Citabria. I not only abused those tires extensively on pavement, I signed off several tail wheel endorsements over a 3 year period and they still had lots of life left in them. I'm talking many, many hundreds of landings.
Thanks, Alex. That's good to know!

[WWhunter]

Agree with alexM, I've used the GY 26" (blimp) tires, the 8.50 smoothies, 26" and 29" AkBushwheel Airstreaks. They all have their advantages/disadvantages.

The 26" goodyears, are heavy but almost bullet proof. Their downside on these weight of airplanes is they are very stiff and not much cushioning affect. When deflated, they can slip on the rim and bust the valve stem.

I currently have the 8.50 smoothies on a couple different planes. Awesome all around tire if you're not worried about the fellow flyers making fun of your tiny tires. ;)
They're quite durable, especially if you land on pavement more than grass/dirt. Best advantage....cheapest 'bush' type airplane tire. Also very light if you can run them tubeless.


The Airstreaks are excellent tires for pure off airport use. The 26" where perfect for my use. I upgraded to 29" just because of tire envy. Didn't need them and they are heavy! I'm thinking they added 35 lbs to my EW. Might even have been more. They definitely grab when landing on paved runways, you can feel your wallet lighten on every landing. LOL If you not quite perfectly aligned with the runway, you will know!!

[Eric Page]

I think Trent did a video showing a small contraption that looks like a motorcycle wheel balancer, and they dip the tire in a tray and keep it rotating so it coats evenly.
I did some searching and found this:

Trent made a video about whether he thought tundra tires are worth the cost...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6L_e7B8HDU


...and someone with the YouTube name "Steve K" posted four videos on applying Devcon Flexane 80. No tray, but they do use the contraption you mentioned.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diiCycxjpss


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_MOSZVSlno


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKEG7B4iO0c


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj5yApDgMJs

[Eric Page]

Well, this subject turned into a rabbit hole...

Here's a video from Devcon that shows using Flexane 80 to cast a roller wheel (at 2:13 in the video), so it would appear the stuff is fairly sturdy when cured. (Recommend sound off; there's no speaking and the soundtrack is painful.) From a cursory search, it looks like Flexane would cost $80-100 per tire.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9Ql3y-03wQ


Finally, a YouTube channel called Project Farm tested a number of roll-on bed liner products. If you watch the video closely, you can see that many of the liners cure to a hard finish and flake when damaged, while two of them (Herculiner and Durabak) seem to stay flexible. Herculiner runs ~$20/qt and Duraback ~$50/qt (Amazon prices).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8RY-Z0ObgY

[AvDES LLC]

I didnt even realize there was a thread on this - I too just coated my ABW with a few coats of herculiner after the suggestion from a few others up here that did the same. Great to see that there is more interest in this than just the local guys that ive been speaking to as we (AvDES LLC) has some exciting things to discuss on this topic:

AvDES LLC will be offering a tire rotisserie as a product for doing exactly this. We have just finished with the prototyping phase and have began movement into the initial production run for release to market. Finger crossed we will have the production run completed in time for this late summer / fall as we plan to have a booth at Osh 2022.

Big things that the AvDES Tire Rotisserie offers:

- tire is removed from aircraft - no worries about flinging this stuff all over your plane during application
- tire is left mounted on wheel - other similar systems require removal of tire from the wheel - our system will allow you to leave the tire mounted to the wheel to minimize downtime
- currently system is designed around aircraft that are on 6" Matco wheels - currently working with wheel manufacturers to offer adapters depending on the wheelset of the aircraft.

If there is any interest in learning more about the product please feel free to reach out. Patent paperwork is being finalized now and we should be able to begin showing this thing off soon!!!

[3kdscf]

...and someone with the YouTube name "Steve K" posted four videos on applying Devcon Flexane 80. No tray, but they do use the contraption you mentioned.


Since I have not used the Flexane, I cant compare it to the Herculiner in terms of how it wears but I watched the video and the flexane is definitely more complicated than the Herculiner to apply.

As an aside, here is my "Tire Kiln" used to cure the Herculiner faster when the temperature is in the 50s. I just use my cowling and a portable heater set to about 90F. Of course, unless you want fireworks in your hangar its best to wait until the solvent has evaporated before using the kiln :)

29985

The white little box inside the cowl is the portable electric heater. The metal on top of the cowl and behind the cowl is to make the kiln less drafty so it can maintain 90F.

[3kdscf]

AvDES LLC will be offering a tire rotisserie as a product for doing exactly this. We have just finished with the prototyping phase and have began movement into the initial production run for release to market. Finger crossed we will have the production run completed in time for this late summer / fall as we plan to have a booth at Osh 2022.

Wow, if you could come up with a process that could be used on certified aircraft to apply a flexane like product then that would be a goldmine! Exciting development.


For little guys like me, its a lot more work to take a tire off than to re-tread it in place.

[AvDES LLC]

Wow, if you could come up with a process that could be used on certified aircraft to apply a flexane like product then that would be a goldmine! Exciting development.


For little guys like me, its a lot more work to take a tire off than to re-tread it in place.

100% agreed! Currently the system in development was focused around experimental aviation and the re-coating of tires on these aircraft - I am in conversation with an IA and likely will be approaching the local FSDO this coming week to discuss the implications of owners completing this type of work on certified aircraft - I in NO way want to **** off the FAA or have them breathing down the companies neck! Ill let you know what they say!

For the time being, looks like the production unit should be available to start discussing within the next few weeks - once the patent paperwork it finalized - GAME ON!!!

For those that plan to attend any of the fly-ins this year (fingers crossed that this includes Osh 2022), were hoping to have a booth set up, at the very least we will have a few of the products with us for anyone that bumps into us and wants to check out the goodies or chat about design, function, the weather, etc. Looking forward to running into a lot more of y'all in these upcoming fly-ins!

Also figured a sneak peek wouldnt hurt considering the proprietary portion of the system is completely out of view - this current system allowed me to place a coat in about 8 minutes across a 29" ABW and is built to accommodate up to a 35" tire - ENJOY!

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Nick

[3kdscf]

Update on my Herculiner retread. I bought my 26" Airstreak 2.0 tires 11 months old and they have about 200 hours on them. I put the first application of Herculiner on after about 50 hours and applied Herculiner two more times, each time when I had worn thru the herculiner showing parts of the original tire.


As far as I can tell, I will be able to retread indefinitely making these pricy tires more affordable. Here is what the tires look like right before another re-tread ...

30676

[Shadowrider]

100% agreed! Currently the system in development was focused around experimental aviation and the re-coating of tires on these aircraft - I am in conversation with an IA and likely will be approaching the local FSDO this coming week to discuss the implications of owners completing this type of work on certified aircraft - I in NO way want to **** off the FAA or have them breathing down the companies neck! Ill let you know what they say!

For the time being, looks like the production unit should be available to start discussing within the next few weeks - once the patent paperwork it finalized - GAME ON!!!

For those that plan to attend any of the fly-ins this year (fingers crossed that this includes Osh 2022), were hoping to have a booth set up, at the very least we will have a few of the products with us for anyone that bumps into us and wants to check out the goodies or chat about design, function, the weather, etc. Looking forward to running into a lot more of y'all in these upcoming fly-ins!

Also figured a sneak peek wouldnt hurt considering the proprietary portion of the system is completely out of view - this current system allowed me to place a coat in about 8 minutes across a 29" ABW and is built to accommodate up to a 35" tire - ENJOY!

29986

Nick
You still recoating ABW’s?

[AvDES LLC]

You still recoating ABW’s?

yessir ABW’s are what my KF is sitting in and I’ve gone through 2 recoats without issue. We at AvDES no longer offer the service of coating, but we’re working out the final manufacturing details to get the TireCure (trademarked) on the market to allow for owners to recoat on their own. I cannot go into much more detail here as we are not yet setup as a site sponsor and it would be disrespectful to the owner of this site to advertise here without being a sponsor.

thank you for your interest and happy flying!
nick

[Av8r3400]

I've done both the Herculiner method and the Flexane 80 method. Herculiner was easier and cheaper, but it peeled off easily. The Flexane was better but more difficult to apply and far more expensive.

Herculiner:

https://i.imgur.com/lPlmy41.jpg


Flexane:

https://i.imgur.com/9XKnfi3.jpg


https://imgur.com/TwAzc35

[Shadowrider]

Flexane ABW looks good! How is the flexane holding up? I have 300 hours on my 29” and they are starting to show cord. I operate out of class d airport with long taxis. 🤦Do you have any interesting in coating mine?

[AvDES LLC]

I've done both the Herculiner method and the Flexane 80 method. Herculiner was easier and cheaper, but it peeled off easily. The Flexane was better but more difficult to apply and far more expensive.

Herculiner:


Flexane:


https://imgur.com/TwAzc35

Ive tried both as well and agree that herculiner is much easier to apply, cheaper, and I’ve found that as long as you hit the tires with 40 grit before application the herculiner sticks quite well. I learned to fly tailwheel, off airport, and continue to fly the same tires - recoated a few times obviously hahaha

[Shadowrider]

Anyone know someone who I can hire to put the Flexane 80 on my ABWs I can ship them to you? They are just starting to show cords?