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Snapper RT1330 (Model 2690249)
Front tire has cracked sidewall: 13X5.00-6 "Turf Tech II N.H.S." -made in China.
Looked online: didn't find a 1:1 tire/wheel replacement with the rounded tread/sidewall transition that's reasonably priced.
Snapper's price is @$75 for tire/wheel -seems high.

Any recommendations? Local tire supplier?
Buy a tire then have it mounted at a garage?

Thanks for your time

snapper re200 said:

Snapper RT1330 (Model 2690249)
Front tire has cracked sidewall: 13X5.00-6 "Turf Tech II N.H.S." -made in China.
Looked online: didn't find a 1:1 tire/wheel replacement with the rounded tread/sidewall transition that's reasonably priced.
Snapper's price is @$75 for tire/wheel -seems high.

Any recommendations? Local tire supplier?
Buy a tire then have it mounted at a garage?

Thanks for your time

Click to expand...

:welcome:

That is the price and that price is quite reasonable.
It is a volume thing.
The volume of mower tyres made & sold is very small so there are no volume efficiencies.
Then there is even less competition pressure because you can not make a living selling mower tyres so almost no one does.
And tyres are a perishable item so are time dependent .
Even a regular tyre shop will not keep them because the cost of the space they will occupy on their shelves will be 20 times the profit they make when the tyre is eventually sold.
Unless stored under very specific conditions tyres deteroiate over time as yours have, which is another reason for the tyre shops not to keep many ( or any) in stock.
And the final nail is the cheapskate attitude of the purchasers who will scour the entire planet to find a cheaper tyre then whinge & bitch about the price because they feel cheated because the side walls collapse and leak air well before the last micro meter of tread has worn away.
You can always buy & fit a tube if you can not afford a tyre.

I always find it amusing that people will sing the praises of a free market where supply & demand control the prices while it pushes down prices the squeal like stuck pigs when the exact same parrameters push a price up to more than they want to spend.

And before you get red in the face and feel all insulted, this is not a personnal thing aimed at you it is a problem world wide .
I run a repair shop and even good customers get abusive when they get a quote and I generally fit the tyres for free with nothing more than a 10% mark up to keep the cost down so I actually make a loss doing it.
The same thing goes for fitting tubes except I can put a regular 35% on them because they are a lot lower priced .
And the worst thing is if the customers took the same care of their mower tyres as they do with their car tyres then they would wear them down to the canvas but no one ever bothers to clean & black their mower tyres, apart from a few repairers like myself.

BM1, thanks for your reply.
There's many options online for good tires at approx $20 -much cheaper than the $75 for tire/wheel.
For example: https://www.amazon.com/Carlisle-Turf-Saver-Lawn-Garden/dp/B005O5Y9N0
Therefore, if all replies confirm $75 is reasonable for a tire/rim, I'll just buy a tire then either mount it or have it done at a garage.

Not red in the face or insulted: everyone is entitled to their opinions on the internet.
You obviously had some venting to do, and it didn't apply to me -so no problem :drink:

Thanks again!

Not really venting, it matters little to me which way you go I can't see you coming all the way down here to get a tyre :laughing:
People see a mower tyre for $ 45 - $ 225 ( Aus $ ) and freak thinking that just because it is 1/4 the size of their car tyre it should be 1/4 the price not twice the price of their car tyre.


The tyre has plasticisers in it to keep it pliable same as a car tyre but they are all temperature dependent and unlike your car, you mower tyres rarely get hot enough to mobilize the plasticisers in the rubber , unless you are a demon mower.
Add to that they tend to sit under awnings or in sheds where one tyre gets sun on it all the time .
So if you want to get full use out of your new tyre, give them some dressing at least twice a season.
Caravan owners have finally twigged to the UV damage that sunlight does to the tyres on their vans & trailers so have started to put covers over the wheels to keep the sunlight off.
This is a lot worse down here due to excessive UV coming through the south pole ozone hole & subsequent thinner ozone layer.

Small tyres are very difficult to fit without specialist tools.
If you do go that way lots of tyre lube , leave the tyre in the sun all day to warm up and fit it late in the afternoon.
Iput a tube in them and leave it overinflated for a couple of days to spread the side walls enough so that it will actually seal onto the rim.
Good luck & keep us informed.

Thanks for the tips-
Bought this mower used. Agree, and do apply rubber conditioner to tires to prolong life.
Just the one tire with sidewall cracking, therefore as you said likely was exposed to weather more than others.

Will give the install a try, but aware it's not EZ and expect to end up having it done at the garage!