I have been reading some previous posts and I know this has been visited before, yet I am unabale to find any good answers.

After viewing some nice pictures of a couple of LT80's on this forum my son is nuts over the polished wheels. So I have been looking and reading anything I can on different tire and rim combinations and brands. The setup seems to be to use a taller tire and rim on the front 19-6-10 for and example. and a shorter yet wider tire on the rear, 18-9.5-8. How does this effect the handling on the quad with this setup? What is the advantage? On some other forums I read where people suggested not to use a large rear tire. They claim it causes case damage. So my initial thoughts were to use something close to the stock size just shorter. I would like to lower the center of gravity some and also make a wider footprint for the bike. I have installed wheels spacers all around and that seemed to help.

I was considering using the same stock rim size 8x8 3.0+5.0, and going to a Maxxis m939/940. front tire size is 18-6.5-8 rear tire size is 18-9-8. I am just not sold on these tires. I would prefer some holeshots or a similiar copy.

So what can you suggest? I am sure I'm not the only one confused about this tire issue. My son does not race, we are just recreation riders and ride in loose dirt, hard packed soil and sand when I can find it. The stock tread seems to do ok at this point.

Who is a decent vendor to make this purchase from?

Thanks for your help......sorry for the long post.

 

For the front, I like the stock tires. They are soft sided and work well.
For the rear, I don't like wide.
I recommend GBC Shredder tires or NANKANG tires.These are also a soft sided tire with a knobby tread and will take you where you want to go.
Most lower it (like you mentioned). Thus a 16x6.5x8 is the most common. Some like 18x6.5x8
Holeshots are case busters and belong on the snowblowers that they were designed for.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Years back when my son rode an LT80, the bald back tires needed replacement badly, but I wanted to stay near stock for ground clearance for rough trail riding, I put on some 20-7-8 Kenda Scorpions, just a touch taller than stock, barely noticeable, and the oval dimples on the tread ride great, get traction on every surface from sand to mud, and didn't seem to hurt power at all. If you are wanting more bottom end, just put a bigger rear sprocket on for more zip off the bottom end. As far as I know, that little quad is still running those tires,almost 10 years and several owners later. And they are cheap, to boot !! And you can get them in smaller sizes if you want, put some 18-9.5-8's on a Blaster once, and they looked and worked great, a very light tire with lots of traction.

 

Check this site for the best prices on wheels and tires