I'm looking at the following options in tires for my 1998 Polaris Sportsman 500 4x4. It will see anything from dirt, hard packed, some sand, rocks, sandstone, mud, snow, and very little pavement. What would you pick and WHY?

Thanks

 

I see much of the same conditions you are talking about and have been really happy with my zillas.

 

Big Horns are indestructible and have served me well on two different quads in the desert and mountains around the Reno/Tahoe area.

 

You have trax to use when the zillas fail. I'll get them and then you can pull me out with those.... Man those are sweet! Is that a good price for the zillas?

 

I voted Zillas. why?.....they will do everything that the others in the list will do with the exception of high speed riding on dry trails, and then I would choose the Bighorns. The zillas are probably the lightest also. I would not choose zillas though if you had alot of pavement to ride on because they will wear faster, but you said very little pavement.

All the others are just OK at everything. Mudlites and bearclaws were ok in the past, but they are old news. GBC makes decent tires but they are all knock offs for a cheaper price with faster wearing rubber and heavier weight. AMS is along those lines also, but I would take the Swamp Fox over the ITP's or dirt devils.

Like I tell everyone who asks about tires.......if you stick with Maxxis, you can't go wrong.

 

If you aren't in any deep mud, then I agree with MickJP. Had a couple sets now and they are great.

 

The posters before me are right on.
I really like the Bighorns too. Great in snow, they're really tough, Radial Construction, so they ride really nice, just an all around really great Trail tire. The only place I've seen them fail is really deep mud. I got out, but it was work. I have almost 500 miles on a pair with no visible wear, pretty good considering I run a lot of pavement. The XTR's I ran for 300 miles show a little wear, so did the Zillas I had before them. I know 2 people that have run BHs for 2-3K miles, and still run them.

I like the Zillas as well, for the same reasons as Roofer, the light weight is a big plus, but they are soft and wear pretty fast. After riding on the BH and the Zillas, I would take Bighorns. The GBC tires are definately sub par. They just don't last, or ride as nice. Remember that you're comparing Radials, to Bias Ply tires when you look at the prices.

 

Thanks for the responses. I think it's down to the zillas and the big horns....

I really don't see that much mud so I'm leaning toward the big horns, plus because they are a radial it won't do much to them when the quad is just sitting around....

Anyone else want to give me their $.02.

 

For your conditions, I would lean to the big horns, but I'd do some more searching, I found the zilla's for about $280 shipped

 

Anyone running the BigHorn-2 tires at 26" on their SP800?

Regards,

R'