Which Is the Best Tread for Your Lawn Mower Tires?

A beautiful lawn can be a source of pride – for your family, since it’s the first thing visitors see when they come to your house, and even for the members of your neighborhood, with a side effect that it can push the neighbors to up their own lawn game so as to be sure their yard isn’t the scruffiest in the area. Beyond those somewhat superficial benefits, a healthy, robust lawn can improve curb appeal, which raises the value of your home, and it can actually help keep your family healthier by filtering out harmful pollutants and generating oxygen.

So, for those reasons, you may very well want to take care of your lawn, which will require the right equipment, including one of the several types of lawn mowers available – probably your most important lawn tool—which you (hopefully) selected to meet the needs of the terrain and contours of your yard, along the type of grass in your yard.

Which brings us to today’s topic – tire tread options on tires for lawn mowers – from the tire experts at Treadworld.

So…which category of tire tread will best keep your lawn healthy and looking great?

The answer to that question is…”it depends”. It depends on how big a priority traction is for you with regard to your lawn tires, and whether or not you can live with some scuffing and tearing of your lawn. You have options.

The Greatest Show on Turf!

Turf tread tires for lawn mowers strike a happy medium between providing the traction you want, and protecting your grass. They feature a tread that is designed to minimally disturb your lawn, and they generally feature a wide footprint design that provides maximum flotation, rather than digging in. Turf tread tires can have either a round shoulder design, generally combined with a less aggressive turf tread which means less marking—and less traction—or a square shoulder design, generally combined with a more aggressive turf tread for more traction—and more marking and tearing.

As for the specific tread on lawn mower turf tires, you have a lot of options. Chevron treads, which you’ll also find on many commercial grade mower tires, S-turf treads, and tires that combine non-aggressive treads, usually with a varying tread design forming the contact patch running through the center of the tire, can all be expected to provide adequate grip on most lawns, while minimizing wheel-slip, and protecting your grass from scrubs and tears during turns and pivots.

Smooth Sailing!

For even more turf protection, and a tire that pretty much glides over the ground, you can select a smooth lawn mower tire that has no tread pattern, no grooves, whatsoever. Ideal for mowing situations that include a lot of sharp turns, and flat areas with few/no hills or inclines that don’t require traction help, smooth tires are often used on zero-turn mowers that go fast, with lots of maneuvering. The obvious downside is that this tire tread provides virtually no traction at all.

Stick to Your Ribs!

Similar to smooth tread lawn mower tires, but providing a measure of traction, a ribbed tire tread offers lateral stability and dependable, continuous contact on a variety of surface types. Because the straight grooves help to dispel water for better grip and minimal turf damage, the rib tire tread design works well on wetter, more slippery surfaces like your lawn just after watering, or slightly muddier terrain after a rainfall.

You Big Lug!

At the other end of the scale are the more aggressive lug treads, usually raised bars running horizontally across the face of the tires. Lug tires are ideal for wet, muddy areas, loose terrains and steeper inclines where consistent traction is a big plus. This improved traction and stability comes at the expense of a little more wear and tear on your lawn in the form of some soil compaction, and scuffing and tearing of the grass.

Mix and Match Lawn Mower Tires?

Depending on your lawn and yard situation, you may want your lawn mower front tires to have different treads than those on the back—most likely choosing smooth or rib treads for the front to minimize lawn damage, while putting turf or lug tires on the back to help maintain reliable traction.