# tire construction



## tsirwin (Jun 5, 2011)

Pretty new to riding atv's. I am in the process of buying new tires for my son's 08 BF 650 solid rear. He would like a set of ITP Terracross. I seem to buy tires every year for him. We ride hard pack trails both dirt and cyndered, lots of rock, and lots of mud. We started out with factory Dunlops- lasted 4 month. Then went with ITP mudlite at- almost made the year. Last we put on Sedona mudrebals- lasted about a year and could probly go another two months.
My question is this, are the tires that sell for twice as much, such as the terracross or bighornes and other made with a different type of construction or rubber compound that they may last longer and in the end saving me money? What makes an atv worth $120 to $150 dollars?

thanks in advance
Tom, Northeast Pa


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## killer666 (May 29, 2011)

i have always used itp mudlites with awsome results. im going on 2years now with lots of tread left. we ride old railbed, mud and dirt roads and still good. as for tire material vs. price i dont know


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## blue beast (Feb 16, 2010)

mudlite radial XTR...these are a radial tire that ride good and may help the hard pack situation you are in ...they seem to wear better than the rest of the tires from what i have seen ....


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## J2! (May 8, 2010)

Check out the "mudzillas" or the the zillas. The mudzilla's are GREAT in the mud and they wear like IRON !!!! You can't wear them out !!!


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

Compounds, # of Plys, Radials -v- Bias, beed protectors or not, terrain-specific or general/multi-use...size...all play a part in pricing...as well as the name and reputation of the manufacturer.


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## hp488 (Sep 23, 2009)

blue beast said:


> mudlite radial XTR...these are a radial tire that ride good and may help the hard pack situation you are in ...they seem to wear better than the rest of the tires from what i have seen ....


:agreed: very long lasting tire and smooth ride.


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## 09_650i (Jul 7, 2010)

i agree with the mudlite xtr i just put some on my brute and i love em, they ride smooth (with a bit of high speed wobble around 80 kms) but they do pretty well in all terrain, i bought them used from a guy who ran them all last summer and are still like new. deffinatly would buy them again


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## wyo58 (May 13, 2011)

I've seen the old mud lites last 5 plus years on hard pack and rocks. The only thing I've seen wear them out fast is concrete and black top. Is he riding alot of roads??


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## skid (Jun 18, 2009)

you may want to look at the mud bug radials as well, good price good tire.


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## Polaris425 (Dec 16, 2004)

Agreed get a radial tire. Should be worth the extra money. I know some have 1000+ miles on radial bighorns & similar tires.


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## tsirwin (Jun 5, 2011)

Once and a while we are on paved streets, only to access the trail by our house. Not more the a 1/4 mile. Does the weight of the quad matter when buying tires, eg prairie 360 vs BF 650? Can you tell the age or manufactures date of a tire? I buy all my tires from the same power sports store and I noticed the sedonas looked dry rotted after 4 month, also had a similar problem with the mudlites but dealer replaced them for free.


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## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

tsirwin said:


> Once and a while we are on paved streets, only to access the trail by our house. Not more the a 1/4 mile. Does the weight of the quad matter when buying tires, eg prairie 360 vs BF 650? Can you tell the age or manufactures date of a tire? I buy all my tires from the same power sports store and I noticed the sedonas looked dry rotted after 4 month, also had a similar problem with the mudlites but dealer replaced them for free.


Tire weight or load rating is important. A good rule-of-thumb is; Take the full weight of the quad,add the total additional weight you will ever put on it including yourself and/or another person & gear, divide that total by four and multiply that result by two. For example, a 700 pound quad plus 400 additional weight makes 1100 pounds, divided by 4 is 275 times 2 is 550. So you would want to get a tire with a load rating somewhere in that area or more.

There should also be a date code on the back side wall of the tire. You may have to look up the code, but it is supposed to be there.


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## Brute650i (Dec 17, 2008)

I carry some tires that resemble the bighorns that are made by efx. I don't know if they would last in your type of terrain but I have heard good reviews on other terrain. As far as tires looking dry rotted I've never seen any tires look like that unless the sat outside for a while.


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## Bootlegger (Dec 18, 2008)

Let me know what tires your wanting and I'll get you a price on some. Just PM me.

I have seen Bighorns with 5,000 miles on them I had 3800 on a set that was on my old Grizzly 600 and they still looked great. I have a set of 27" Interco Reptile Radials I'm trail riding with now and love them. Like them just as much at the Bighorns if not more.


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## jlgil73 (Jun 20, 2011)

I've actually been looking closely at the 27" Reptiles myself.


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## Tinker (Feb 4, 2009)

I swear guys, I put 2500 km = 1562 miles on my 27 inch bear claws and I lost 1/4 inch of rubber. Went from a 1" lug on the back tires to a 3/4" lug. I ride 70/30 trail/muskege(mud) with quite abit of gravel roads getting to the trails from my house. They wore great. I just switched them out for 27" Zilla's as my friends and I are getting more into mud riding, they have 28" terminators and 27" swamp lights on 800 can ams. I went from 10" front and 12"rear bearclaws to 9 fronts and 11 rear zillas. So far I have noticed better mud performance with the zilla's as they have equal tread depth front and back. The bearclaws did not. Zilla's vibrate at slow speeds and seem to have a thinner side wall, softer lug but noticably lighter which I was after as I wanted to gain a bit more power as I am competing with the can am 800's


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## Sanative (May 4, 2011)

Street driving KILLS the tires. The tires are (toed in/out?) I forget. But they wear very odd and quick on pavement. I wore out a set of stockers on road in about 5 months


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## Polaris425 (Dec 16, 2004)

Tinker said:


> Zilla's vibrate at slow speeds and seem to have a thinner side wall, softer lug but noticably lighter which I was after as I wanted to gain a bit more power as I am competing with the can am 800's


I never had any issues with mine vibrating. I ran 27x11 on all 4.


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## palumbo (Sep 29, 2010)

I like my maxxis zilla seems like they haven't wear that much to me on the past year or so I'm doing most trail and rocky terrain


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## Tinker (Feb 4, 2009)

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I never had any issues with mine vibrating. I ran 27x11 on all 4.

Click to expand...

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Mine shake/vibrate/rough up to about 5 -6 mph on hard pack then they smooth out nice. Don't notice too much vibration at slow speeds on sand, muskege etc. Small price to pay though and not a real issue. The Zillas have been noticably better in the mud than my bearclaws, and hook up better. Hope they wear well. I don't do any rock riding so the sidewalls should hold up well. Another month and a half or so I will get to try them in the snow. :563808:


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