Puncture resistant tires and tubes
 

Too often my 16x6.50-8 front turf tires are not holding air beyond a week or two. I've replaced the tires when the sidewalls were dry rotted and/or cracked, but I've got two tires which are nearly new and don't hold air. Liquid tire sealants seems to work only for a few weeks. The tire rims are in good shape where the tire beads sit, no rust and only very minor pitting which I sand out when mounting a new tire. With five Cub Cadets to maintain I replace two or three front tires every year. I do have plenty of briars on the edge of my lawn which are tough to avoid while mowing, so I think thorns are causing the punctures.

I looked for, but didn't find, any 16x6.50-8 thorn resistant inner tubes, if there is such a thing. I've seen a few YouTube videos on filling the tires with Great Stuff expandable foam, but that foam becomes brittle and doesn't flex, so I have not tried it. Is there an expandable foam that stays relatively soft after curing and won't crumble. Or any suggestions?

Suggestions:

~Find and repair what is leaking.

~Don't run over thorns

~There is a foam that you can have the tires filled with. A tire shop can send it off and have it done, or do it in house. Seen many machines with this foam in the tires. It stays soft. Whether you want to afford it or not is up to you. It isn't cheap.

What about a tire liner/tire guard. Its a thin liner that goes between the tire and the tube, is impervious to puncture.

Something like this. Or something similar from a different supplier.

http://www.gemplers.com/shop/tire-guard

Different application but the concept is the same, I use this kind of stuff on racing bicycle tires for glass punctures (a product called Mr Tuffy). Works awesome where before, even a small glass shard would cause a high speed flat and loss of skin, the tire liner 100% solved that problem.

Don't think these will go flat. :biggrin2:

I've tried finding the leaks with the tire immersed in a tub of water, but no luck. Apparently the leak is so small and slow, it takes two weeks for the tire to deflate and with the weight of the tractor on it. The air bubbles don't appear in the tub of water.

Gempler's tire guard would seem to work, but it costs far more than a new tire. Ditto for the tire shop foam. BTW - I used Gempler's bullet proof grade tire sealant, and the tire still leaked after a few weeks.

Mr.Tuffy is great and what I'm putting on my Trek road and mountain bikes. I hate fixing a flat in the middle of a ride. They always seem to happen just before a thunderstorm moves in.

Not running over thorns is possible if my dog wouldn't drag the vines into the yard to chew upon. I also use the Cubs in the back woods to bring out firewood, and there are all sorts of stumps, twigs, etc that could puncture a tire. I tried to avoid them but often they are under a layer of leaves.

I'll keep looking, there has got to be a soft expanding foam out there, something like Nerf balls.

I've been fixing leaky CC tires for years. Most got fixed by using bead sealer on the tire bead. Very tiny leaks. I've found just a few leaks in the tread area due to punctures.

Your results may be different.

This was posted on another web site, ya never know, they look pretty cool ! Maybe they have something that will fit a cub now ?:bigthink:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWL...ature=youtu.be

I lived in the desert (dessert?) for a while and there were these sharp thorns that shed off the bushes and annihilated bicycle tires. They sold a goop that you shot into the tire which self healed when punctured. Not too expensive. It made a huge difference. Maybe look at some of the bicycle options?

Already mentioned here. Why not use this?

It would be great, but Mr Tuffy only makes it for bicycle tires, the widest is for wide-tire mountain bikes at 5" wide. Otherwise, it would rock.

I wonder if one got some thin sheet plastic panel sold in Home Depot, 1/16" thick sold in 4 ft sheets, cut to size, rolled it up into the tire, put in tube such that plastic sheet is between (just like Mr Tuffy), then fill tire. The tube would press the sheet against the tire with pressure.

Then a thorn could penetrate the tire all it wants, but wouldn't get through the plastic. Nit sure if the home depot stuff is flexible enough, but someone out there would have something that could work.

Like LDPE which is pretty flexible. See here. 1/16" thick. 12" wide by 24" long

http://www.grainger.com/product/GRAI...Code=P2IDP2PCP