Foam Filled Tires?

[Pelican]

Anyone have any experience with them? I'm fixing about 1 flat a week on the mower front tires and I'm getting tired of it. The cost of lost time is getting pretty outrageous too. Are there any downsides to going with foam filled tires up front?

[Nebraska]

We used them for two seasons and they were heavy.. kept breaking the fork on a Great Dane surfer. Yet at the same time we have Exmark walk-behinds where they came from the dealer foam filled and not a problem. It was also a very rough ride.

Went back to air filled after that for the Great Dane surfer.

There is a new tire called flat proof. Recently received a postcard. It's just thick rubber and still has an air chamber to give a cushioned ride. It's also ligher weight that foam filled. They have an 800 number....PM me if you are interested.

p.s. my experience with foam filled is they were very very heavy.....leading to the problem with broken forks.

[GLAN]

I put no flats on all Exmark and Toro walkbehinds. The men never think to put air in them..........so. Best to not have to worry about it.

[Paydaze7]

either no flats or we have used that heavy/severe duty slime with no problems. i know we have 2 or 3 riders with the slime in all the tires and i dont remember changing the tires or plugging them in a while... trailer tires, oh man thats another story...

[Will Sharp]

the foam was hard on the mower, took away the shock absorb

we use air and Jackel from J Thomas works very well, have done so for 6 seasons.

[Pelican]

Someone else recommended J Thomas to me. Do you have a link?

[4seasons]

I put foam filled tires on my wheelbarrows, wow are they heavy now.

[sleepy]

I put highway trailer tires on my wheelbarrows. They make them for thoes small trailers. 5 years no flat :)
A little off topic but it seems tangents are helpful.

[Mac]

Steve, its www.j-thomas.com i think.

I put their filled tires on a sulky once and the ride litterally shook you to death... it was terribly painful after a long day.

[Pelican]

That's the response that seems to be very common about foam filled, the lack of shock absorption. I've got a wheel barrow equipped with one and I see where that could be an issue.

I think my solution will be to buy a spare wheel and tire combo to keep on the trailer, plus a full front spindle set up for the Scags. What an idea, a spare tire!! It's such a simple solution I couldn't think of it on my own, it's a friend's suggestion! Anyway, this won't eliminate flats, but it will minimize the down time lost to flats, it will take literally just a few minutes to replace a front tire on any machine, then I can repair the flat when it is convenient rather than leaving a job to do so.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!!