Mower Tire Repair; Plugs vs Slime vs Fix-a-Flat vs FOAM (WARNING FOAM DOESN’T WORK!) 

Great video reviewing the options

Sweet. This foam thing explains why I saved my old busted HF tires. Lol

Wow, what a great presentation. You made it interesting and you explained everything well with excellent descriptive grammar. I liked all the choices. An ENORMOUS thank you 😊

Awesome tire video of the year

I really liked this video Brother!!! Watched the whole thing! 😃

Thanks for these ideas---I have golf cart tires with slow leaks all over my place and got tired of buying new tire replacements. This gives me the courage to try slime and save a ton of money. I can't wait to try the foam on my handtruck tires that keep going flat!!!

Thank you! This was awesome comparing them all! 😊

Super helpful video. Th patch seems to be the best but too much work, so the slime one looks the best for me. Thanks!

Useful testing, thanks. FYI for others, summary/results start at 14:29.

Great presentation... Really tired of pinching my finger's {& learning new words} doing the installing a tube, fixing the tube and back to tubeless thing. The "gaps & cracks" foam is where I'm going. Thanx!

Such a great video. Thanks dude

I like those methods. The foam was funny as hell.

This is awesome...I've got a can of Great Stuff in the garage and I came to RU-vid to see if anyone's used it to fix a tire...and now It's out to the garage to drill a few holes in an old handtruck tire (and then use it for a Kayak Kart.)

Great Demo. thanks

Well done.

Great video!!!! ATF also works awesome!!!!

Good looking out thank you

Great video

Thank you. The riding mower has a slow leak in the front. I can fill it once every 2 weeks & it’s fine. This video saved me money because I decided to just keep filling it with air so that I don’t have to mess with any product until absolutely necessary. I know some complain about Slime & Fix-a-Flat but I believe that’s more about what it can do to the wheels on a car over time. When I do need to use a product for the riding mower I’ll try to locate the hole for a patch & if I can’t find it then I’ll try Slime. Thanks again. You saved me some money & whole lot of time. 👍

Excellent vid

I have been using Tire Slime for years on farm equipment tires that take a lot of abuse. It's about the only way to keep them rolling. Love it and highly recommend it for tires that are subject to constant punctures.

That foam is a good idea thanks

You keep calling them tire "patches," but in reality they are tire plugs. I used to work in the manufacturing of these and went to car expositions around the world. I sold millions of these. One demonstration I used to use at the conventions was to take a drill and drill a hole in a car tire and immediately plug it. By the end of the convention, that tire had maybe 75 plugs in it. Just a word of caution. The plugs aren't intended for sidewall punctures in any kind of road vehicle. Although it might work, I wouldn't recommend it. The absolute best way to repair a tire is to plug it and then demount the tire and place an actual patch on the inside of the hole with cement. However, just a plug will almost always work. The plugs are manufactured in such a way that the vulcanization of the rubber is initiated, but the heat that comes from driving the vehicle on the road finished the vulcanization process and makes the repair pretty permanent.

The best tire sealant I've found is Tireject. It even fixed several sidewall leaks.

Maybe someone else has already said this, but, the tube of rubber cement just lays there looking forlorn and not getting any attention. You are supposed to put some the whole length of the plug material. It makes it easier to push unto the hole. It is called a plug not a patch. Maybe you are too young to remember actual tire patches. They had combustible fiber in a tin container with the rubber patch on the bottom. There was a clamp designed to hold it tight on the tube and you lit the fiber with a match. the heat sealed the patch to the tube. For a tubeless tire, there was a "boot" that was put inside the tire and sealed over the hole. My dad owned a service station and a tire shop. I patched a lot of tubes and tires. That was also back when we pumped the gas for the customer. I was skeptical when all of the tire shops started using plugs and wouldn't do patches any more. I thought they wouldn't hold up, but I was wrong. I have plugged a lot of tires and they have lasted until the tire wore out. Good video. Thanks for sharing.

if its froze on the axle just change the tire on the unit. did it with all sorts of tires for the 15 years as a tirman at goodyear

For slow leaks it seems slime could work but it might loose its efficiency over time. Sometimes the slime might even spew out for some punctures and it seems no amount will fix that type of issue. Then the next course of action is to plug it. Iv never had any issues with a plug assuming you can find it.

I haven't tried the slime but Fix a Flat works great on these smaller tires as the beads don;'t stay sealed and you don't have to use the whole can on the tire. Just enough to seal the tire and do it to all the tires. You may have to do this each year if you live in cold environment. Neighbor spent over $250 putting tubes in all 4 tires.

IIRC, someone at the Garage54 channel put cement in car tires. It was a rough ride and very heavy but worked. Maybe the foam would work there for anyone with the patience to mess up until they get it right consistently.

Okay, I tried it twice on my front zero turn tire. Once with filling through valve stem(no holes drilled) and a 2nd time with 6-8 holes drilled in the sidewall. Both times tire filled up nicely and was flat again the next day. Not sure why it isn’t working for me.

Lol that's how I fixed my brother's dolly tire (expanding foam) that was almost 6 years ago and it's still going strong 😆 didn't think it would work I was just a teenager trying to save money

Great Stuff! 😂 😂

that's interesting !

tires look good

Good day Mike Check the instructions, I believe you need to apply glue to your plug before inserting. I might have a different kit?

Think ill foam my front tires on my rider nothing to lose right...lol ..it'll fix my slow leaks anyway. Back tires I'll definitely slime I get a leak . Great video!

Very informative, and love the firearm jokes. In addition to the KEEP RIGHT sign, you need to put up a no-left-turn sign, haha!

They left chain link wire all along a fence they trimmed to fit between the top pole and gopher mounds. Nice and sharp plenty of punctures.

14:53 I'm about to use some Fix a flat just because i have some. You're suppose to drive on it for a awhile after using fixaflat. It is really just expanding foam, however i have heard of people messing up thier tire by using to much rendering the tire useless. As for the exspanding insulation i would like to see if it works if you have both tires filled like that or if its just better to use tires? You also forgot the black bead seal which is older than slime & better from what i have been told?

Try liquid rubber fill the whole tire with it then let it dry out in the sun that stuff hardens into solid rubber but it can be expensive and results are can be 50/50 another thing to try is that liquid flex seal and paste coat the inside of tire with a thick layer also dries into a hard rubber but is a bit more flexible depending on thickness let dry then fill with liquid expanding foam once mounted back on rim. Any way very informative use full for any one considering a fix or permeant solution to mower tire problem.

I’ve never had fix a flat work for me. Everything else has been successful

nice video now im doing the experiment with foam...haha

LOL this is really funny actually.

when I've used the tire patches I believe once you get the gooey stick in the needle your supposed to put glue on it before inserting it in to the tire? Maybe there are different types where you don't also use glue

When ya put the glue in on those rubber snot sticks. Lol

Ive heard a few people use automatic transmission fluid, and had good results. Has anyone tried that? Does it work? Will any of these work with tubes ?

With the caps & crack foam it seems to work with the tire stationary on the bench, but how did work when the tire was actually in use? Did the foam sealant in the tire break up and lose its sealant?

😊 thanks

Great video. Sick of taking my John Deere zero turn to their service centre for tyre fixes - they charge like wounded bulls, not deer 🤣. We can get Slime here in Australia so think I'm going to give that a go & see how long the fix lasts. In any event it's going to save us a couple of hundred $$ each time there's a leak if it works for any half decent amount of time.

I am a believer using slime the first thing i do when getting a mower or ate is ad slime in I used it first in a 48 in riding mower 15 years ago then a atv 12 years ago and a 52 in zero turn mower 8 years ago and a side by side atv 7 years ago and i still use all of these and have not fixed a flat tire yet also have used it in auto tires the great thing about slime is its water soluble

Interesting video but the problem with using foam is that as you drive it the foam breaks down and then you're left with a tire that's useless. What I have done on a fairly rotted tire that's tubeless and had tons of sidewall leaks I would go out and buy an inner tube and install it and voila no more problems. Much cheaper than buying a whole new tire.

What about leaks around the bead ? Clean the tire real well around the bead and the rim and apply clear silicone caulk?

Have any of you put a tube in a drive wheel of a zero turn? If you have, did you have any problems with the wheel spinning in the tire?

Just curious, why didn’t you apply the adhesive the kit came with to those plugs?

I didn't have a plug for a hole in my little lawn tractor tire. so I cut a piece of gas line, swabbed it in loctite foam(can) shoved it in with my trusty ol plugger set it on fire let it sit, held 20lbs which was way too much but just testing it. So now until I get another tire it looks like my tire has a "tooma". I have plugged thousands of tires, quite literally, working on garage for 15yrs,and I winced in the annoyance guaranteed to come when it's time to hook up the baby tire changer to the shop changer. There's always multiple leaks, then people bring their own tubes that also leak; all around headache but I do it anyway. Not tackling these mower/tractor tires is not only cowardly, its like seeing a mouse or roach in a house and just shrugging & walking away. Btw, replacing the air with foam is a total NPC zombie move

how is the foam filled mower tire holding up? Have you used the mower since?

I'm gonna use the foam on two dollys i have, both with bad tires (cracks) and leaky tubes also. But after each use I'm going to store them off the wheels. I'm only going to drill one hole though, and remove the valve stem also. So total of 2 holes, opposite of each other and on different sides of tire. I'm going to put about a tablespoon of water in the tire and get it wet inside also.

Can you use tire plugs and tire slime together. Sometimes the tire plugs will slowly leak

Just curious why you didn't use any of the tire cement for the plugs/patches. Nice video Mike!

I think the problem with the foam is that over time it will break down. I don't know the life time and it would depend on use. It's probably a good cheap fix for many basic situations(small tires without too much load).

I use Lock tite foam in low speed utility tires. It is not urethane based. The label says it is flexible and it certainly has somewhat has much more give than the urethane foam. So far so good.

Hi Mower Mike! I see its been 2 years since you posted this video. How has the front lawn mower tire held up? I'm thinking about trying it.

What about with tires that don’t have complete contact with the rim?

With the foam filled tire I would only do 2 holes a fill hole and a smaller one to release the extra pressure plus to fill the whole tire all around it

They shooting at you mowing at 6:am 😂. Not fireworks 😅

Tire plugs are intend to be a quick fix in the field to get you to a garage for a patch ! 13:41

More videos like this with other brands

Can you save the fix a flat can if you don't use all of it?

My experience with Slime is that it just doesn't work well and is a screaming mess to clean up when you finally take the tire off to put a tube in it. I'd love to have a foam which would work to let me fix my own tires, but foam just doesn't replace air for proper tire performance. I use foam run flats on wheelbarrow, handtruck, etc, but not on mowers which run at 3-4 psi.

What If the lawn mower tire is completely flat. Should I put some air in the tire , then put the slime sealant in the tire then run the tire around? Thank you in advance

About 4 ounces of a cheap brand of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) works great for slow leaks.... I've used it so many times and work 99% of the time.

I tried this with my lawn tractor rear tire that had a slow leak. Just to clarify, I don’t use the tractor much. It might be several months in between so it dose sit a while and the tire might be flat. Once filled it will hold overnight. I used Slime. I first jacked up the rear off the ground, put about 16 oz into the tire then replaced the stem valve. Turned the tire about 10 times. Filled the tire to 15 psi and drove it around the yard for 10 minutes. The next day it was flat again! Let it sit for a few days, needed it to move some mulch so I pumped it up again and saw where the slime was coming out. There was a crack in the tire, slime was bubbling out. After moving the mulch around and before I put the tractor back, I sprayed the whole tire with some Flex Seal I had then filled the tire to 15 psi. Now after a month, it’s still at 15 psi! Can’t say if the Slime combined with the Flex Seal did the job it could be one or the other, but the tire is holding air.

How about lawn tractor tires with sidewall leaks?

Tire plug Employee: “We need some sort of sealant to mix with the tar for it to work.” Tire plug manager: “We’re going through a re-org so there’s no money, just use snot.”

if you're in Texas and have a bunch of holes after you mow - mesquite thorns...? Aren't you supposed to turn that foam can completely upside down so you don't just release the gases?

The Harbor Freight mini tire changer ($59). Works great to change small tires. Check it out.

You right they are tire plugs

@16:21, why wouldn’t the gap foam filler work in the big tire?

When did plugs become patches. Patches go inside the tire

When you are plugging you want air left in the tire, so you don't remove the reamer until you are ready to plug the tire. Also it might work on a mower tire, but typically you never plug a sidewall. On a car tire I would never do it, but on a mower tire I'd probably patch it instead

It says on the instructions that you need to take a drive for 2-4 miles so that the foam can fill the tire properly.

I just want to know.. How in the heck did you get the big rim off the tractor? I've tried everything. WD-40, PB Blaster, Heat, Pounding it, can't get that sucker off.

The seal broke on the tire, and I was able to get the air back in it, and it was nice and hard. But then it broke again. The tire is not bad. Its just the seal broke. Any suggestions?

This idea ads a lot of weight but it will keep it in a shape to roll. Fill the whole thing with concrete.Actually put a lot of pressure in tire put it in a tub of water locate leaks and plug them with a rope plug best cheapest way to keep my tire flying down the freeway. Fix side walls any small hole

You "PLUGGED" the tire. You kept using the term "PATCHED" the tire. There's a difference. Not trying to be a smarty pants, just trying to avoid any confusion on the part of your viewers. Very good video!

I have real good luck out of plugs, on tubeless tires. Its a must to cut it off flush with the tire. Don't let it hang out. It will get caught on some thing and pull out

Excellent, all the action is done off screen.? High quality🙄

Great if better camera location.

Don't worry you just said it so you have nobody to blame

From what I have read on my 1-gallon Slime container the instructions the product is not recommended for sealing sidewalls or the bead area.

👍🏼

you know that the air will leak out your puncture and migrate through you sidewalls as well till you had sealed the original puncture. take care

LOL, in my time I have tried all these and more, my personal conclusion for multiple reasons: tire repair plugs or tubes. That’s it. Everything else is a problematic gimmick that will only make you sorry you fell for it. PS: the foam quickly squishes and breaks down, then you throw the tire, rim, and empty can in the burn pit and go buy the whole shootin’ match.

most mower tires if you dismount the tire and seal the seam in the middle of the rim will be all you need

Bought a classic John Deere yard tractor to restore for fun, after getting the engine rebuilt and the body powder coated, the wheels needed powder coating and Ag tires fitted, after practically cutting the tires off i found the tires had been slimed and the crap had hardened that it had to be sidegrinded off, to my further dismay the rims had been corroded heavily by the crap (slime) they had to be sandblasted and the pin holes through the rims from the corrosion caused by this crap had to be welded up, keep using this tire crap only on the AYP junk and box store trash mowers

I suggest drilling only one hole see how well foam does

Hey, ya forgot the rubber cement ?

What happens if the tire comes off of the wheel? How do you repair that? Air leaked completely out from neighbors roofing nails 😡

Punctures in a tire that only runs over your lawn make me wonder how we should feel safe walking without armor under our feet. Steel toes are fine for something dropped. We need metal or Kevlar in the souls of our shoes just for walking.

Tireject works the best