Re: Foam in tires

Posted by Hal/ Eastern WA on October 01, 2013 at 16:19:32 from (97.115.189.181):

In Reply to: Foam in tires posted by George Marsh on September 30, 2013 at 22:27:29:

Some years ago I had the front tires of my Ford 641D foamed after having lots of flats from Hawthorn thorns. The tires looked like new, but had so many thorns in them that almost immediately after fixing a flat, I would have the same tire go flat again.

If I remember right, the foaming cost somewhat over $100 for the front pair. After being foamed, the wheels/tires weighed about twice what they had, not necessarily a bad thing. The ride with the foamed tires was REALLY rough--very little give at all. But for several years, I had no more tire problems.

Then one of the tires began to separate and come apart in the sidewall. There was no way I could see to stop the separation, and eventually the tire broke loose on one side from the foamed interior. I had to do something with the flopping tire, and ended up cutting it off with my sawzall. But with no tread, the interior foam would not turn the tractor worth beans, so I cut off the "doughnut" of heavy foam. Then I could get the beads off the rim. I bought the heaviest duty tire I could find and filled it with air. About a year later, the other foamed tire also separated and I followed the same sequence in replacing it. Removing the first tire and foam was pretty tough, as I was learning how to do it. The second one was lots easier and quicker.

Not too long after I installed the second new tire, the first one went flat. This time I decided to try using Slime tire sealant. I put in most of a quart in each of the front tires and refilled them with air. I have found that if that tractor is not used for a couple of months, the front tires will lose some air and need to be filled up, but if I use it quite often, I only need air about once or twice a year. It must be pretty close to 10 years ago that I replaced the foamed tires.

I don"t think I will ever have tires foamed again. It is fairly expensive, and I was disappointed in the life of the tires after I foamed them. Maybe they were low quality tires, but they just did not last that long after I invested the money to foam them. I had expected much longer service life. Also the foamed tires would "give" very little, which made the ride terrible and which probably was harder on the rest of the tractor than air filled tires.

Some people do not like Slime, but it has worked well for me in a number of tires used on slow speed service, like my riding lawn mowers, the tractors and even a car hauling trailer. I would not try Slime in any tire that will ever be used at high speed where balance is a concern, since I don"t know how a person could balance a tire with Slime.

I would expect that the cost of foaming front tractor tires would be much more than I paid 20 something years ago, since everything else has gone up so much. It would not surprise me if foaming the tires on the same tractor would now cost $200, or maybe even more.

Using foamed tires might work great for some people or in some applications. But I was very disappointed in how well it worked for my tractor front tires, and did not think it was cost effective. Slime is lots less expensive and has worked much better for me than foaming tires. Good luck!

Replies:

Add a Reply Name: E-Mail: Subject: Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Optional Video Title: Optional Video URL: Advanced Posting Options Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.   Advanced Posting Tools   Upload Photo  Select Gallery Photo  Attach Serial # List  Return to Post

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]