You can fit any 12 inch tire on the stock 12x6.5 inch wheel even 13 inch wide swampers.

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Arctic Cat 500, Not your average Kitty, The New King Of the Jungle

 

This is a dumb question, but I ain't too proud to ask it now. What do you figure, are the widest tires you can mount on the stock AC 500 rim? It has 10.5" on it stock now, this is a 99. Would you need aftermarkets to get 12" to fit. I would think so, but this is just a guess, I have no evidence or experience with it to base it on. All you AC folks, holler if you hear me.

 

How do they measure the rim anyway. I'm guessing they measure from one inside of the rim to the other, cause the outside to outside measurement is around 8 inches. Has anyone put 27" tires on their AC yet?

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Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

The rim is measured from bead to bead. Just inside the lip of the wheel. I did something with my factory wheels that I thought was pretty cool. My 400 came with 12x8 wheels with 25x10x12 tires on the back and 12x6.5 wheels with 25x8x12 tires on the front. I found someone with a 300 4x4 and traded my front rims for his back. So now I run a 12x8 wheel all the way around my bike. Looks pretty good because none of the ACs came with the same size wheel all the way around. Now I know that the 500 uses the same size tire on front and back but the wheels are different widths.

My other tires are 27 inch vampires on ITP wheels.

[This message has been edited by Brad_L (edited 08-21-1999).]

 

Now there is something I didn't know. I wonder why AC put narrow rims on the rear of the 500 and put wide ones on the 400? Although it may have something to do with the year model. Mine is a 98. I did notice on the 99 400 that the rear wheel didn't look quite as deep.

 

Brad, the 500 has the same 12x6.5 wheels front and back. I know because I took off the rears last night and on the inside of the wheel, it is stamped 12x6.5. The same is stamped on the outside of the front rim. I wish it had 8" on the back though.

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Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

Don't know, it really doesn't make sense to use a wider tire with a narrower rim. The size shows only .5" difference on paper, but they 495 titans do look substantially wider than the 25x10-12 489 titans. The 489's steer much much easier though. If they made 489's in a 26" tire, I would prefer them on the front of mine. I still wish I had 8" rears.

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Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*