tire approvals

[Stainless1]

I talked with an engineer friend of mine who works at Goodyear, and it was his feeling that with 18 plys the tire would not catastrophically fail for well beyond 300mph, and if the temperature could be controlled then there shouldn't be a problem with the tread chunking.

Matt, all you need to do is get your guy at Goodyear to put that down on paper... Over the last 25 years we only hear a "click" when we try to talk to tire engineers about using the aircraft tires for LSR. 
Burklands did a lot of F-16 tire testing trying to find a suitable LSR tire, I think they found consistency... unfortunately it was the inconsistency of the failure speeds... 

Good luck with the project

[McRat]

i have a bunch of those tires.... i think stainless has some he doesnt use either...... yep you can use em up to 250 and thats it.....251 and she's on the trailer..... oh yeah their heavier than Subaru and will fly apart even shaved...... not a good choice......
kent

I would love to go 250 on ours, but I'm not going to.  We have shaved the fronts, and I think shaved they will be OK to their rated speed for a couple of miles, but I'm thinking a little safety cushion is always good.  Be sure to put them at their rated air pressure.

That makes me wonder.  The inflation pressure is often for weight handling capacity.  But weight ratings are very high.  Inflating past the point needed might actually make the tire fail at a lower speed than it has to, by just adding extra stress.  At speed, centipetal force is going to override inflation pressure anyhow.  No matter how much you inflate it, the tire might stay round at high speeds just from the force.

[Dean Los Angeles]

.  At speed, centipetal force is going to override inflation pressure anyhow.  No matter how much you inflate it, the tire might stay round at high speeds just from the force.

It's not inflation pressure but the force it puts against the entire structure. Don't underestimate the structural rigidity that the air pressure adds to the tire.

[1212FBGS]

Mr. McCoy
If I knew how to use the quote thingy on here to respond to your post I would but 16 ply’s “IS” the problem. I repeat 16 ply’s “IS” the problem… ya see its all the weight that tears the tire up…a good LSR tire is only 6 ply’s and a super crap load of additional wire in the bead area… if you ever get a chance to compare a LSR tire to its identical brother the front runner you will instantly notice the difference in the bead area … in most cases the tires share the same mold but internally they are way different…. Yes your engineer is probably right that the aero tire might hold up…. are you willing to bet your life on it?
That tire has a lot of weight and will radially fly off the tire bead and loose air pressure…. Since you take so much stock in what your Goodyear tire buddy tells you (heck you ought to that’s his job right) he should be able to tell you what happens to a tire when it looses pressure…dude just don’t do it… Oh yeah, you shouldn’t take a bike liner to Elmo either…bike liners slide good on the salt but catch roll and flip on the dirt…wanna see pix of the results?
Kent

[Superfast Matt McCoy]

There are a lot of opinions on this.  Does anyone have opinions or experience with other small diameter (<20") tires?

what's the feeling on solid aluminum?

in other words, what are my other options?