Tire choices

[shawn66mcl]

My tires are the stock maxxis and I'm pretty happy with them. My question is what tires do you guys run. I do trail riding in the northeast so lots of rocks and mud and my main concern is flats. any suggestions?

[Hawkeye 007]

Pitbulls, GBC, STI Black Diamond, Big Horns. My Pitbull Rockers were $565.32 delivered, from ok4wd.com.

[bgirard420]

Agree with hawkeye007 here. I'm riding similar trails to you and I went with the GBC spartacus because I wanted radials and knew the 8 ply would be strong. They have great reviews and no one in my riding group uses them (I like to be different). Most of the guys I ride with have big horns or interco swamp lites and love them. I almost got the grim reapers but ended up with the spartacus because I liked the tread pattern better.

If you get any of the above I doubt you'll be disappointed. Pitbulls are pricey but if you can find a deal it might be worth it. I rode a can-am with rockers the other day and they were awesome but $50 more per tire than the spartacus. A little info on the difference between radial and bias:

Bias vs Radial Tires : ATV Tire Comparison : Mud-Throwers.com

[North Branch]

Man, has this been covered a ton of times in here...

Anyway, as others have said... Big Horns, Grim Reapers, Spartacus, and several others would make a great all around trail tire. After recently riding a quad with the new Kenda Bear Claw II's (also called the Bear Claw HTR). They are also an 8 ply radial tire. I was extremely impressed at their traction, and how much better they made this particular quad ride, handle, and steer. I really, really liked those tires.

Of the tires mentioned, the Spartacus would be the best bet if some significant mud is encountered on a regular basis. Although, again I was quite impressed with how well the new Bear Claw II's handled mud... the tread cleaned out really well which allowed the quad to move through the mud rather nicely.

[North Branch]

Whoops... just saw this was posted in the Predator forum. Forget everything I said.

You are probably looking for a trail tire for a different type of riding... sport riding.

[Tool Man]

I ride in the same as you and I just put the GBC Sparticus on my 550XP. I also got new rims all from Thor at the ATV Superstore. The tires are awesome but I do get a lot dirtier with the offset. I went through a mud hole and I got stuck in with the stock tires when it was drier out, now I make it right through. I am hoping they will be good in the snow for plowing.

[bgirard420]

Originally Posted by North Branch

Whoops... just saw this was posted in the Predator forum. Forget everything I said.

You are probably looking for a trail tire for a different type of riding... sport riding.

Good point, I missed that too Makes me wonder if any of these come in a predator size

[North Branch]

Originally Posted by bgirard420

Makes me wonder if any of these come in a predator size

I doubt it. I think Predators came with 20" or 21" tires.

[bgirard420]

Yeah, smallest most of these come in is 22" or 23". I ride with a guy who has mudlites on a 400ex, can't recall the size though.

[racerman16b]

I run gbc race rex tires. I live in ne oh and I go through A LOT of mud with no problem. The tires have a lot of traction and most importantly they clean theirselves out really well.