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Trail Riding 85%.....Mudding 15%----Which Tire????

4527 Views 17 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  JWJR
I have a '07 Foreman 500(toe shift/no electronic steering) and I've been thinking about upgrading my tires. As the title of the post says I spend the biggest part of my time on trails/abandoned strip mining roads (hard pack dirt and gravel with occasional deep mud). Is there a tire out there that gives a smoother ride and has better mud traction than the stock Dunlops? I understand that it's not possible to have the best of two totally different features in a single tire but I figured there are better all around tires out there than the ones I have. I want to keep the size of the tires stock and use the stock rims....I like the Maxxis Mud Bug R M967's but I wonder if these are a bad choice for my style of riding?.....Thanks in advance......
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GBC Dirt Devils are a great trail tire,very smooth.I bought mine from atvoutfitters.net
Like Yooperforeman said the GBC Dirt Devils are great riding tire but like the AMS Swampfox also.
Maxis BIGHORNS all the way. you will love them
Seems like everyone that has purchased the Horns has loved them.
I have a set of Bighorns and they are great all around tires.

I have been experimenting with tire pressures for the last 200 miles or so, and I orginally thought they were terrible in the deep mud.

Then I discovered that at 10 psi all around, they do very, very well in the mud and clean out pretty nicely.

For normal trail riding, I found that 6 psi rear and 7 psi front suits my tastes the best, but that particular setup does not work well in the deep mud.
Try the itp 589`s good trail an mud tire.Check out the site <a href="http://www.traxms.com/" target="_blank">http://www.traxms.com/</a> I found good deals on tires here. 589`s on my son`s 4 wheeler Big Bear 400 an biclaw an triclaw on my forman 500 es since Ilike playing in deep mud.the 589`s are a good riding and handling tires
I took these guys advice and went with Bighorns. Couldn't be happier!

26"s, 12 front, 9" rear. I dropped them to 5psi, and with the CTE shocks my 08 w/ steering rides like my Lincoln.


My nickels worth,

Scott
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Your riding enviorment is just like mine Holler Rat, a majority of trails and a little mud. And yes, the Bighorns are awesome!
QUOTE ("dgt714":1ribv2g8)
Try the itp 589`s good trail an mud tire.Check out the site <a href="http://www.traxms.com/" target="_blank">http://www.traxms.com/</a> I found good deals on tires here. 589`s on my son`s 4 wheeler Big Bear 400 an biclaw an triclaw on my forman 500 es since Ilike playing in deep mud.the 589`s are a good riding and handling tires
Hey head to head, Bi/Tri-Claw and 589's, which one does better. Thanks
Thanks to everyone for the recommendations.....I checked out all the tires and they all look great but I think I'm gonna go with the BigHorns.....And RockyMountainATV looks like the place to get 'em....I have some questions/concerns before I actually place my order(sorry if these are stupid but even though I got my first HondaATV in 1986 this is the first time I've ever done any modifications).....

1. I notice that everyone gets at least 26" while my stock tires are 25"...What is the main reason for getting bigger tires? Better ride? Better ground clearance? Something else???

2. If I get 26" tires (or bigger) how will this affect performance?

3. I've read that the BigHorns are HEAVY...Is this extra weight noticeable as far as power/speed/handling are concerned?

4. Can the tires be mounted with the white lettering turned inside or is the white on both sides?

5. What I want to do is get BigHorns that are the same size as my stock tires (25x8x12 and 25x10x12) and use the stock rims and possibly later do some mods that I have read about to enhance power/performance---Is this reasonable?

6. I read in another thread about a K & N air filter, HMF exhaust pipe and a Dynojet Kit...Is there any other reasonably priced modification that I can do to improve power/performance?...Just simple things--I don't want to open Pandora's Box on aftermarket performance modifications.....

7. I am also considering upgrading the shocks later...Any recommendations on these?....

Thanks to all
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3
1. The ground clearance helps of course, when I spend time in the mud and makes my Ruby look tougher IMO .

2. For me I really haven't noticed too much of a difference, someone who has put many miles on would probably know better on that one. Another thing, I don't have a Foreman 500(really 475), I have the Rubicon 500(499). So my machine may handle the tires differently then your quad will?

3. Same answer as #2.

4. There are black walls on the other side I think , without looking right now.

5. Sure, whatever you want to do there. I probably won't do any performance mods on mine, because like I mentioned before, I can't tell a difference really. BTW, I was going to get 25" (stock size) Horns, but very glad I went with the 26" Horns instead
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6. That's all the I have seen as well.

7. Desert Hawk will point you in the right direction there. CTE Shocks.
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ur rubicon will do better with the bighorns since it has a low range... and better trans..

a foreman will do great with 25-26inch big horns any thing bigger u will notice a big power loss
QUOTE ("Eric":2xcwab5q)
QUOTE ("dgt714":2xcwab5q)
Try the itp 589`s good trail an mud tire.Check out the site <a href="http://www.traxms.com/" target="_blank">http://www.traxms.com/</a> I found good deals on tires here. 589`s on my son`s 4 wheeler Big Bear 400 an biclaw an triclaw on my forman 500 es since Ilike playing in deep mud.the 589`s are a good riding and handling tires
Hey head to head, Bi/Tri-Claw and 589's, which one does better. Thanks[/quote] They are both good tires, the claws are a little rough on trails,an a little heavier I think. Both are great in mud.
I loved my Claws, just never had a chance to side x side w/ my 589's.
I'm running 27" Big Horns on my stock 06 Foreman. No real noticable power loss in my opinion. The performance was beter than the stock tires and, I can put it on its rear rack in 2nd gear.
what are CTE shocks?
CTE stands for Canadian Trail Edition and the CTE shocks is the adjustable shock that the people up in the north get on the honda foreman CTEs http://hondaforeman.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10128
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