I am looking at Outlaws, Mud Bugs, or Mud Runners.
I ride a lot in Hard Pack and Mud. Can anyone give me some recommendations?

Thanks,

TheWizard
2000 450ES

 

The Mudrunners?I have had them on both my 4x4 quads,they are absolutly Awesume in the worst of snowy or muddy conditions.They also make your quad steer easier on hardpack.My brother has the Super Swamper Vampires on his 97 King Quad,they also do a very good job.I sure like the looks of the Outlaws to.====Bill

 

I have heard good things about the mud bugs & mud runners, don't know much about Outlaws.

 

I went to the DW Mud Tire Shootout last weekednd. They compared the Outlaw, Vamp and TriClaws on equal bikes and wheels. The best pure mud tire (from what I observed) was the Outlaw, then the TriClaw, then the Vamp. The Outlaw rides just a little bumpy on hardpack at slow speed, i.e. under 4 mph.
I bought 28" Outlaws for the mud riding weekends on ITP Magnum wheels. I have 26" Titan 589's on my stock aluminum wheels. They ride excllent on hardpack and do great in the mud. I last year's msud tire shootout in DW magazine, they were very close to the Vamp in the mud.
I have never ridden with MudRunners or Mudbugs.
Hope that helps.

 

GET BLACKWATERS THERE A GOOD RIDE ON HARDPACK ROADS AND ARE GOOD IN MUD

 

Bill,

I used to be a regular contributor to this forum about a year ago. I got real busy and kinda put it up for a while. I used to really trust the opinion of Gordon Banks. Have you heard from him? Does he still frequent this forum? He was/is very sharp on some of this stuff and has been around for a while. Anyhow, I seem to remember your name showing up from time to time and I thought I would ask. PS Need tires bad! Was looking to put something a little taller on my 450ES. I ride mostly trails and hardpack with a little deep water and mud thrown in for good measure. I see a few contributors here are in the same boat I'm in. I just don't want to spend $400 on tires and create handling/performance problems. I wish I could remember what Gordon did to his. I guess ATV Connection disposed of all the archived stuff.

 

mudrunners have great grip in ALL types of terrain.

 

JZ

G. Banks hasn't been around at all anymore... at least that I have seen. But I can answer your question about what he ran. I don't remeber if it was 26" or 27" hiegth but they were 10" wide Bi-Claws on all four tires.

Hope this helps

by the way I love my bugs! great tire

 

Thanks for the info. on Gordon Banks. I used to have his e-mail address on my home computer, I think I'll check and see if I still have it and drop him a line. He was one of the main reasons I got started talking to people on the forums. He was very smart and had a lot of experience to back up his opinions.

I bought a set of Buggs from Jeff at HighLifter last week. I was amazed! I ordered them on Monday and Wednesday afternoon the UPS truck dropped them off at the house! I immediately mounted them up on my stock rims and headed for the mud!

We have a lakebed that just went dry here in the Tallahassee, Florida area. It is not completely dry though! There are huge areas of water and mud left in different places. My buddy and I spent the day having fun and I have to say, the Buggs are great! I lost a little top-end oomph but now I can idle through the gooiest mud, places where I used to spin my tires wildly just to avoid becoming stuck. They aren't too bad on the hard pack and pretty good in the deep sand. All in all--I thank everybody who provided input allowing me to make a great tire choice!

 

From what I have heard from a million (well not quite that but...) sources is that the Mudrunners and Mud Bugs are probably the best riding mud tires you can get. Outlaws, Vamps, and Claws will have a Mud tire like ride. They will also be a better Mud tire than the others, but just consider what you do more of and see where your importance lies. As far as Blackwaters go, I think they probably have an excellent ride for an aftermarket tire, but as far as a mud tire goes, there are far better things out there. Blackwaters were just very popular before the others showed up on the scene. I have 27" Claws and love them, but I would never say that they rode better than a Mud Bug or a Mudrunner. I would say that they are better in mud though. Just look at the tread and you can see that. If I wanted a tire strictly for high traction situations, I would consider Claws, Vamps, or Outlaws. If I wanted a good riding tire that did great in mud as well, I would consider Mud Bugs or Mudrunners, or even 589's. If I wanted Blackwaters, I would get Blackwaters. That about does it.