Today I finally had a chance to take the rig out riding after installing the new 27" Mudlites mounted on type 6 wheels on my 2004 700EFI on wednesday. I took it through the mud, what left over snow we still had, water, on the ice, up some steep inclines, etc. I gave them a pretty good test today and would have to admit that I didn't think I could possibly love my quad any more than on the day I bought them but you know what, today during my ride I absolutely fell in love with the machine all over again. I would give the 27" Mudlites a #10 overall rating on a scale from 1-10. These tires are freakin great and I am so glad I chose these tires over any other that I was looking at.

the tires handled pretty good for having such a big tread lug, they make the ride a bit more bumpy as opposed to having the Badlands which had a less aggressive tread pattern/lug. the performance in the snow/mud/ice/water was such a huge difference from the Badland XTR that I can't even explain it, the Mudlites just plain worked! I can feel the difference just when taking off from a stop cause the Mudlites hook up right away and the Badlands would tend to want to spin a bit on takeoff. I did however find a couple flaws with the Mudlites that didn't affect my rating them a 10.

one flaw would be that the grass/yard gets tore up pretty good with the large lugs if your not careful and the second is that I wish I would have went with the 27-10-12's on the rear instead of the
27-12-12's because of three reasons, the tires occasionally hit the bottom of the fender flare near the floorboard when going over whoopdee doos or when coming down from a jump or wheelie but will be taken care of with a small bit of shaving off the flares. the 12's are a bit to wide in the rear and make it hard to load/unload on my aluminum trifold ramp and with them being a bit wide they stick out past the fender flares a little causing major mud getting thrown on you even when going through some light mud. but I can live with it overall, and just so you guys know I put the 27-9-12 on the front.

 

Do you think the 26" with 12" 's rears would have worked?

 

how does it steer with the tires on the front? is it pretty easiy still

 

Nice review I knew you would love them.

 

Thanks for the nice review.

I have the same question as 20045SP500HO......I'm thinking of 26" ITP wheels/tires also but since I only have a 400 I don't want to rob too much power by going to 27's. Also......did you consider the "Wetlands" ITP/Ducks Unlimited Radial tire?.......It's the same as the Polaris PXT tire now standard on the 2005 Sportsmans and people seem to be very impressed with them. I'm also considering the ITP Holeshot ATR Radial since I only do mud 10% of the time and want an all around performer on the trails. It's nice to have all these choices!!! LOL

Also.......why did you choose the C6's over the C5's?......I'm trying to decide which ones. I'm leaning towards the C5's because I like the stronger edge.....but I like the polished C6 too.

Again...thanks for a great review.

Bob

 

Howdy Backinthesaddleagain...

First off.... Have you ever thought of a shorter handle? LOL!!!

Anyway.... I'm not too familiar with the 400 Sportsmans, however... Going "large" without the horsepower to turn them will only be hurting you and the machine in the long run. Please don't get me wrong here... I'm not bashing the 400's at all!! We recently did a small lift and a set of 27's on a 04(?), SP400 and found power to be down considerably after the tire install. I'm assuming that a similiar loss would be felt with 26's as well. A quick installation of a Heelclicker clutch kit and it was problem solved. Made all the difference in the world! Bottom end was much improved with the mid and top end remaining about the same. Motors with more torque (500HO and the big twins) can sometimes get away without clutching mods. But our smaller brothers may need a little bit of extra help to turn larger than stock rubber.

Good luck on your project.....

 

I Don't have any problems with the rears other than them flinging alot of mud, there are not any rubbing issues on the rear so I am glad I did not go with the 26's. The rig steers great still, I thought it felt different at first but after riding it the steering worked great still. on my 700EFI I didn't notice much power robbing but could see where a smaller cc quad such as a 400/500 could notice a bit less power. the ITP Mudlite, 589 and the swamp witch were the only tires I was really looking at cause I liked the tread patterns on them, I ended up finally deciding on the Mudlite due to the overall lower weight and appearance. most of the posts on the Mudlite that I have read said they were a great tire and worked awesome in any conditions and they were right. I chose the type 6 wheel over the type 5 wheel mostly for the looks but I also looked at the descriptions of each of them on itptires.com to find out the type 6 wheel is also lighter than the type 5. I also noticed that although each of them are both four spoke aluminum wheels the are not exactly alike, the spokes are different and the holes between them are arched differently. overall I was more impressed with the type 6 wheels looks more than the weight of each of them. hey Dan I have been thinking of going with a Heelclicker clutch kit on my 700EFI, what do they consist of and how much are they. where is the cheapest place to get one? I think once I get the 800 exhaust headpipe and airduct snorkle and get them installed they would compliment a clutch kit greatly. what do you guys think.

 

I just got done putting 27" mudlites on my 02 sp700 and love them.So far .On the front I went with 27-10-12 and on the back 27-12-12. I kinda wish I would have went with the 27-9-12 on the front.I put three washers on the stud then the wheel and can just get a full nut.And have about 3/8' of an inch between the tire and the tie rod end.Now bring on the mud.......Bill

 

Bill...I went with the 27x9-12's on the front of my '05 700 EFI and they don't hit anything. You may want to buy the spacers that are made to set the wheel out, rather than the washers...will give you full contact then and won't run in to any problems...

I have two sets of 27" tires/wheels, the Mud Lites and 589's....I was thinking of selling one set, but I can't decide which ones I like better and keep swapping them around.

I can tell the difference of going back to the stock 26" PXT's....easier to steer, but not much and more power to the rear....although I noticed that I still spin the 27's alot while flying down the dirt roads....so there is definitely enough power to fling the 27's around...

 

This is just a guess but I’m thinking the reason you guys are getting sprayed by your new tires isn’t the fault of the tire, it’s the ITP wheels you’re running. When I put ITP aluminum Magnums on our Sportsmans it didn’t matter what tires we were running, we were wearing whatever we rode through. I don’t know about your “C” series but the Magnum wheels have a different offset than stock, setting the center of the tires out further, making your track wider and pushing the outer edge of the tire outside the protection of the fenders.

Are you guys running rear lifts for these 27” tires? I’m thinking about lifting the ’05 700 EFI I plan to buy shortly, and putting 28” 589s on the factory wheels. In the past I’ve upgraded to the stiffer factory springs front and rear, anyone know of a better option?