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.