[Holler Rat]

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......

 

[Yooperforeman]

GBC Dirt Devils are a great trail tire,very smooth.I bought mine from atvoutfitters.net

 

[newt]

Like Yooperforeman said the GBC Dirt Devils are great riding tire but like the AMS Swampfox also.

 

[jaydubb]

Maxis BIGHORNS all the way. you will love them

 

[eric]

Seems like everyone that has purchased the Horns has loved them.

 

[Mudslinger70]

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.

 

[dgt714]

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

 

[north idaho rancher]

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

 

[nosidamde]

Your riding enviorment is just like mine Holler Rat, a majority of trails and a little mud. And yes, the Bighorns are awesome!

 

[eric]

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

 

[Holler Rat]

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

 

[nosidamde]

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.

 

[rubyandforeman]

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

 

[dgt714]

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.

 

[eric]

I loved my Claws, just never had a chance to side x side w/ my 589's.

 

[jaydubb]

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.

 

[Dale07Foreman]

what are CTE shocks?

 

[JWJR]

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