I recently purchased a new 04 400i with 57 miles and 25inch Carlisle Badland XTR Radials. This weekend I was riding down a dirt path out by a field at about 15 mph when the front left tire breaks off the bead and flips the bike over on top of my leg bending the rear rack in the process. Please tell me how can a tire break off the rim riding at a slow speed on a dirt path?! I am very upset with the poor performance of these tires and will not be riding until my dealer, Carlisle, or Arctic Cat does something about this. I've been riding ATV's for many years and have never experienced anything like this. Did Arctic Cat screw up when they decided to go with a Radial tire? or did someone at the dealership or factory not do their job? Either way I will be visiting my dealer today when they re-open and try to get some justice. I am not one for pointing fingers or the suing type but this is unacceptable. Other than the tires I will say that I love the ATV.

 

I feel your pain. I have an 04 650LE, and the stock radial tires were the biggest pieces of crap that I have ever ridden on in my life. Every time you try to take a corner they would roll under the rims and the front end would get pushed around by the back. You had to use some serious body english just to get the quad to turn. They allways felt like they were going to roll off the rims but lucky for me they never did. I replaced them with a set of 26x10x12 front and 26x12x12 rear mudlites at 50 miles. The biggest reason that I replaced them is that I was afraid that what happened to you would happen to me. The Mudlites gave me a different ATV. They eliminated the push completely, It handeled much more precisely, would chug over and through obsticals that you needed some momentum for before, they are slightly wider than stock and made the ATV more stable, and best of all no matter how fast I take a corner or traverse some off camber terrain they never feel like they are going to roll off the rim.

Good Luck with your dealer.
Rich.

 

I have no complaints about the radials, they worked fine when I used tires.

You do have to run more air pressure with the radial tires.....low tire pressure would begin to cause problems, but I don't think that should flip ya

I would look for a sharp object on the trail (just in case) Sounds like something might have sliced the sidewall (almost completely through, but not enough to cause an immediate blowout) a few miles before you were on the dirt trail. That would have weakened it enough to cause severe problems. If the sidewall was cut nothing was gonna hold that tire on the rim. I've actually been riding and an old wormwood (stinkweed) stalk drove right through my tire (honda 300). I was probably only going 10-15 so I know weird stuff can happen.

Just glad you didn't get hurt........hope you get your problems resolved.

 

I have the new Badlands on my new 2004 500 Auto and I had not been having a problem with them. At leaast not until I read this post. They have done very well over some big rocks here in the flinthills creek bottoms and they preformed as well as expected in some moderate mud. However they seem to be really soft (want to roll over) when cornering. I increased the air pressure a little and that helped. It just seams like it does not want to turn well at all. It just kind of pushes the front tires sideways and takes a mile to turn. I just credited this to the bigger ATV and figured that was part of moving up to the big bike. Now Im not so sure.

I am really not interested in getting bigger tires or getting strictly mud tires. My Cat spends most of its life working, Hunting and trail riding. Yes I get into some mud but I do not seak out the biggest and deapest holes. I have been looking at the Mud Lites on line as an option. Any advise on tires or places to purchase?

 

my 03 500 rolled alot in the corners and i set the shocks at the stiffest setting and it was better but not good enuff.
so i put the 28" gators on it and it was a whole new quad.
the only thing i sugest is dont go any bigger then 26" tires or you'll start braking parts.
and thats when you start to get upset with the thing.
and when its down your not out having fun.
mine broke down so many times with those big tires i traded it in the last time it broke down.
now i have a honda and i just got my new mud lites for it yesterday and im going to put them on today.
oh ya there only 26" tires and thay still have the deep lugs like the bigger ones.
p.s. i still have a few pics of my cat on my page if you want to see the gators in action.
i liked the gators better then the lites but thay are much heaver then the lites.
28 x12x12 gators weigh in at 40 lb's the 26x12x12 mud lites are 27.6 lb's.
and thats a big differance.

 

I have to agree that the stock ATR's are a p.o.c. They are dangerous and I'm surprised the still come on new bikes. Maybe Artic Cat needs a lawsuite to wake them up. I switched to Mudlites and improved my handling 200%[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

 

Did you know that in the tool kit provided by Arctic Cat, there is a tire pressure gauge. Inflated tires just don't break off the bead.

 

gutpile;
I am now using the Badlands XTRs on my '04 Cat 650LE, have had them on now for 300 miles & no problems with them at all, I even used them in Moab,Utah in April. These Badlands are a big improvement over the Stock Goodyear Radial that comes on the '04/'05 Cat 650 VTwins, the 650HI for '05 will have the Carlise Badland XTRs in the 25" tire.
If you pop the bead off of the rim then maybe 1 of 3 things caused it. I have seen this happen before on bais-ply tires too.
1. The air pressure is too low or
2. The beads were not property set.
3. Faulty tire.
See if you can get your Dealer give you a new replacement XTR tire.
I am running my Badlands at 7psi.

 

Gutpile,
I second what bearcat said in his reply. I was at Moab also with the Badland XTR's on my Cat 650. No problems whatsoever on any of the trails we were on , except maybe in the La Sal mountains in the deep snow, at the higher elevations. Not the best snow or mud tire i'm sure. On the rock strewn trails we really got it on at times, & the Badlands did great. I ran 5 psi in mine. Also got good traction on the rock climbing sections of the trails. We were even in some very sandy areas & climbing the hills, & again the Badland tires did great. Sorry you had trouble with yours, but look for the cause & don't lay the blame on the Badland's per se. I believe them to be a very good tire if you stay out of the deep mud & snow. Great trail tire in most circumstances. Jerico1

 

hey dude, i too are having problems with my brand new artic cat 400 with the same tires. with only 14 miles on it, the front right tire was flat after a little mud puddle. the tire was split from rim to tread. the artic cat dealer said it was abuse and i was charged 86$ for a new one. After 36 miles the right rear tire has a split in the tread line. i have contacted the ftc, bbb, carlisle tire and i'm not done. artic cat says the dealers are all independent and they won't help. good luck