I got the tax return check back this week and I want to trim some tonnage from the Scrambler. So, I'm looking for aluminum wheels to replace the stock steelies.
I can find stock Polaris aluminum wheels ( Painted ) but what is a realistic price for a set in good shape? How well to they hold up to abuse?
ITP and Douglas .190's seem to be the prefered aftermarket parts and they're polished. Rocky Mountain has a set of 4 rims for less than $200.00
Of course, if I try to reuse the 489 Titans, I'll have to pay ( or devise a low tech way ) to change the tires from the old rims to the new. I may be money ahead to order tires and rims as a kit. Then the question becomes: Holeshots or Pure Sports Bandits. I was planning on keeping the same sizes as stock.
I'm sure that someone has been through the same dilemma.

 

I don't advise the factory aluminum wheels. My Scrambler is only a month old and I had them banged up pretty good in one good hard weekend. Now I don't mean they are junk but a shot that the good old steel wheels on my TBlazer would have taken left a 2" flat spot on one of the fronts. I am considering putting reinforcing rings on my stock wheels. Hope this helps.

 

I am getting ITP aluminums soon. The 9" rear and 10" front. They will offset the front 1" per side and give me 1" per side in the rear. I am going for 20" Razrs in the back and up front I am not too sure yet... 21" Razrs, Holeshots or Pure Sport Bandits. I need something to help with the 4x4-->Razrs are crap for pulling traction in mud.

I have talked to many people and even called a few manufacturers and they did not suggest rear Bandits. Thay say they are not that great in muddy situations... So far the Razr has always come out on top.

Just to let you know that you are not alone!

 

I went with douglas 160's about a year ago for my scram and have had no problems, they are the same size as the stock rims, The stock tires fit great and they look kick-a$$ and it only set me back $159 with shipping

 

I just put Douglas .190's on mine with Maxxis All Tracs on the rear as a package deal. I kept the front Titan's because they still have pretty good tread on them (there rears were bald). You can usually find someone to change them for under $10 a tire. I thought that was kinda high until I talked to the guy at the station who did mine (he only charged me $5 - Western auto wanted $10 and no other place in town would touch them). The bead on these tires, as he explained and I observed, is a real bugger to break. If it's not done carefully you can screw up a rim quick. It did take alot to get them off the rim. But I think next time I will try a bumper jack placed at the edge of the tire and rim. I love the rims, but the All Tracs seem to hook up a little too much (don't slide very predictably) but I figure after some of the tread wears off they'll get better. They are bada$$ in the mud though! The lugs are huge. I also stayed with the factory size. The factory aluminum rims aren't even worth considering. You'll pay just as much if not more for them than the Douglas or ITP rims and they are very soft. Mine were battered to the point that it was a miracle they were even holding air. I hate to say it but they really suck. I spoke to a guy on a Warrior who was running the Bandits on his quad and he said they weren't all that great. They are alot heavier than most other tires he said. He was in the process of trying to pawn them off on someone to get some ITP Holeshots.

 

Well that's a fine how to do, I just ordered a set of Douglas .190 with Pure Sport Bandits. I hope they're not to heavy. Wish I would have seen this before I ordered them. But hey, I guess I'll give them a try.

 

I ordered and installed stock size Razrs on Douglas .190 rims. I went for my first major ride this weekend with this setup. I could not believe the differance in the amount of reduced steering effort. The weight change was 18 pounds for all four tires. I am running 5 lbs of air in all tires. The traction was unbelievable. The best part is that anyone following you is in for a major treat . Conditions was muddy and I did not have any problems getting through the mud holes (I did pull out a friends raptor that had gotten stuck). I am sure that they would not perform as well as the stock titans in deep mud but they certainly did well enough for most of the type of mud that I will get into. All in all it was a great improvement and I would recomend them to anyone.

KD

 

How did he "break" the bead? I have done it several times on my front wheels and it's a piece of cake..with the appropriate machine (that machine that has an air bead breaker, and the rotating thing to mount the tire on the rim. It's real easy with this machine...and impossible with all the others "do-it-yourself-in-your-garage" ways.
I'm having problems for the bead to seal again, it does do the double pop pop each side...but it's leaking somwhere, and I can't find where!

 

He said his and other tire shop machines don't work well on the ATV rims. I don't know, maybe he was snowin' me, but I do know I called 3 other tires shops and none of them would do them. They said they "just don't mess with 'em". Western Auto was the only one besides this guy I found who would do them and they wanted $10/tire. Anyway, this guy used the hydraulic lift platform with a board on each side of the rim (to keep it from getting scuffed) to hold the wheel down, while he placed the slanted end of a big slide hammer between the rim and tire bead and slammed the crap out of it until the tire bead came loose from the rim. I don't know, to me there seems to have to be a simpler way, but this guy said that's the way it's done and only charged me $5/tire, so I guess I really don't care. He also used some stuff called bead wax all around the bead of the tire and inside the rim where the bead seats itself. This stuff basically looks like peanut butter. He said he never puts a tire on with out the stuff or you usually end up with a slow leak. The stuff is a mixture of wax and soap he said. This place was a little old mom and pop shop, so he may be way behind the times, but he did a good job for me at half the price I could find anywhere else.

 

Wow!! I have to say then that the machine at my dad's job is a real professional buttkickin machine!
It looks like a big claw. I just put the tire vertically, between the "claw"(that has a kind of round shape on 1/3 of circumference) and the machine wall, press the pedal, air squeezes the claw and pop, the bead is broken, no sweat, no hammer, just plain clean easy.
I guess I'm lucky.