Tires and Tubes

We have experienced a rash of flat tires in recent years. This is not restricted to Cirrus airplanes either. Discussions with many of our service centers report that this problem exists across all manufacturers. Cirrus has had discussions with the major tube manufacturers and they continue to try and improve their product to prevent these types of failures.

Cirrus recently released Service Advisory SA 13-04 with some helpful reminders and recommendations to help ensure tire and tube longevity.
 

To improve the reliability of tire tubes and avoid flat tires, Cirrus recommends the following practices:

A. Store unused tubes with original packaging in a cool, dry place away from contaminants.

B. Inspect tube and tire for foreign objects prior to installation.

C. Install a new tube with each new tire installation.

D. Carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions for tube installation.

E. To help remove any folds or wrinkles during installation, inflate the tire/tube to recommended pressure,

completely deflate, and reinflate.

F. Increase Nose Landing Gear tire pressure to 40+/-2 psi (276 kPa).

G. Monitor tire pressure on Nose and Main Landing Gear, and maintain at Cirrus recommended values.

Cirrus Engineering has changed the nose landing gear tire pressure from 30+/-2 psi to 40+/-2 psi for all models. Our tech pubs department will be updating the POH, flight manual, and the maintenance manual at the next scheduled revision to reflect this change.