not a fan of R4's, it doesn't take much to load up with mud/snow between the treads, and you end up getting slicks, that go no were.
to much flotation on hills, more so wet grass / weeds, and end up sliding back down vs going up the hill.
R1's have a deeper tread, and thinner width. letting the tread actually sink into mud/snow drift, and move snow that is in front of the tire. vs just building up snow within the tread and not going any were.
the skinner tire sinks into the grass/mud, and the tread of an R1 acts more like a cat sticking out its claws, to climb a tree in idea. and keeps the tractor moving.
if you have a dully truck (4 tires on rear axle) and some hills on property that are a pain in rear to get up with the dully truck (tires keep loosing traction) your most likely going to experience like doings with R4's.
there is a bit of an art to tires, and weight distributions, (adding front or rear weight, filling tires with fluid or not), type of tires and a given situation, how much PSI ya keep in tires and set them to. and how your overall experience is as an operator on a given machine.
if ya worried about R1's digging up and tearing your mowed lawn around house.... then it is most likely to wet to begin with to be out there on the lawn with anything. and leaving more ruts regardless of tire type.
your garden doings i would say go for R1's.
you may think ok i will not get that much mud or like. but in them wet years, when ya gotta do what ya gotta do or things die or go down hill quickly, that is were your R1 tires come in. and keep you moving.
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R4's and dealing with thorns is a new one for me. if you were talking ply rating, radials vs bias, fluid or not filled with a fluid, or with some sort of foam, inner tube for tires, i might bite.
personally prefer a higher PLY rating, it makes for a harder stiffer tire, hopefully thicker rubber of tire. and a tube for tire. is what i prefer. if ya get the cheap low ply tires... they kinda are like a balloon, a just takes a needle prick to pop them. errr get a leak in them.
not sure why but many folks try to put max PSI in there tractor tires from get go. i can understand that, for front tires and doing a bunch of loader work FEL (front end loader), but majority of the time i run much lower PSI in tires. look through the "operators manual" there should be some sort of chart that denotes weight to PSI for tires.
for me a tube in tire, means a little bit more rubber a thorn has to go through before i do get a leak, and with running lower PSI in tires, it means if bead on tire comes loose around the rim. i do not get an instant flat. but keep on going.
i also run fluid in tires. the tube has saved me some fluid, when i have gotten a nail / thorn in tire. vs a complete loss of fluid. filling tires can get expensive just for the fluid alone.
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there are threads on the subject, and each thread is always a bit different, with folks on both sides of the fence, or setting on the fence. about best thing i can say is learn as much as you can, and get some feed back from a few folks, and then make a decision, on what you want to do and your land. to many factors.
