Thanks for this oppertunity, I have an 08 Rincon and the stock tires are worn out. I've been looking at the swamp lights and Bighorns, currently my tires are 25 ", wondering if 27" inch would work, concerned about tire rubbing wheel well. Then thought about a 2 " lift kit for greater clearance. I have no experince with lift kits and assume one would buy it from the Honda house. Also concern about putting too much of a wheel and how will it effect the engine. Any help or comments would be great.

 

What are you planning on doing with the machine?

If you are planning a strictly mud oriented machine, 27's would be as big as I'd go unless you are planning on engine mods and one of the gear reduction kits.

If you are mainly riding trails, some mud and sand, but mostly rocky, the Bighorns would be great. I ran around on a Rubicon that just got Bighorns. They handle and corner very well, do better in sandy stuff than you would think, and do great in steep technical rocks. Folks seem to be getting 6000 to 8000 out of a set... When my stockers wear down a bit more I'll be putting on Bighorns. Probably 25's or maybe 26's.

The Rincon's biggest strength is its ride and handling over rough stuff at speed, and I don't want to mess that up by raising the center of ground clearance...

 

i have an 03 rincon with 27" mudlight's, when you make sharp turns they rub a little. i heard the bighorns run big for there size, alot of guys run 26" bighorns on there rincon

 

Yeah, the 25 Bighorns were definately larger than the stock 25's. From what I've read, 27's may or may not rub depending on the offset of the wheels you are running, and that often modifying the fender support strut under there can sometimes be all it takes.

Mudlite XTR's might be a good compromise if you want something that rides smooth on the trails, but would likely do better than Bighorns in mud.

 

I was looking at 26in Mudlites. I do trail/hunting. My hunting area is all mucky soil so a mud tire is necessary for easy in and outs, but I don't want to lose the smooth ride. I had 26in mudlites on my last ATV and thought they were great.

 

Were you running the radial version, o r the regular mudlite?

 

This was the regular, it was before the radial version came out. 2004ish to 2007 on an 2002 Arctic Cat 500i. The ATV was a piece of $%&^, but I thought the tires were great. My buddy has been running the regular type since than on a Rubicon and has had no problems.

I am considering going the same way on the Rincon and using the $200 savings to go toward new wheels. Will see what the tax man is going to give back. Just trying to do my part of stimulating the economy!!

 

Cool. I'll probably keep my wheels, since I ride in rocky areas and would rather scrape the heck out of stockers.

 

Ya, the other option is to outfit the 450 with a new set of treads. So many choices[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the advice, mostly I runtrails with a good amount of mud. Some rocky hills and also for hunting. But by far trails withmud is what we like. Sounds like I could go with a 26 inch tire like the bighorn and my handling will still be good