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I have a 2016 Cub Cadet Pro Z 100S (steering wheel). It's a commercial mower with just over 400 hrs. One the tires has a slow leak. The other 3... have VERY slow leaks. The fastest leaking tire needs air about every week. The other 3... about every month.

Given that the tires are 9 yrs old, should I just go ahead and replace them? Or tube them? 3 of the 4 still have good tread. One of the fronts is more worn, and no, that's not the one with the worst leak. I'm guessing that it's been replaced. The tires don't sit in the sun now, but I suspect that they did until I bought it two years ago.

If I should replace... which tires? Go back with the original Carlisle Turf Masters? Are there any other tire that would be better?

I got a steering wheel ZTR because of the hills & slopes on my property, so I need something with good traction.

Take them to a tire shop and confirm the slow leaks, they my just need new valve stems. If tread is good, put tubes in as long as the tire is not badly dry cracked and rotted.

Auto Doc's said:

Take them to a tire shop and confirm the slow leaks, they my just need new valve stems. If tread is good, put tubes in as long as the tire is not badly dry cracked and rotted.

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Just know that as soon as you hit a nail, stob, etc. and pop the tire, you will be back to square one and have to remove and replace inner tube.

Tiger Small Engine said:

Just know that as soon as you hit a nail, stob, etc. and pop the tire, you will be back to square one and have to remove and replace inner tube.

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Tubes can be patched, can't they? I used to patch bicycle tires when I got flats.

GearHead36 said:

Tubes can be patched, can't they? I used to patch bicycle tires when I got flats.

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They can absolutely be patched. But getting a tube in and out of a small tire/wheel is not nearly as easy as a bike tire. Also, beware, the bike patch kits you find at Walmart or the like are junk. Do yourself a favor and buy high quality rubber cement and patches. I always tube my leaking tires if they have good tread and aren’t badly dry rotted. If you have to patch, inspect the inside of the tire for any nail, wire, thorn etc that may have punctured the tire or you’ll be doing another patch in a day or two. I learned that lesson as a ten-year-old who made popsicle money fixing flats. As another member noted, you may just have leaking valve stems, so check those before you do anything else. My father showed me how to test valve stems: dab some spit on the end of the valve stem and see if it bubbles. If it does, you can tighten it with a valve tool. Used to be that tires came with dust caps that had the tool built in, but nowadays you probably need to buy one. If tightening doesn’t work, unscrew it and replace with a known good valve. New ones are cheap but even cheaper are valve stems from trashed tires. All Schrader valve stems are pretty much interchangeable. Leaky tires are a PITA. Hope you get this fixed asap.

As mentioned, take them to a tire shop and have them leak tested in a water tank. If they're leaking around the rim or at the valve stem, they can easily be fixed. If they leak through the side walls it's time to replace them. My experience is that almost all mower tires last 10 to 13 years. After that the sidewalls start leaking. It's not worth the effort to put tubes in them only to have the tires disintegrate within another year or so.

I test my lawn and garden wheels in a big tub of water, bigger than the wheel. Leaks are usually very obvious, air bubbling out. I've had the trifecta, leaks through the side wall (trash), leaks from punctures (usually from bits of fence wire), leaks around the valve stem. Leaking valve cores are easily replaced. I've seen some tire stores have a big lever to hold large tires under the water.

Yeah, the smaller the wheel, the harder it is to change a tire. I have some with bolted together rims that are very easy to change the tires & tubes. On some equipment it costs about the same to buy a whole new wheel with tire vs just a tire. My local farm & home store gets their lawn and garden tires tightly bundled together so they are quite deformed. That makes it even harder to install and inflate. I won't buy those anymore.

"Old man trick" to seat a small tire on the rim is a very quick burst of starting fluid into the tire inside, wait a couple of seconds then carefully light it with a small propane torch. A quick flame and pop, it's seated. It takes practice the first couple of times

I also have a cheap manual tire changer from Harbor Freight that works fairly well to demount and mount small tires. My local tire shop hates small tires, especially front rider mower tires, I change my own. Aside from that, tire shops have gotten very expensive in my area.

If you are going to do tires, replace all the valve stems regardless They dry rot with age. Don't use any cheap bargain valve stems from Amazon or Ebay unless you are looking to replace them again in less than a year. (I learned that the hard way). A tire shop carries good ones that work.

I wish all of these lawn tractor wheels were bolt toge

rickpaulos said:

I test my lawn and garden wheels in a big tub of water, bigger than the wheel. Leaks are usually very obvious, air bubbling out. I've had the trifecta, leaks through the side wall (trash), leaks from punctures (usually from bits of fence wire), leaks around the valve stem. Leaking valve cores are easily replaced. I've seen some tire stores have a big lever to hold large tires under the water.

Yeah, the smaller the wheel, the harder it is to change a tire. I have some with bolted together rims that are very easy to change the tires & tubes. On some equipment it costs about the same to buy a whole new wheel with tire vs just a tire. My local farm & home store gets their lawn and garden tires tightly bundled together so they are quite deformed. That makes it even harder to install and inflate. I won't buy those anymore.

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I wish all small wheels were 2 piece bolted . I was assigned a army jeep in 1959 with 2 piece wheels , easy .

Be glad they are not the old split rim ring design that were outlawed on passenger vehicles in the 70's. A lot of people got injured or killed messing with those things.

To find leaks in tires I use an old dish detergent bottle filled with water and a little bit of dish detergent. I squirt the water/dish detergent mix over the tire and valve stem and look for the spot(s) on the tire that are "blowing" bubbles. Tiny leaks will be tiny bubbles so they maybe be a bit harder to see.

I have found a product called "Flat Out" to work really well in my tractor tires. I can't personally say what it is like to remove/replace a tire after having used Flat Out, but people say you just wash it off with water.

Buy new, you'll get lots of years out of them. Not going to keep it that long, tubes are a cheaper alternative. If badly dry rotted and side cracked, new would be the best. If installing tubes, I always remove the tire, make sure its clean and smooth inside and grind off any weld splatter inside the wheel. I hate installing a tube and having it pop right off the bat. If replacing and ordering by mail, the tires may come flattened in a box. This makes it a bi... to install and bead to pop on. I will place in a WARM oven to soften and wrap a strap around to stretch it. Sometimes I get extra hands to mount. I've tried the BOOM method and burnt the hair from my arms. Too risky for this Hillbilly.

Gosh ya'll like to work hard. I'm Lazy. If tire has Weather Cracks, get a squirt can full of ATF.(the cheap kind)
Remove the wheel and then the Schrader Valve. Squirt about 1/4 cup in the tire.
Swirl it around all sides of the tire, let sit on each side for a couple of hours.
Install Valvestem and air it up. This can work for Months at a time. I'm not sure Why it works, I guess the ATF has some chemical interaction with dried rubber.

Hi biggertv,

Tire rubber and ATF are both petroleum-based products. The ATF will fill in the dry cracking and swell the cracks shut. It's an old tire shop trick from many years past. It will work until the tire totally gives out and rots apart.

It won't do anything for a bad valve stem though.

If you don't have the money for new tires, put a wood block under the axle so the tire doesn't crease when it goes down. Then inflate to lift the mower off the block. I had old neighbor on social security that could afford a new tire right then, but the block trick kept her going for a few months. She did have a compressor her husband left her when he died.

I think I'm going to try the ATF trick first. I have the money for tires, but I'd like to get the property free of hazards before I go buying new tires. Hopefully that trick will get me another season.

rhkraft said:

If you don't have the money for new tires, put a wood block under the axle so the tire doesn't crease when it goes down. Then inflate to lift the mower off the block. I had old neighbor on social security that could afford a new tire right then, but the block trick kept her going for a few months. She did have a compressor her husband left her when he died.

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I have an older ZTR with bagger that I keep for leaf collection. It has a leak on one tire, and I do this wood block trick. If the tire goes completely flat, the bead will be broken.