OK so my buddy who bought his XP when I bought mine has started the tire war.. he went and bought 27" Mudlite XTR's. Of course he's single, lives with his father, and I have two teenage daughters and a mortgage. I can't justifiy XTR money. Thought about Zilla's but the 27" Zillas come in 10 and 12 inch width. Don't want to kill the handling with too wide tires, nor do I want to go too tall (like 28's). Now I'm thinking GBC Sparticus in 27", or maybe Interco swamplites. Anyone have any experience with these or any other's I haven't thought of? We ride a mix of hardpack and mud, and now we are going through a swamp about every other ride, so I need a tire that can do a bit of everything, and the Terrathons suck in mud. Thanks for the help.. Jeff

 

A buddy of mine has the Swamplites and he likes them. He hasn't been through the deepest and nastiest (I followed a freshly churned skidder road with nice foot deep clay with the XTRs) with us yet but has gone through several large mud/waterholes without a problem. Seemed good in the snow too.

 

Rode wwith 2 buddys the other deep in crap including snow. I had the stk Terratorns, another had Mud lites XTR, and the other had Maxxis BigHorns.

Maxxis consistently went 100 yrds farther in any/all conditions.

 

Bighorns do alright in sticky mud?? It looks like they'd pack up.

 

Maxxis was on 850XP. Mud was Gumbo (like snot) and they ate it up. Before seeing that, I was going for the XTR's. I had to be winched & towed 2 times. Humiliating !

Hey, the XTR's are still a great tire in my book.

 

I took his 850 thru the local peanut butter pit, and was blown away by the XTR's. They're an awesome tire to be sure, I just can't afford them. They're pretty pricey!!

 

Shouldn't have any handling issues with the zillas and from my experience they are a great all around tire.

 

I have the Bighorns and they do fill up with mud when going slow, but just hit the gas and they will clean out very easily. I had the same issues as you wanting a tire that will do everything from hard packed trails to mud, it performs great in both. The best part about them in the mud is the tire is non directional so you get equal traction going forward/backwards. (and its a radial) If you can afford this tire you wont be disappointed. There also is a tire called Duro Powergrip which has the same tread pattern but is cheaper. I really think tires make all the difference in the world so if you have to save a little longer try to do it.... thats a hard thing to do with those crappy stock tires though.

 

What are they charging for the XTR's up there?

 

The ITP XTRs ARE worththe money. Tell hime to wait a little longer and save some more $$ and the purchase the XTRs.

ITP have been the best ATV tires I have had (I have been ATVing since 1998).