Export thread

I have a Radius X w/turf tires, and when they delivered the mower in 7/20 it seems like the drive tires had flat spots. I figured this would go away after a while, but it didn't. So this year I take the mower up and down the driveway and it seems worse, so I jack up the rear and have the wife put it in forward position and from the side you can see it out of round. I call the dealer and he says bring it in. I take it over to the dealer and the mechanic comes out and says this is common for them to be out of round. When your on flat surface it feels like they are egg shaped. I have those Kenda tires. Has anyone else had this problem?

Don't know about the temps in Summerdale AL so far, but here in north GA it hasn't been warm enough to heat up any tires, even though we've had some "nice" days.

1. First place I'd start is to check the air pressure in all the tires. THEN check the pressures with a second (new) tire pressure gauge. You may simply not have the right air pressure in the tires. Stranger things have happened. Believe it or don't: tire pressure gauges DO go bad.

2. Mower tires aren't super-duper quality simply because mowers don't achieve life threatening speeds. After a winter of sitting in one place, I'd expect a flat spot on both tires. If you told me you DIDN'T have flat spots, I might have to call you a bad name.

3. The mower is naturally going to want to roll onto the flats when you park. Make sure that doesn't happen when you park. Be brave. Explore new worlds. Flatten a new area on the tires next time you park. See if the tires aren't simply flattening on any area that they sit.

4. Your yard is obviously too small. Next day it turns 80F, ride that mower down to the Morgan County Sheriff's Dept and mow their lawn. Not that tiny patch in front. Oh no, you go mow those 2 acres out back.... between their building and High Street.

If you still have problems (other than being arrested) write again.

It is not common for tires to be out or round. I have used quire a few Kenda tires and never had any out of round. I have seen tires develop an egg shaped set from sitting deflated on a heavy mower for a long time. If the tires are truly out of round they may have damaged cords. Are there any bulges in the sidewalls or the tread?

A tyre should be almost round
At the pressures recommended by the mower company you should not be able to feel any wonking from out of round tyres
If you can the tyres are defective
Tyres are not warranted for things like flats but they are warranted for manufacturing defects
If they were like that from new then they are defective & should be replaced under warranty
If the dealer is palming you off with a "they are all like that sir" then go directly to the factory
Complain ( politely ) about both the tyres & the dealer fobbing you off

I called the dealer today, and the owner was really nice about it. He's had the mower for 2 weeks now, and he said they removed both drive tires and replaced them with Carlisle tires and it's still doing it. He said he has been in constant communication with Exmark with what is going on. Next they are going to check the hubs to see if they are out-of-round. He said the tires are Made in China and are smashed into a container and shipped over here, and since they are not steel belted tires they never seem to regain their shape. He recommends 10-12 psi in the drive tires, and the owners manual says 14 psi. He also said that when the mowers are shipped from the factory, they are strapped down in the crates. He said every mower they unpack, and drive the tires do the same thing. The owner already knows I called Exmark and told them this is unacceptable. So for now I am pleased with Exmark and the dealer in trying to resolve the problem.

I & every other repairer fit dozens of tyres every year.
Never had a egg shaped tyre from cheap 2 plys to expensive 4 ply.
And yes they arrive a funny shape & often I have to put a tube into the tyre , blow it up & leave it in the sun for a day or so for the tyre to go back into shape.
But never had one that felt like riding on eggs.
A rough guess would be the hub bolt holes not being concentric with the axels or the rims not being square to the hub.

bertsmobile1 said:

I & every other repairer fit dozens of tyres every year.
Never had a egg shaped tyre from cheap 2 plys to expensive 4 ply.
And yes they arrive a funny shape & often I have to put a tube into the tyre , blow it up & leave it in the sun for a day or so for the tyre to go back into shape.
But never had one that felt like riding on eggs.
A rough guess would be the hub bolt holes not being concentric with the axels or the rims not being square to the hub.

Click to expand...

What he said.
I have recieved tires in a box you would swear the tires would not fit in and the tires are smashed and strapped together. Mount them and put a few psi over the rated pressure and let lem set for a couple days and they are fine. If they put new tires on and it still has the problem i would be concerned it was not the tires but bad rim(s) or a bent axle shaft in the hydro(s)

Hammermechanicman said:

What he said.
I have recieved tires in a box you would swear the tires would not fit in and the tires are smashed and strapped together. Mount them and put a few psi over the rated pressure and let lem set for a couple days and they are fine. If they put new tires on and it still has the problem i would be concerned it was not the tires but bad rim(s) or a bent axle shaft in the hydro(s)

Click to expand...

If it does have a bent axle shaft, it was like that from new. Exmark will have to cover it under warranty.

Update: Talked to the dealer and both hubs & axle shafts are not bent. That's the good news. The bad news is they put on 3 sets of tires, 1 Kenda, 2 Carlisle and ALL of them were out-of-round. The dealers hands are tied because all the tires are Chinese junk. They contacted Exmark and they are trying to find a set of round tires in their warehouse to send to the dealer. The rims were checked twice and no problems. This is totally unacceptable for a mower that cost this much.

This is rubbish,
Either the dealer is not fitting the tyres correctly or he is not measuring the wheel / axel properly
I am yet to come across an out of round tyre of any brand in any size
Pull the tyre off and refit the wheel
Get a dial gauge on a magnetic stand as used on lathes & mills, some cheap Asians ones will be fine for this
Set the wheel on the mower & run it against the gauge running on the rim seat, not the edge.
The only other thing that makes them go wonky is a loose transmission or faulty transmission brace but that will only show up with the machine under load.

I does seem odd that 3 different sets of tires are out of round. Especially Carlisle. The only tire i ever had that was egg shaped had damaged cord from over inflation. Mower turf tires are relatively thin so once inflated they should be round. Like Bert i would be interested in measuring runout on the edge of the rims. I have installed some about as cheap as you can get cheng shin tires and never had one out of round.

It only take the wheel stud holes to be 1/128" off center and you rim will run out of round
We had to redrill the hub os a 2000 series cub wheel t=because they had allowed it to run with loose wheel nuts and this funny enough wore all the holes in the same direction so the wheel egged for want of a better description
I have some motorcycle sprockets where the mounting holes were jut the tiniest bit out of alignment but enough so every time you engine braked the chain jumped off the sprocket.
A friend jigged it up on his mill & redrilled the holes, problem solved.
And they were only out by a few thou.

This can happen if you don't use tire mounting lube. The bead won't pop out and the side wall will dip inward at that position. The side wall being pulled in, then pulls the tread in, making the whole tire "wompy jawed". Tires typically have an indicator line that should be exposed and about 0.1" from the rim all the way around. This should be evident on BOTH sides of a correctly mounted tire. It typically happens due to lack of lube and/or not enough pressure applied during tire installation. These tires typically run 12-15psi, but you might need to momentarily apply 30-40psi to get the tire to "pop out" and seat correctly.

(NOTE: Wompy Jawed is a highly technical term used in the Deep South by professionals to denote things that ain't like they's supposed to be. Synonyms: un-Kosher, Royally screwed, SNAFU, cy-goggled, etc.)

I got my mower back with 2 new Carlisle tires, and 1 new rim. It is still is the same. Tires are Chinese JUNK! There are only two major suppIiers, Carlisle & Kenda. I went to two other local dealers in town, one sold Scag, and the other sold Toro. Both head mechanics told me you can pull anyone of these brand new mowers out and drive them down the street and the tires will be out-of-round. They both said this is common for two reasons, one they are strapped down so tight in the crates for shipping, the other is the tires are junk. I was very pleased with my dealer trying to fix it, but Exmark would only allow them to do so much. So in the end Exmark did not fix the problem. The customer service rep for Exmark in Nebraska said it's not a safety issue.

still think you are being sold a line.
if tyres were that bad this forum woulg be seeing threads like yours on a daily basis

Maybe the OP can jack up the rear end and video the rear tires rotating with the phone not being hand held but setting on something so we get a steady reference. I would like to see the egg shaped tires slowly rotating.

bertsmobile1 said:

still think you are being sold a line.
if tyres were that bad this forum woulg be seeing threads like yours on a daily basis

Click to expand...

I don't really believe that, because I'm 1% of the customers that would complain about this. Like the mechanics said, the majority of customers could care less about out-of-round tires, cause cutting grass is not a smooth surface.