Tire Pressure ?

[TobyU]

My ztr manual says 15 psi rear, 20 psi front. Sidewall numbers are what the tire will withstand without exploding, not what works best for the mower the tire is on. Compare your door sticker on your vehicle to your tire sidewall. They will not be the same.

Sidewall pressures are NOT the max pressure the tire will stand without blowing up !!!
They are the pressure that will give the max load capacity for the tire -esp on autos.

Many small lawn tires say "inflate to 14 psi" and also say "When seating on rim do not exceed 40 PSI"

Car tire recommended pressures are a real mess and farse.
They almost always recommend lower pressure than the tire manufacturer would recommend for the weight esp on a pickup truck or ful size SUV.
This is usually for comfort ride but I think they also want to help sell new tires.
If you don't remember, go look up the Firestone Explorer tire debacle .
Wikipedia has a good page on it.

If they would not have recommended only 26 lbs in tires this would not have happened.
26 might be a bare minimum safe but few cars esp before TPMS had tires kept to recommended levels.
They got low. They eventually got aired back up.
If you recommend 32 and they get a little low... no blowouts. Start at 26 and they get low and problems.
BIG PROBLEMS in this case.

Every one of these tires had at least 35psi stamped on sidewall and possibly even higher number as many SUV tires are 44 or even 51 for max load.

I will never put less than 35psi in any automobile tire as I DO NOT give the manufacturer out that car the benefit of the doubt.

I know we're talking lawn and garden tires and they are far lower pressures and lower is usually better with more traction and more comfortable ride since we use them on damp grass and rough yards.

 

[TonyPrin]

BTW, don't forget to check blade height if you change tire pressure.

 

[DK35vince]

I run 8 or 9 PSI in my zero turn tires. Front and rear.
Much better ride.

 

[SamB]

I run 8 or 9 PSI in my zero turn tires. Front and rear.
Much better ride.

I think 10 instead of recommended 15 may help my mower's ride. I'll try that. Thanks.

 

[SamB]

Sidewall pressures are NOT the max pressure the tire will stand without blowing up !!!
They are the pressure that will give the max load capacity for the tire -esp on autos.

Many small lawn tires say "inflate to 14 psi" and also say "When seating on rim do not exceed 40 PSI"

Car tire recommended pressures are a real mess and farse.
They almost always recommend lower pressure than the tire manufacturer would recommend for the weight esp on a pickup truck or ful size SUV.
This is usually for comfort ride but I think they also want to help sell new tires.
If you don't remember, go look up the Firestone Explorer tire debacle .
Wikipedia has a good page on it.

If they would not have recommended only 26 lbs in tires this would not have happened.
26 might be a bare minimum safe but few cars esp before TPMS had tires kept to recommended levels.
They got low. They eventually got aired back up.
If you recommend 32 and they get a little low... no blowouts. Start at 26 and they get low and problems.
BIG PROBLEMS in this case.

Every one of these tires had at least 35psi stamped on sidewall and possibly even higher number as many SUV tires are 44 or even 51 for max load.

I will never put less than 35psi in any automobile tire as I DO NOT give the manufacturer out that car the benefit of the doubt.

I know we're talking lawn and garden tires and they are far lower pressures and lower is usually better with more traction and more comfortable ride since we use them on damp grass and rough yards.

Yeah,TobyU, you are so very correct! Like the Ford Explorer/Firestone debacle, following the "experts" can get you killed(or worse!)

 

[TobyU]

Yeah,TobyU, you are so very correct! Like the Ford Explorer/Firestone debacle, following the "experts" can get you killed(or worse!)

Yes, and also often when we talk about cars or lawn mowers and we state something different than what the manufacturer or the manual recommends...
Someone often says something about the person thinking they know more than the manufacturer and the engineers and the people that are trained and have lots of experience in building and designing these things...

My answer to that is...Well, yes, apparently in many cases I do have a better, safer answer than the manufacturers and the so-called professionals recommend!

This Firestone Ford Explorer issue is one good one I used to prove my point but then they often want to say that is one unique situation so then I can go on.

I can go on too things like recalls!
When you read into them and see what the problem is and see what the official fix is you're just shaking your head going who in the world would have thought that was going to work anyways?

Like the plastic Wheels which by the way if you have any snow blower with plastic wheels, most all of them are under a consumer protection safety recall and they will overnight you free ones wheels and tires.

I've done at least two sets. They used a hard plastic wheel on a snowblower instead of the tried and true steel wheel that work just fine.
I guess that's the trend with everything for the past 25 years is if there's any possible way we can make it out of plastic let's do it..

 

[shurguywutt]

Yes, and also often when we talk about cars or lawn mowers and we state something different than what the manufacturer or the manual recommends...
Someone often says something about the person thinking they know more than the manufacturer and the engineers and the people that are trained and have lots of experience in building and designing these things...

My answer to that is...Well, yes, apparently in many cases I do have a better, safer answer than the manufacturers and the so-called professionals recommend!

This Firestone Ford Explorer issue is one good one I used to prove my point but then they often want to say that is one unique situation so then I can go on.

I can go on too things like recalls!
When you read into them and see what the problem is and see what the official fix is you're just shaking your head going who in the world would have thought that was going to work anyways?

Like the plastic Wheels which by the way if you have any snow blower with plastic wheels, most all of them are under a consumer protection safety recall and they will overnight you free ones wheels and tires.

I've done at least two sets. They used a hard plastic wheel on a snowblower instead of the tried and true steel wheel that work just fine.
I guess that's the trend with everything for the past 25 years is if there's any possible way we can make it out of plastic let's do it..

Yup, just wondering when some genius engineer and his bean-counter brigade are going to roll out a plastic exhaust ROFL. I guess all these batteries solve that problem!

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

Yup, just wondering when some genius engineer and his bean-counter brigade are going to roll out a plastic exhaust ROFL. I guess all these batteries solve that problem!

Most tires that come in my shop from customers are all over the place on tire pressure. Usually low on pressure. The point is, just like car tires, people do not check tire pressure enough on mower tires. Some have been continually airing up tires with leaks for months or years.

 

[TobyU]

Most tires that come in my shop from customers are all over the place on tire pressure. Usually low on pressure. The point is, just like car tires, people do not check tire pressure enough on mower tires. Some have been continually airing up tires with leaks for months or years.

Yep, and nothing wrong with that on a lawn mower because..... it's a lawn mower.
There's really little fear of blowout and almost know chance of injury or anything other excessive from neglecting air pressure on these.

The only thing would be the quite extra aggravation if you let one Get low and then drive it or turn the wheel and it pops off the bead because you will play heck getting it to air back up often.
But, for a great many homeowners, they are not much more capable of airing up at extremely flat tire let alone one that pops off the bead around the rim, so they are going to call someone or take it somewhere if anything happens!

I really believe that some people simply shouldn't own equipment.
I'm quite harsh about it but the rash of incompetent, or at least not engaged, hands off people has created a real cycle or a real cause and effect in this country.
They try to make things idiot proof, I mean, user friendly....and then we have kind of whole industries or supporting industries of people trying to do mobile services and stuff that I feel shouldn't exist or at least shouldn't be so widespread.
This just isn't in the lawn mower world either.

I don't know, I just have some weird ideas about things.
I just think you should do most things yourself, or find a friend, coworker, neighbor to come over and help you.
This is really how it used to work and how it works a lot better.
See, traditionally, and for a lot of things you would solicit someone's help with something or a project etc and they would come guide you through it or at least show you how to do it and for a lot of people this got them started I'm doing this or even related things for themselves in the future.

If every time you need anything done more complicated taking your bag of trash out and putting it in the bin, you call someone, are you some dumb app on your phone and have it done for you, you stay a little chance of improving or increasing your skills and becoming a little bit more self-sufficient etc.

After years of this we have pretty much dumbed down people.
It seems in previous generations or times, people used to get smarter and more confident or add more abilities to their repertoire as they got older.
Now it doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

Yep, and nothing wrong with that on a lawn mower because..... it's a lawn mower.
There's really little fear of blowout and almost know chance of injury or anything other excessive from neglecting air pressure on these.

The only thing would be the quite extra aggravation if you let one Get low and then drive it or turn the wheel and it pops off the bead because you will play heck getting it to air back up often.
But, for a great many homeowners, they are not much more capable of airing up at extremely flat tire let alone one that pops off the bead around the rim, so they are going to call someone or take it somewhere if anything happens!

I really believe that some people simply shouldn't own equipment.
I'm quite harsh about it but the rash of incompetent, or at least not engaged, hands off people has created a real cycle or a real cause and effect in this country.
They try to make things idiot proof, I mean, user friendly....and then we have kind of whole industries or supporting industries of people trying to do mobile services and stuff that I feel shouldn't exist or at least shouldn't be so widespread.
This just isn't in the lawn mower world either.

I don't know, I just have some weird ideas about things.
I just think you should do most things yourself, or find a friend, coworker, neighbor to come over and help you.
This is really how it used to work and how it works a lot better.
See, traditionally, and for a lot of things you would solicit someone's help with something or a project etc and they would come guide you through it or at least show you how to do it and for a lot of people this got them started I'm doing this or even related things for themselves in the future.

If every time you need anything done more complicated taking your bag of trash out and putting it in the bin, you call someone, are you some dumb app on your phone and have it done for you, you stay a little chance of improving or increasing your skills and becoming a little bit more self-sufficient etc.

After years of this we have pretty much dumbed down people.
It seems in previous generations or times, people used to get smarter and more confident or add more abilities to their repertoire as they got older.
Now it doesn't seem to be the case.

Most/many people have no interest, sense of urgency, sense of challenge, motivation, etc. in learning basic everyday tasks and skills pertaining to life. It isn’t really about tire pressure specifically, it is about self reliance, pride, sense of accomplishment, etc. However, they don’t see it that way. We are not talking about rebuilding an engine here, we are talking about checking and adjusting tire pressure. Please remember, most people don’t even have an air compressor or can find and use a tire gauge. They just don’t care. The “more important thing to do” mentality leads to 15 more minutes screwing around on their phone watching Tik Tok videos. Done ranting…