Jinzo Ningen
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 27, 2011
- Threads
- 44
- Messages
- 127
OK. So... I've had these Duro X-Country tires for a couple of months now. You can see both them AND the new flat-free deck tires I installed the same day. (Notice the cheap "come-along" winch & tie-down strap combo that I use to lift my non-powered deck for ease of cleaning & blade changing.)
Here's the scoop... They were manufactured in Taiwan so they were machine-flattened to maximize loading in a shipping container. The shop that mounted them had to install tubes (stuffed in by hand) and inflate them to get the tires to return to shape. A pain, but not a showstopper - unless your shop won't work with you. The good news is that these tires have awesome traction. Sidehill mowing is slide-free, instilling mucho confidence. They require a learning curve when turning to prevent peeling up the sod, much the same as chevron/bar tread tires do, so getting these to eliminate that particular problem with my chevrons was a no-win. I aired them down to about 4psi and they ride pretty nice. I was in some pretty muddy conditions in the earlier part of the summer chopping down the walking trails in my little patch of woods and I'm happy to report that the tread pattern, in addition to having excellent bite, features lugs spaced far enough apart to clean themselves fairly quickly & easily. They are designed for ATVs so the profile is round instead of flat, like traditional turf tires. They're also not as wide as my Carlisle chevrons, despite being advertised as such. Bummer. The price was really good though ($64 shipped) but then I had to pay $15/ea. for inner tubes in order to get the tires to mount properly due to the flat condition they came shipped in, so again, that was a wash.
Bottom line... they're decent tires, especially for the price, but for what I wanted and was expecting they were sort of a let down. But again, they weren't designed for lawn tractor use. I took a chance on 'em and they weren't what I hoped. Lesson learned. They are better than my old chevrons, but not by much. However, when the time comes I will be replacing them with a pair of the same Carlisle All-Trails that I currently have on my Deere GT235. Those are wider, hopefully not as destructive with a ZTR mower, and have a flatter profile as they are more lawn tractor-friendly. In fact they were used, I believe, as stock tires on John Deere's big X-Series 4WD garden tractors.
Here's the scoop... They were manufactured in Taiwan so they were machine-flattened to maximize loading in a shipping container. The shop that mounted them had to install tubes (stuffed in by hand) and inflate them to get the tires to return to shape. A pain, but not a showstopper - unless your shop won't work with you. The good news is that these tires have awesome traction. Sidehill mowing is slide-free, instilling mucho confidence. They require a learning curve when turning to prevent peeling up the sod, much the same as chevron/bar tread tires do, so getting these to eliminate that particular problem with my chevrons was a no-win. I aired them down to about 4psi and they ride pretty nice. I was in some pretty muddy conditions in the earlier part of the summer chopping down the walking trails in my little patch of woods and I'm happy to report that the tread pattern, in addition to having excellent bite, features lugs spaced far enough apart to clean themselves fairly quickly & easily. They are designed for ATVs so the profile is round instead of flat, like traditional turf tires. They're also not as wide as my Carlisle chevrons, despite being advertised as such. Bummer. The price was really good though ($64 shipped) but then I had to pay $15/ea. for inner tubes in order to get the tires to mount properly due to the flat condition they came shipped in, so again, that was a wash.
Bottom line... they're decent tires, especially for the price, but for what I wanted and was expecting they were sort of a let down. But again, they weren't designed for lawn tractor use. I took a chance on 'em and they weren't what I hoped. Lesson learned. They are better than my old chevrons, but not by much. However, when the time comes I will be replacing them with a pair of the same Carlisle All-Trails that I currently have on my Deere GT235. Those are wider, hopefully not as destructive with a ZTR mower, and have a flatter profile as they are more lawn tractor-friendly. In fact they were used, I believe, as stock tires on John Deere's big X-Series 4WD garden tractors.
