What To Do If Your Lawn Mower Tires Are Flat

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You've been putting off the chore all weekend, waiting for the best time to mow your yard. But you just know you'll get a letter from the HOA about it soon because a neighbor is sure to report your messy yard if you leave it any longer. So you trudge out to the garage to get the machine ... only to discover you've got flat lawn mower tires. Or, even worse, you notice they're flat halfway through the mow and now your lawn looks all wonky. Luckily, the fix is pretty straightforward. If you have a portable air compressor at home, using it on a lawn mower is not much different than putting air in a bike's tire. If you don't, take your machine to a local gas station or tire shop to use the air pump there. If the air just leaks right back out, things like tire sealant and inner tube replacements are your next step.

The perfect solution depends on why your tires are flat in the first place. For example, if you ran over a nail or other sharp object, just replacing the air isn't going to work. You'll need to remove the nail and patch the hole. Having a patch set on hand, like the Vehiclex tire repair kit, can make this task easier. If you're looking at an age-related flattening, replacing the whole tire is typically necessary.

Sometimes it'll be very easy to tell that your lawn mower tires have gone flat, but in other instances, you might need a few more clues. Especially at the beginning, it can be subtle. If your lawn mower is harder to push than normal, one or more of the wheels could be underinflated and isn't rotating as it should. If the grass looks ragged and uneven just after mowing, especially if you didn't change your blade's height, you likely don't need lawn mowing tips; it's just that your machine is off kilter. 

Once you have patched the hole, tightened or replaced the valve stem (the place where the air goes in), or even replaced the tire's inner tube (on those that have them), there are few ways to prevent more flat tires going forward. The first is to keep your tires at the correct PSI for their size. The right PSI (pounds per square inch of pressure) for your machine should be in its manual. This way, you can avoid the potential blowouts that come from making them too full, or damage from keeping them light. The weather can also impact the tire pressure. Before you mow, do a quick once-over of your lawn to make sure there is nothing that could harm your tires.