Ask the Editors: OEM Tire Replacement
Your mission is not impossible.
Looking back at the spec sheet, it appears your Kodiak came from the dealer wearing Maxxis (AT25 x 8 – 12 up front and AT25 x 10 – 12 in the back). Maxxis is a great brand but unless you’re looking for something specific, you could certainly duplicate the performance and longevity of the stock tire choice from any one of dozens of brands.
How can we be sure? The OEMs have a decision to make when it comes to spec’ing components like tires. Since their engineers have no way of knowing who will be purchasing their machines and for what intended purpose, they select components that will work decently in the greatest number of conditions. From there, if you were to decide the desert was your playground or the mud pit, for example, the responsibility to switch to tires suited for these specific conditions is on you.
That said, just about every ATV tire manufacturer on the planet offers a general use tire designed for the widest variety of conditions – a jack of all trades, master of none if you will. What we do in that situation is search your specific sizes needed (as indicated above) and start to read customer reviews. This is typically a great way to discover whether or not the units you are considering have any weaknesses.
Finally, while we haven’t tested the WANDA tires you mention in your question, a quick search of the web does indeed return some very attractive pricing (around $260 for all 4). Amazon’s got 57 reviews that average out to a 4.9 out of 5 stars while eBay has 81 reviews that average to 4.8 out of 5. If in doubt, consider browsing these opinions. Sounds to us, though, that the overwhelming majority of the paying customers are very satisfied with their purchase decision overall.
