How Lawn Mower Tires Can Damage Your Lawn
How Lawn Mower Tires Can Cause Lawn Damage—And What to Do About It!
Finally, Spring! The signs of Winter are dwindling and you’re starting to think about getting out and starting your lawn care regimen—including mowing the yard. But before you power up your mower for the first time, be sure you check your lawn mower tires to be sure they made it through the off-season unscathed, and won’t cause soil and lawn damage. Sure, you can fix any damage that occurs—but that process takes work, then you have to wait for repaired sections to recover. And who really needs another step added to the lawn care routine anyway? Here are some of the lawn mower tires warning signs to be aware of before your first mowing.
Worn and Damaged Lawn Mower Tire Treads
When the tread on your lawn mower tires is worn, or if the tires are punctured, or damaged with chunks missing, it can cause them to spin and slide when you speed up, slow down, and especially when you turn. That’s no good— it can lead to gouged areas on your lawn that make it look unkempt. Plus, if you mow your lawn when it’s wet, the issue is magnified because not only will traction be even worse, and the blades of grass that make up your lawn are more susceptible to damage when they’re wet. What to Do: One way of determining if your tire tread is too worn is the “penny test”: insert an upside down penny into the tire’s tread groove and if you can see all of Lincoln’s head, your tread is worn down, and it’s time to get new tires. What to Do: a rule of thumb is that you should keep your mower’s tire pressure at 10 PSI (pounds per square inch) for rear tires and 14 PSI for front tires. For best results, if you’re checking the tire pressure, be sure your mower is cool to the touch, and is sitting on a level surface.
Using the Wrong Lawn Tires
No surprise, different types of lawn mowers and different types of terrain require different types of tires for lawn mowers—starting with the shoulder (outer edge) of the tires—square vs. round. Tires with a square shoulder have a squared-off area where the sidewall meets the tread. They tend to ride your lawn without digging in and they offer more stability on inclines than round shoulder tires, but they can cause some compacting of the soil and wear of the turf. Round shoulder tires typically have less aggressive treads than square shoulder designs and so are often more turf-friendly, leaving less marking. Just as the tire shoulder can have an effect on your lawn, so too can the tire tread—which may lead to a trade-off. For example, if you need a more aggressive tire tread to maintain traction on hills and other yard challenges, you may have to live with the tracks of that tread pattern. What to Do: Consider RubberMaster LawnGuard Low Speed Tires or other top quality lawn mower tires from Treadworld.
Tire Pressure: Uneven, Overinflated or Underinflated
When your lawn mower tires are uneven, or over- or under-inflated, you’ll be able to see the effects on your yard in the form of clumping grass or an uneven cut. That’s because unbalanced or incorrect tire pressure can affect steering, it can make the mower wobble, and it can cause the cutting deck to be off-kilter—or it can decrease tire contact with the ground, which results in all the mower’s weight being focused on a narrow surface, causing your tires to dig into the soil and leave tire marks and ruts in your lawn. What to Do: a rule of thumb is that you should keep your mower’s tire pressure at 10 PSI (pounds per square inch) for rear tires and 14 PSI for front tires. For best results, if you’re checking the tire pressure, be sure your mower is cool to the touch, and is sitting on a level surface.
When You’re Looking for Top Replacement Lawn Mower Tires, Consider RubberMaster LawnGuard.
Proven to be top lawn mower turf tires, RubberMaster LawnGuard Low Speed Tires are reliable mower tires specifically designed to cause minimal wheel slip and protect your turf, with rounded shoulders and a unique, gentle center tread design that won’t scar your lawn. LawnGuard is just one example of our selection of top quality lawn mower tires available at Treadworld.
We’re Treadworld, Home of the Best Lawn & Garden Tires Anywhere
You can count on us here at Treadworld to provide you with the dependable, high performance RubberMaster Lawn Care Tires you want. Along with RubberMaster LawnGuard Tires, we also provide many other lawn care tire styles to fit your needs. All of our tires offer the finest in top quality, long-lasting, never-let-you-down reliability, manufactured with strict tolerances from top rubber compounds, triple-tested for quality before being X-rayed to be sure they’re perfect, then covered by our Ultimate Advantage Lifetime Warranty. Don’t hesitate to contact our tire experts via live chat or email with any questions or for help finding the perfect lawn & garden tires, ATV tires, UTV tires, trailer tires and many more specialty tires from our large selection.
