I have a 2003 Sportsman 600 with the Goodyear Rawhide tires.

I cannot take this machine for a ride across the yard without getting muddy. I guess my question is, is it the nature of the fenders on the 600, or the Goodyear Rawhides?

I understand that trail riding you are going to get muddy, but it seems a bit ridiculous. Over 10 mph mud just starts flying everywhere. Anything on the front or rear racks gets covered with mud.

Are there aftermarket fender flairs I can buy? Perhaps there is a tire that will perform nearly as well as the Goodyear Rawhide, but not throw as much mud on the machine?

Any help would be appreciated.

My buddy has a 2004 Sportsman 500 with the Carlisle Badlands and they don't seem to throw NEARLY as much mud.

Thanks,
Bo

 

Not sure about a sportsman, but we used to have a scrambler that we bought some fender fliars for it, I think we got them from moose.

 

my guess would be that it is the tires...bigger lugs=more mud

 

Don't drive where it is wet!

Sorry - - - I couldn't help myself.

Seriously though, I have the Carlisle Badlands on my 500 HO and the mud is not as bad as I had expected. The Sportsmans already have some great fenders and floorboards so I would be suprised if there are any aftermarket parts that would help - - - but I have never looked.

You bring up an interesting point on the tires though. I have thought about getting a set of 589 Mudlites but I never considered that I might be inviting more mud.

For those of you who have changed to a more agressive tire, do you get muddier or is the answer obvious?

 

Pure Polaris make a set for the front and rear. I think they are about $100 a set. They are somewhat wider than the orginal fender flares.

 

Highlifter also has a set of mud guards that further extend the fenders.

Sod, my Gators throw way more mud on me than the stock tires did.

 

dont ride if you dont wanna get muddy.

 

Polaris500HO,
Thanks for such an informative post. I understand you are going to get muddy riding. But I don't think its too much to ask to be able to use my ATV to cut wood, or do some non aggressive riding and not get completely covered in mud. I've ridden other machines and you don't get nearly as muddy on the others I've ridden, even in the same trail/speed conditions. (Explorer 400, and Sportsman 500 HO). With my machine, I typically wouldn't even ride it in plain clothes as they would get ruined. Thats a bit ridiculous to me....

I was trying to determine if it was my tires or the fenders.

Thanks for your overwhelming words of wisdom....

 

ok i understand what your saying, well what i would do being young once you get a little muddy finish the job

 

OMg!!! do you actually take that truck off road? look like you could kill that drive shaft so easy[or is it tuff]i know the shaft on my ford has been dinged a few times and its stock!