i have a few question concerning tires i would like to upgrade to 26"tall mud tires,but was concerned about the effect on extra tire weight/powerloss on my cat ,also will a 26-12-12 have the same inflated height as a 26-9-12,i don't wan't to hurt the reliability of my cats front diff or gearing.i know the 489's weigh around 19 lbs compared to 32-33 lbs on some of my tire options will this extra weight kill any low end power,or top end speed/stability,i'm farely new to the cat clan,so i know answers from this forum will steer me to the right choice of tires.cat owners are a unique breed,reading from the forums at this site lead to my purchasing my ac 500 auto.no regrets no mercy.i live in the lowcountry of sc and my cat turns more heads than you can shake a stick at.thanks for all your info

 

NO, at the same psi on the same wheel a 9" wide tire will not be the same height as a 12" wide tire. But if you adjust the air pressure you can get past this.

As far as power loss is concerned. You will problay never even realize the weight or extra gearing of the tires in low range, and in High range it will be only SLIGHTLY noticeable, if you notice it.

 

I have to agree with boner on eth ewieght issue of the tires. When you have engine with alott of torque down low, thats not much of a rever, the wieght doesnt really affect it. Well it does but its harder to notice it. Unlike if you had a banshee, which has little down low a but a bunch on top. There you would notice it not reving up as fast as it should. But I dont hink you will notice any differance.
matty

 

Zigy:
I too was really worried at one time about adding too much weight to the tires. I wanted a taller tire, but thought that the weight would effect the Auto trans too much that I wouldn't be happy with the performance. After what seemed like an endless period of time worrying about the weight issues, and constantly bugging a few guys on here (Andy and Boner) about whether or not I'd be happy with the larger set-up, I finally bit the bullet and went with a set of 27x9.75 Bi Claws up front, with 27x12 Tri Claws in the rear. What I found was that I had been worrying for so long over basically nothing at all.

Simply put, I did loose a VERY SLIGHT amount of "get up and go" on inclines in HIGH range, but in low range, you can't even tell they're there. The 'Cats have so much low end torque, that pulling the taller tire doesn't hardly effect it at all. In my opinion, I think the heigth of the tire affects the performance of the machine more than weight, just because the machine is geared for the smaller 25" tires, and the ratio would be off slightly with the 27" tires, possibly resulting in a slight performance variance. Just my opinion. Like I said though, I don't hardly notice anything at all with my huge 27" tires. And, when I say huge, I do mean huge. The Bi/Tri Claws are about the only tire I can think of right now that actually measure AT LEAST they're true stated heigth. And, with higher air pressure, you can easily get an even taller tire-ask Boner, I think he's got his aired up to a true 28" tire!

Now, with tire heigth in mind, you might want to measure your stock titan 489's. They are stated to be 25" tall, however, when I measured them on my machine, with recommended psi, I got 24 1/4" in the rear, and 24 1/8" up front, all at the same recommended tire pressure. Most 26" tires measure closer to 25", maybe 25 1/2" or so, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find a tire that actually does measure a true 26".

And, I believe Arctic Cat had 26" tires standard on the '99 model??? If AC will put 26" tires on stock, they must believe the machine handles them just as well as the smaller 25's, so I honestly don't think you'll notice anything at all with them on your Auto. I asked my dealer about why they changed back to the 25", he said that AC's strict testing courses found that the taller 26" tire did not perform as well in the testing as the smaller 25" tire, so they took it off, went back to the 25" for '00. The 26" I believe was the 495, which I have heard from several people is not the best performing all around tire. The stock 489's do pretty well in most conditions, so they kept that tire standard. -This is just what I've been told from my dealer, so I don't know if it's pure fact or what, but I'm sure it's probably a pretty accurate assumption.

Anyway, sorry to be so long winded here, but I really doubt you'll notice any performance loss with the 26" tires. Like I said, I only noticed a very slight drain in high range going up hills. In low range, look out, there's no stopping you. The places the 'Claws have allowed me to go, where I couldn't on my stockers, along with the significantly increased ground clearance is well worth that slight bit of a loss on inclines in high range, and I'm still towing the heavy loads that I always have in working conditions as well.

Best of luck, hope that helps.

Mike

 

Yea, the 1999 500 models had 26x10.5x12 Titian 495s. They were harder to steer than the 25x10x12 489s so they chunked them for the 489s. The 495's are AWSOME in the mud compared to other factory tires. I noticed in one mud hole that I was playing in that they pull ALOT better going forward than reverse. IT was the difference between me being able to climb this small slick ledge in 1st gear to not being able to back up it at all, no matter how much I tried to force it up.


Yes, with alittle more than average PSI had a TRUE measurement of 28x12x12. Right now they are down to 26.5" tall. OF corse it's because they have NO PSI in them at all.

BTW: My I think I pretty much finished the lift kit today. I had to use a band saw to cut a V-groove in the metal to change the angle then I moved a hole about a 1/2". Moving that hole that much turned out to be alittle too much, so I will have to talk to Greg about that.

 

These guys are all shooting you straight. Boner, Cowboy, and myself all have 27" Claws, with Boner going 12" wide on the front. You have to search to notice the power loss.

Basically, Cowboy covered all the bases here.

495's are better in mud than any other stock tire. That is true. Even when you figure in the Blackwaters on the Traxter XT (the supposed first ever to offer a stock 26" tire). They are just a bitch to steer.

 

Actually, I think they claim to have the largest OEM tires ever. That would be true, since the rears are 26x12x12, 1.5" larger(wider) than the 495s on a 1999 Model Arctic Cat 500. The catch is that the Arctic Cat 500 still has larger overall tires be cause it has 10.5" all around, vs 8" fronts and 12" rears on the XT. So the average width would be only 10" on an XT-- right?

 

thanks to everone,iguess i felt the same as cowboy did asking and asking the same questons over&over,well i've read enough,i called our friendly folks at highlifterand orderd a bi tri setup,along with the lift kit with spacers.nezt item i have in my head is pipe ,jeff at hl.com almost coaxed me into an fmf pipe w/supertrap anong with that k/n/jet kit.ithink i'll wait on the preformance mods and just stick to the chasis and tires for now i can't wait to start the transformation,oh yeah boner what problems are you up against with high lifter kit,jeff toldme,if you put it on a scale from 1 to 10 it would be a 3-4 what kinda probs are you having with there kit,unlee owrs are tottally diffrent anyway i will send before and afters of swampcat reborn asap.thanks again to cowboy,andy,boner your the best!!!see ya zigy

 

I never saw Bombardier actually bragging on that, just that some stupid *** magazine said it was the first to ever put stock 26" on. The missed the boat on that one, and then a month or so later had a little note to the editor that someone sent correcting them. I thought it was fitting. Still, the Blackwaters aren't much to brag on, though they are a lot better than the stock traxter tires.

 

You won't be dissapointed at all when you get those tires. Cowboy was absolutely amazed. They instantly turn an average quad into a mean looking Mo Fo! I'm starting to look really hard into the lift kit right now. For $80, I don't think thats too bad. I spent about $60 to go out tonight. If I can find a week that I dont have to take my gal out, I can use that cash saved for the lift and not even notice it, but that might be hard to do.