Rhino tire leak

[Pirwin21]

I own a 2008 Yamaha Rhino 700EFI and I recently sprung a leak in one of my front tires. It appears that one of the treads ripped slightly and now I have a very gradual leak. This is the first ATV that I have ever owned... how should I go about fixing this? Does fix-a-flat work for ATV's as well or do I need to do something special? Thanks for the help!

 

[KentT]

I own a 2008 Yamaha Rhino 700EFI and I recently sprung a leak in one of my front tires. It appears that one of the treads ripped slightly and now I have a very gradual leak. This is the first ATV that I have ever owned... how should I go about fixing this? Does fix-a-flat work for ATV's as well or do I need to do something special? Thanks for the help!

Based on your description, I'd recommend you pull the wheel and tire off and take it to a local tire shop and have them look at it. It may require a boot or something, or at least adding an inner tube.

Fix-a-flat is a temporary fix and is kinda like putting a band-aid on a gaping flesh wound. It will only make a mess that will eventually have to be dealt with. It should be used only in emergency cases -- like if you need to limp out to civilization from way back in the woods.

You're not in that situation, it appears.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

if it's the stock tires that came with it i would just scrap them and get some aftermarket ones . them stock tires won't holdup you can get a new set of 589's with the rims for 570.00 thats with shipping them stock tires will only pop on you again besides i think they are like 2 ply and the 589's are 6 ply rateing. you can go to your local dealer and see if they have some takeoffs they can sell you cheap if you really wanna stay with the stock tires .

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

oh and forget the fix-a-flat get some slime . and a mini compressor thats all you need but if you stay with the stock tires you might wanna get a jack too because i have blown a stock tire off the rim before going into a rut .

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

might be able to have it vulcanized.....i've done several that way.....you may lose part of your lug but that's ok...

don' fool with fix a flat.......sucks......

i've heard great things about the green slime but i've never tried it.....

i've never been able to get a tube to stay in an atv tire........you have to run such high pressure to keep it from slipping and cutting the valve......then the tire is too stiff.....so you let the pressure out and then you cut the vavle off....at least on sport bikes with some power....

i've had good to moderate success with good quality plugs....i clean the area with carb cleaner, use plenty of goop on the plug and try to let it sit and dry for about an hour....even thought most say you don't have to......

new tires is a good option but if you don't ride hard and just around the farm, i'd really try the vulcanizing to save $$

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

i just used the slime for the first time a few days ago and it was fun to yank 5 nails out of my tires and watch them seal up in a about 1 second . after i put the slime in i spun the tire then i yanked one nail out at a time and i rotated the tire and it was neat to see a small little green dot come out the tire and seal up the hole that made me a believer right there so i went to the store and bought an extra bottle just to have in my box in the back of my rhino.i do carry 5 packs of plugs just incase . when i had my stock tires on my gator i did hit a stick or something and it tore a hole that took 4 plugs side by side to plug it after that i stocked up on plugs . but when i looked at how thin the walls was on the stock tires it amazed me at how long the plugs held out the walls on a 2 ply tire are only about 3/8 " thick if that much.

 

[TWO GUNS]

The Honda & Yamaha shop sells pull offs really cheap down here. I'm sure, they sell them all over the country like that ~~~~~~~
And the slime, it the best thing that's ever hit the market.....
Run the four-wheelers and the utlity vehicles around the farms all year, and many places we have really bad thorn trees. Some of them thorns look like big strong nails and some will ruin a dern tire. Upon purchasing any ATV / RTV / UTV, we put 1/2 gallon of slime in each tire. I know that's much, BUT, let me make this statement. WE DONT HAVE FLATS. You pull a big 'ole thorn out, and it seals just about instantly. We have found nails, tacks, wood, big splinters, and all kinds of punchure items in these swamps and around the old barns here, we have no problems..... Wouldn't own a off road vehicle without SLIME !!!!!

 

[Pirwin21]

Thanks for all the info... I don't have stock tires, I have the ITP TerraCross tires, so i think i'm going to try using the slime you guys have talked about. I think it will do the trick.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

well you should have stated what kinda tires you had because there are a few people on other forums that have had itp tires fail (it happens) and they called itp and they sent them a brand new tire at no cost. so if your tire isn't that ols and the tread is still good i would call itp.

 

[Dargo]

I think it's messy and a PIA when you change a tire, but I too use Slime (the kind with little rubber chunks in it - they have some without the chunks) for off road tires. I wouldn't use it in a vehicle I drove at highway speeds on the road but it does work on off road stuff. When I bought my first Kubota RTV900 the tires on it kept loosing air. Kubota paid my dealer to put about a half gallon of Slime in each tire. It sealed them up sure enough. I just didn't like it when I used my old Coats tire changer to put new tires on.

Right now I have one Maxxis Bighorn tire that is playing mind games with me. The set is 25" tires on aftermarket rims. Sometimes they can go for months with none of them loosing any air. Then, overnight, I'll find the left front completely flat. I take it off, air it up and put it in a tank of water. No bubbles. So I mount it back on the RTV only to find that sometimes it will hold air for weeks at a time and sometimes it will be flat the next morning. It's in a locked barn so nobody can be playing games with me. I just don't get it. It doesn't even matter if I've moved it or not. I once had a tire that only leaked if it was parked on a certain spot. This tire doesn't have to be moved to play it's mind games with me. I think I'm going to have to just put a tube in it before it drives me completely nuts.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

hey dargo on your next tire upgrade try the moto-mtc they are new and they have a someone simular look like the bighorns but these babies are bad to the bone . the tread debt is about 1"-1/2 to 2" and the ribber they are made of it hard as a rock they would probably last for a life time. i had a chance to see them up close and in person and they are one heck of a tire anyone who runs terra cross or big horns would love to have these.

http://www.efxtires.com/2009/motomtc.html

 

[Dargo]

They do look like Bighorns on steroids. They'd be a great logical progression for someone like me who loves the performance the Bighorns offer without destroying my yard like the set of Kenda K538 Executioner tires I tried. KENDA K538 Executioner Quad and ATV Tire Reviews After reading that the reviews on the Bighorns were about the same and they didn't just kill my yard I got those over the Kenda. Here's the review on Bighorns M917/M918 Bighorn Radial Quad and ATV Tire Reviews

I have a 27" set of MudLites on my Suzuki King Quad and they are pretty brutal on my yard but I've had to put tubes in each one of them due to flats. I don't know off hand what ply ratings they have, but they definitely puncture easier than the Bighorns.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

guaranteed to make it handle like a milk truck!

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

i seen them tires on the net first then i went into the dealer where i bought my rhino and man when i seen them up close they are nice . if someone was doing yard work and trail riding with moderate muddin mabey even some gooie mudh i think these tires would be right what they lookin for. i even gave them some thought for my rhino but i think i might gie them zilla's a try but them moto mtc tires are something to check into. i don't know what kinda rubber compound they use but when i look at a tire i grab the tread and try to see how easy it is to bend and from what i read the 589's have the hardest rubber but i bent the tread on a set of 589's and then tried these and they didn't even budge. harder rubber means they will have a long wear life.

about the slime i put it in my hpx but i just keep the bottles in my storage box in the bed of my rhino i know how messy they can get i have it there for a emergency.

 

[Pirwin21]

So I'm assuming the TerraCross tires are prone to failure? Is this going to be a major pain in the rear getting ITP to get me a new tire?

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

no they are not prone to failure it's just that itp stands behind their tires and the people i talked to posted that they called itp and told them what was wrong and itp sent them a new tire. itp makes very good tire ripping a tread off can happen on any tire it's just itp is the only ones i ever heard of that will replace the tire . now if the tire is worn down and a few years old then they might not but being you got an 08 i'm assumeing the tires are 1year old or less so you should be able to get a new tire . give them a call what can it hurt?

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

yeah, they are a sharp looking tire....

i have a buddy that runs 589's on a 700 grizzly.......they flat out don't wear......he had them on his 660 grizzly (same pair).....we spent a lot of time on roads and i swear they didn't wear......now, with that said, when i was teasing about the "milk truck" the 589's are the ones that came to mind......i didn't really notice it on the 660 grizzly but the 700 (no power steering but i do think they redesigned the steering- the rest is changed) handled VERY light in the steering...almost scary.....

every setup is different......

i hardly bury an atv any more......too lazy! don't want to wrestle it out or wash it....

edit: one of our other buddies runs big horns on his 800 outlander and they wear great too.....let me tell you, he literally rides hist atv to every place we ride....it doesn't matter if it's 30 minutes away....he doesn't have a truck or trailer to haul it with.......he has been doing this for about 3 years and they are just now down past about 50%....i know the OL is a muddin' machine with enormous power, but they seem to mud well and handle well....i would assume the same with those in the pics above.....

i seen them tires on the net first then i went into the dealer where i bought my rhino and man when i seen them up close they are nice . if someone was doing yard work and trail riding with moderate muddin mabey even some gooie mudh i think these tires would be right what they lookin for. i even gave them some thought for my rhino but i think i might gie them zilla's a try but them moto mtc tires are something to check into. i don't know what kinda rubber compound they use but when i look at a tire i grab the tread and try to see how easy it is to bend and from what i read the 589's have the hardest rubber but i bent the tread on a set of 589's and then tried these and they didn't even budge. harder rubber means they will have a long wear life.

about the slime i put it in my hpx but i just keep the bottles in my storage box in the bed of my rhino i know how messy they can get i have it there for a emergency.

 

[KentT]

Is that MotoMTC a radial or a bias ply? With that hard of rubber, I'd be concerned if it isn't a radial...

I understand that it is the flexing of the radial sidewalls on the Bighorns that allow them to clean them mud out (sling it out) -- IF you don't have too much air pressure in them.

I'm running 10psi all the way around on my 26" Bighorns, but really don't have enough experience in gooey mud yet to know how they'll do. They've cleaned themselves quickly from just the mudholes typically encountered on trails... I bought them because I'll spend a lot of time on gravel roads, once I move to Tennessee, and they seemed to be a great all-around tire, based on the reviews. For serious mud, I'd be looking a Zillas or Mudbugs or something -- but I too am too lazy to clean the mud off if I don't have to...

On the 589's it is the flexing of the lugs that allow them to clean themselves -- if the lug were stiffer, they'd just fill up with mud and spin...

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

flexing has nuthin to do with the cleaning out . the cleaning out comes from how far apart the lugs are . the closer they are the less the tire will clean out if you notice all the great mud tires have huge gaps in between the lugs so that way the mud flys of easier. so far the best mud tire i came across is the 589 i had them on my hpx i just sold and they was just about 5 years old and had more than half the tread left and i run down the paved road alot. a buddy of mine has a 660 rhino with some 25"outlaws and they do even better than the 589's but they are a bit rougher on the ride being the lugs are so far apart.

 

[KentT]

flexing has nuthin to do with the cleaning out . the cleaning out comes from how far apart the lugs are . the closer they are the less the tire will clean out if you notice all the great mud tires have huge gaps in between the lugs so that way the mud flys of easier. so far the best mud tire i came across is the 589 i had them on my hpx i just sold and they was just about 5 years old and had more than half the tread left and i run down the paved road alot. a buddy of mine has a 660 rhino with some 25"outlaws and they do even better than the 589's but they are a bit rougher on the ride being the lugs are so far apart.

I'll just have to differ with you there... flexing is what turns the chunk of mud loose from the tire carcass. Either the sidewall or the lug must flex or it will stay "vacuum sealed" to the tire...

Yes, the spacing is very important, but spacing alone isn't the answer...