Tires/tubes

[Wade Joseph]

Anyone running tubes in their 4 wheeler tires? Either I have the worst luck, or these things should have tubes in them. I had 3 holes in the original tires in the first two years. Plugged two. The third was a R/R spike and was too big to patch. So I got new tires. Now less than 4 months old, I have a right rear going flat. I hope it was just from drastic temp difference between garage and outside. I re-inflated it, but if it goes flat again and I can find a hole, I am considering running tubes in them. Will tubes hold up to 55 mph which is top speed of my wheeler? Not sure I wanna spend the money to fill them with that tire slime stuff, as it would take allot of it to fill them and I do not like the idea of a quart of that carp just rolling around in there. Once over about 10 mph it would just make the tire out of balance do to centrifugal force.

Any ideas?

[Roofer]

Stock tires are very weak on most models. They are only a 2 ply and have seen them puncture on just a sharp rock near Redtop. Get some tougher 6 ply tires and not have to worry about it anymore.

[Roofer]

BTW, if properly done, tire slime takes very little and balances itself on the tire. It really just coats the inside.

It sure makes a mess though if you ever put different tires on those rims.....or so I have heard.

I haven't first hand seen how it works, but it does plug holes on the contact area of tires.

[Dave S]

Wade,

I posted to your original post in the Equipment forum about Tire Balls. They're more expensive than inner-tubes, but give you far more peace of mind.

[fasternu]

It shouldn't hurt anything to run tubes in them. I run them in my race car, and don't balance them, and unless you are riding on asphalt, you shouldn't even notice a difference. It's not like the trails/fields are perfectly smooth anyway. I doubt very much your tires are balanced anyway. From previous experience, DON'T run slime if you don't have to, WHAT A MESS! By the way, check where the tire beads on the rim if you have a leak, often all it can take is a little dirt stuck on the sidewall, and it will cause a leak. Just let the air out, and you should be able to "unbead" it, wipe it clean, then air it up. ATV tires have pretty soft sidewalls so it isn't as hard as a car tire.

Of course, this is all just my opinion.