Product Review: Tire Blocks

The concept of a pneumatic tire is fairly simple: A rubber carcass contains a pocket of compressed air between it and the rim. All good until something makes a slice, slash, gash or even a pinhole in said carcass. Then suddenly that air you compressed to act as a buffer between the tire and wheel does its best to depressurize in a hurry. We call this a flat and if you’ve ever been miles from civilization or putting in a fast lap during a race, you know that a flat can mean big, big trouble.

The Product

Tireblocks are a special patent-pending insert that prevents flat tires in the harshest and toughest terrain, without adding excessive weight or hassle. Tested in over thousands of miles of terrain without air in tires, and used by pros like Beau Baron & David Haagsma, we needed to find out what all the hype was about.

What is it Exactly?

In essence they are custom sized foam wedges that take the place of the majority of empty space in your ATV’s tire carcass designed to hold compressed air. The theory is quite simple: even without any air in the tire, the foam wedges act like the missing air and keep the tire’s shape. This can be crucial in getting a wounded quad back out of the woods or finishing out a race.

How Do You Install Them?

Very carefully! Installation can be a bit of a bear, especially the first time through but like most things, practice makes the chore a bit easier. The initial wedges go in effortlessly but as the space inside the carcass gets progressively tighter, the Blocks become increasingly difficult to squeeze into place. We found the last few per each tire to be the trickiest. Lubricant on the tire carcass and bead as well as lubing up each individual Block definitely helps. The wheel itself is inserted into the middle last and demands some manipulating and a good set of tire irons to seat properly.

Despite their seemingly dense positioning inside the tire, the Tire Blocks do allow for air to be added. Pump anywhere from 4 to 6 pounds into each tire for a little added cushion and you’re done. Though they do add roughly a half pound of weight to each wheel running them, it is almost impossible to detect that you are running the Tire Blocks from the saddle.

Real World

Despite the fact that all the while instilling these things, you will be convinced they will somehow change the handling characteristics of your ATV, the fact of the matter is that out on the trails for the first time, it’s all sort of anticlimactic. There is no perceivable change to the machine in action save for the peace of mind in knowing that a flat tire isn’t going to put a damper on your day.

Do They Work?

Better than you’d ever believe. Assuming you never actually lose the air in you tire, they will last until you’ve worn the tread off and wish to upgrade to new tires (and considering they’ll be the same size, you can transfer your Tire Blocks as well). If you do get a flat, which is pretty hard to tell, it is possible after hundreds of miles of operating on the Tire Blocks alone that the foam wedges can become slightly compressed due to the heat of the friction. In this case you can likely add a spare fresh wedge and continue using your original Blocks once you’ve repaired the cause of the flat.

Conclusion

There are dozens of products designed to eliminate the threat of a dreaded flat tire from plugs & patches to pre-mounted spares but none work quite so effectively and discreetly as the Tire Blocks. Installation can be a bit of hassle but once you have them in, this is pretty much a set it & forget it modification.

Contact

T: 360-951-2903
E: info@ridetireblocks.com

Official Site, click here.