I hope to get a bigfoot kit with the ITP 589's on C-series type 5 "rock crusher" rims for my Honda Rubicon soon, however, I have a few questions. I want as little power loss as possible so I am thinking of staying the the stock size of 25". Is the tread depth the same on the 25" 589's as it is on the 26" and larger? What are the pros/cons of going with the 25" over the 26" 589's or will I be loosing anything going with the 25"? I don't want to lift the Rubicon and will mostly use this bigfoot kit for pushing snow during the winter. Thanks in advance for any opinions on this, Dan.

 

hey, if you don't want to lift the atv at all you'd better go with the 25" tires, because the 26's and 27's will lift it about 1-3 inches depending on your suspension and how worn or new it is. The older it is the less it will lift it. As for power loss or performance, if you want to go through anything get the 26's or 27's but they will decrease some of your horsepower, but they are a relatively light weight after market tires so its not too bad. The 25's won't decrease your horsepower but you will def. not get the same effect traction wise as the 26 or 27 inch tires. The 25's have just a little more tread depth than stock tires, so your basically just buying the name and treade pattern (which is still alot of performance increase than the stock ones) but the 26 and 27 inch tires has alot larger of tread and are just about the most amazing tires traction wise for mud and snow riding there is. hope that helps you make your decission and good luck...p.s. if you do alot of woods riding as well, don't get alluminum rims, they are only 5 pounds lighter per rim, but they will just crack and are unreparable if you hit a rock really hard, but will stell rims you can bend them back and they are still functional!!!

 

If your plowing snow and that's all you want the bigfoot kit for same yourslef some cash and just get some radials, I think those ITP ATR's would be awesome for plowing snow and there is an article about it in the test section of this forum. If tires alone arn't enough then get you some chains but I bet the ATR's would be plenty and you can use them year round.

 

What's on it for tires now? I think the Rubi's come with the Dunlops? In a word, garbage tire... sorry, but that's my opinion. I changed out the Goodyears that came on my Foreman, believe it or not, it still had the original tires after 8 years, but nearly no miles I think. I put on the ITP Mud Lites, and it made a world of difference in both steering and traction, and I'm told in puncture resistance as well.
I went one size larger, from a 24 to a 25, and there is a minor drop in power, but no big deal. If I had gone up two inches, I would have had clearance issues, the larger tire is a snug fit as it is. I was told that the 26 has a substantially heavier lug than the 25, at least in the Mud Lite, I suspect the 589 will be the same.
One other thing I noticed was a slightly higher gear ratio, especially at low speeds, it might be something to consider if you're going to be using it primarily for plowing. You can always upshift to go faster, but when you're in low gear, there's no way to go any lower for more torque. If you don't have clearance issues ( I did with the 400), I'd stick with the stock tire size, it may make the dealer more receptive to warranty issues as well. I know some of the dealers we have here refuse to honor the warranty if you use oversize tires.

 

The OE tires are Bridgestone Dirthooks and they're wearing fast. I've had alot of people recomend the Mudlites so I think I'll look into them. Thanks to all for your opinions.

 

the 25 inch 589"s have the same lug as the 26 and 27 inch that is why I went with the 589"s as opposed to the mudlites because I wanted to stay with the stock size tire and still have the big honkin lugs,these tires work "really" good ,look even better and you don"t lose hardly any performance (might lose 1 or 2 mph on topend )