Tire Problems in the middle of the trail?
 

Hi, I'm very new to ATVing, I've heard that on some terrains and trails, sidewall cuts on tires happens sometimes. Has this problem occur to you guys before? What do you guys do in this situation? Should I get a spare tire just in case or is there anything else cheaper that I can get to help me if this happens? Thanks.

I've seen plugs work even on long cuts. It's just a matter of stuffing enough tire plugs covered in glue to get you back to civilization where the tire can get cleaned and maybe patched from the inside. Sidewall gashes are pretty tough.

Racers use tire balls and sometimes even a rigid foam insert to keep flats from stopping them cold. Something like this: http://4wheelonline.com/atv/Tire_Balls.107535

If you have good tires, it's not so much of a problem. I ride some knarly rocky trails that have broken rocks like razor blades. Thousands of miles, but the first thing I do is swap out the crappy stock tires , if they came with them. My TRV 700 came with excellent ITP Terracross RT tires, they have been great. My Diesel was bought second hand with a bazillion miles on crappy Dunlops, couldn't wait to rip those off and replace with Outlaw MST's. Both have been great! You get what you pay for. Cat is no worse than the others. If you buy a Jeep Rubicon, Jeep doesn't put scuzzy bottom of the barrel tires on. I do put "Slime in them, can't say if it works, never had a puncture yet. I used to carry a 12volt compressor, never used it.

If you do tear a sidewall consider putting a tube inside the tire when you get home rather than buying a new tire.

Agree with above get rid of the crappy stock tires that you may still be running and get some good tires. My tires have about 10000km on them of hard riding and still going good..

Carry a plug kit with 20 or more plugs. I usually have 50 with me and have used them on other machines. Also carry a patch kit with some large patches in it. Also for your pump if u carry one a high volume pump is what you want. Most 12v pumps are low volume and will not push enough air on a good flat. I got mine of all places walmart

I bought a STOP & GO ATV Tire Repair Kit years ago and haven't used the CO2 inflator yet. If you use one of those, be careful! The metal will instantly drop to about 65 below zero when it's punctured. Even with the little piece of foam on the cylinder, you need to wear gloves so you don't get frostbite. My 10 year old tires are dry rotted to the point that I that used up whatever tire plugs I had left in July. I also used a 15 year old can of Fix-A-Flat that I never needed, and a brand new can too. Neither one worked on the sidewall leaks I had in 2 tires, but the plugs I used after that worked. I just needed to air up my tires when I was done. I'll have my new tires mounted very soon and continue to carry the STOP & GO kit. Most of the time one or two of my friends has a 12 volt inflator in their cargo box that I can use. When they needed plugs before, I got mine out and shared them but forgot to buy more when I got home. Now I have a 30-pack of Slime brand tire plugs to stock us all up. You don't need any rubber cement with them so I don't have to worry about that stuff drying up anymore. One year my friend put a bunch of plugs in someone's sidewall to fix a gash. I thought he said he put 7 of them in, but when I asked him a couple of weeks ago he thought maybe it was only 4. The guy with the flat worked for a company that made tire inflators but he didn't carry one with him. No tire plugs either, apparently.

ETA: If you plan on buying anything from Amazon, go to AmazonSmile, https://smile.amazon.com, instead. It's exactly the same as the regular Amazon site, except they donate 1/2% of whatever you spend there to a charity of your choosing. As of May they gave away $89,030,554.80. You can choose from over a million eligible 501(c)(3) public charitable organizations. My 1/2% goes to The NRA Foundation, Inc. but you can choose Tread Lightly! or whoever you want, and change charities anytime you want to. That's where I just bought my set of 4 tires.

https://www.stopngo.com/atv-tire-repair-kit/

https://shop.slime.com/collections/a...nt=47566107336

As everyone else has said, good tires, a tire plugging kit, and either on board air, or a portable air compressor or CO2 canisters to re-inflate the tire. I also use the stop and go ATV tire repair kit, and have found it to be a good one. They sell several different sizes of kits, both for motorcycles and ATVs. My record is six plugs in one tire.

When I bought our last ATV a few weeks ago, which is a two up Can Am Outlander, I tried to decide between their XTP version that has Fox QS3 shocks, and their Limited version that has the regular suspension, but a Garmin GPS and Fox air suspension, and has an on board air compressor on the ATV. It comes with an air hose in the storage compartment that can be connected to a quick connect fitting under the seat for airing up tires. Our two up ATV is for slow comfortable cruising with the wife, so the Fox QS3 shocks weren't really needed. We had had a 2015 Outlander Limited, and I had really grown to like having on board air because it was so easy to air up tires, not only on our ATV, but on others ATVs that rode with us. So when we traded the 2015 Limited a few weeks ago, we traded it for a 2018 Limited again. The on board air is worth having. It would be pretty simple to install a small portable air compressor on any ATV, and have on board air, like they do with Jeeps. A portable compressor, or CO2 canisters will get you back to camp though, just not as convenient.