Tires Paying too much for filled tires

[morris9460]

Tire dealer wanted $88 per tire to fill my new 33'' turfs with calcium. They said the high price was due to the special machine they use to fill the tires. At 24 gallons each tire, thats more than $3 a gallon.

I bought a washer fluid pump ($17) and can buy washer fluid here on sale .99 a gallon, going to fill them myself.

[Kioti Lee]

Thanks.. I always wonder about the "beet" juice thing..

[VictorW]

If you really wanted to use calcium chloride, you can buy the calcium chloride flakes and mix it with water yourself. 5lbs/gallon gives you a freeze point around -40F' and 3lbs/gallon takes you to about -12F'. Some feed stores have this in 50lb bags and this is the same stuff masonary people use in their morter or cement when working below 32F'.
Tractor Supply has the adapter for the valve stem to use a garden hose for @$12.
Harbor Freight has a 12volt pump for @$40 that will work for the fluid. I just made up some short hoses and used a 35 gallon plastic garbage can to mix the fluid.
I used to do this with an older tractor I had. I wouldn't use the calcuim without tubes but still, you'll get some corrosion on the rims. Also as mentioned by K0ua, if you get a hole in the tire, you can't just plug it, you have a nice mess to clean during the repair, and plantlife where the calcium leaked will be dead. I'd go with the rim guard or washer fluid.

[kioti pup]

Thanks for all the advice! Its good to know if I have a problem with my Kioti that you guys can steer me in the right direction!

[Kioti guy]

I am really surprised that your dealer even suggested calcium, it is nasty stuff ,I have it in my Old Case D and it absolutely eats the wheels. I would never even consider putting it in my Kioti. If you have a trailer and can get to a tire shop in your area that sells farm tires you should be able to get rimguard for around the same price that you were quoted for calcium........Craig

[Mud Mechanik]

Depending on your winter temperatures you may be able to use just plain old water like I did, We don't get much cold weather here and when we do it is only below freezing just a couple of hours a night.

[Truro411]

It isn't actually Beet Juice, it a natural byproduct of some kind of the extraction of sugar from the sugar beet. It is more brown than red. RimGuard is just the trade name for this product and "beet juice" is just a nickname for this product.

James K0UA

Actually, it *is* beet juice. The sugar beet is not red like your eating beets, but an ugly brownish turnip looking thing and the juice that gets extracted is not exactly appetizing - brown, brackish looking stuff. The sugar content of the juice is so high that is extremely freeze proof.

For that matter, if one has access to a decent quantity of suger (corn, cane, maple, beet...) they could mix up their own, for a lot less than the RimGuard prices.

[phiferpharm]

Depending on your winter temperatures you may be able to use just plain old water like I did, We don't get much cold weather here and when we do it is only below freezing just a couple of hours a night.

I'm thinking from his signature he lives in Montana, so I'm guessin' he not only needs the stuff for his tires, but "anti-freeze" for his personal use

[Mud Mechanik]

Didn't see that.....yup your right, personal beet juice will be needed as well.

[Gil Case]

Put foam in them and never have to worry about punctures or freezing. I can't imagine foam being any more than 400-500 dollars. I did the fronts for $150.